Happy New Year!

I decided to put a little personal note to my readers and wish to everyone who stopped by a wonderful New Year 2009. I wish you all the best, especially success with your vision improvement project.

Dr. R. S. Agarwal

I previously mentioned that Bates teachers are usually just fans of the method who more often than not do not quite understand the concept of the Bates method themselves and talk about “exercises” and what not. But there is one exception. There was a doctor who not only fully understood the principles of Dr. Bates but also integrated them into his practice. Like Bates himself and unlike Bates teachers he happened to be a Doctor of Ophthalmology. He also happened to be a follower of a famous yogi Sri Aurobindo. The name of this remarkable man was Dr. R. S. Agarwal.

Dr. Agarwal founded The School of Perfect Eyesight as part of Pondicherry Ashram in India and he had a phenomenal rate of success. He cured many seemingly hopeless cases that traditional doctors gave up on. Oh yes, and he did not charge for the treatment.

I did some research on Dr. Agarwal on internet and was surprised to find out that there was no information about him. You’ll find a few of his book for sale and that’s about it. Not even an entrance in Wikipedia.

I read Yoga of Perfect Sight and I think this book comes pretty close to Bates. It is actually a collection of essays on vision, kind of like the book of Dr. Bates is a collection of essays from Better Eyesight Magazine, that are put together in a book. Even the style is somewhat similar: lots of case histories and cases of remarkable cure. As a bonus there are also letters of Sri Aurobindo (nothing really to do with vision improvement, but a curious read anyway). This book is very different from "traditional" Bates teachers.

Vision and Swimming

Can you swim? If so, do you remember the process how exactly did you learn to swim? Has it ever occurred to you that the ability to swim is mental? Think about it. What is the difference between a person who would sink if thrown in a deep waters and the one who would float? The difference is mental control. People who can swim realized that they can float on water without sinking. It is the same with vision. If we could realize that we can see perfectly or we can relax our extraocular muscles we would have good vision. Notice that the ability to swim does not go away even after years of inactivity, so it’s enough to realize it once that you can have good vision and then you will have it.

This swimming metaphor might not be the best but it is the closest one that describes what I have in mind since most people know how to swim. It is sudden realization that you can control your body in a certain situation. In a way that was a science of yoga is all about.

Vision is Mental

Vision is not only the physical ability to perceive external objects, something like registering a picture on a camera, vision is also the process of interpreting these sensory impressions by the brain. The process of interpretation is cultural in a way how we interpret the image on retina.

There are cases of split personality when people picked up different pair of glasses or took them off altogether depending on which personality “rules” at the moment. Evidently there can be two personalities and one might be nearsighted while another might have perfect vision.

It is a vast field for study. Bates realized that mental interpretation is important but his accent was on mental relaxation and mental control of the muscles. Indeed, if we knew how to control these extraocular muscles we would be able to relax them and thus would acquire good vision.

Mission accomplished

Hello!

A personal message to the readers of my blog. I had a personal mission to write 10 articles on the Bates method and publish them in EzineArticles directory. Well, I am happy to report that

Mission accomplished.

And, as an additional bonus my account is upgraded to the Platinum status. That means more quality articles are coming in the future from your truly.

Time for champagne. Cheers!

Vision Changes All the Time

One of the main concepts of the Bates theory is that he discovered that vision changes all the time. Nobody has perfect eyesight all the time. There are periods when our vision gets better and other periods when it gets worse. This applies to everyone with no exception. Periods of improved vision are usually experienced when a person is happy, relaxed and in familiar environment. If the person is tired, fatigues, stressed, in unfamiliar environment his eyesight is often worse than usual.

The difference is usually not extreme for people with normal vision but it may be drastic for people with bad eyesight. Probably all of us noticed a tremendous improvement during days of bright sunshine.

This, according to Dr. Bates, proves that vision is not static but dynamic. Muscles contract and relax all the time. If it is possible to relax the muscles surrounding the eyeball for a second, it should be possible to relax them for longer periods of time as well, until the eyesight becomes perfect…

Bates was a Yogi

That was an idea that suddenly struck me one day. If his main principle is relaxation of the mind and variability of refraction, why that is exactly what is yoga philosophy is all about: control your mind by calming it first. According to some yogi tales you can do amazing things if you just learn to control your mind. Unfortunately most of us has not the slightest idea what controlling the mind is all about, we are so conditioned to have this inner monologue going on that we have not idea that other states of mind are even possible.

What was really amazing to me was that Bates started out as typical American doctor with standard medical education. He became interested in finding out why things were the way they were. He stumbled upon one of the most powerful concept of yoga philosophy. He arrived to it independently. I think it’s very impressive. Bear in mind it was long before Eastern philosophy, Hindu teachers, Zen, Buddhism and similar stuff got into the West, certainly long before it became mainstream.