natural relief for eyestrain from computer use

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Copyright 1997 Monica Pawlan.All rights reserved.

Manuscript

Relax, Smile, and Enjoy the View!Natural Relief for Eyestrain from Computer Use and Other Activities

by Monica Pawlan


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Copyright 1997 Monica Pawlan. All rights reserved.

Foreword

This book is a compilation of notes, research, and persona l experiences I

started collecting in 1986 wh en as a compu ter p rofessional I noticed m y

eyesight blurring after long hours of comp uter w ork. My studies began wh en I

was in a metap hysical bookstore one d ay in 1986 and n oticed a flyer from The

School of Better Eyesight ad vertising a w ay to correct an d restore vision

natu rally withou t the u se of glasses, contact lenses, or surgery. I called thenumber, attended a few classes, corrected my vision, and subsequently signed

up for the instructors training course so I would know how to help other

peop le imp rove their vision too. I spen t the follow ing 2-1/ 2 years doing

exactly that.

The method s I stud ied and researched are based on th e work of Dr. William H .

Bates (December 23, 1860 - July 10, 1931). He developed natural methods for

correcting eyesight from experiences in his ow n opth almology p ractice. Today,

his methods are practiced and taught by man y people throughout the w orld.

In his practice, Dr. Bates noticed that vision fluctuates daily and looked for the

circumstances that cause vision to fluctuate towards normal and the

circumstan ces that cause vision to blu r. He conclud ed th at norm al vision

requires healthy visual habits, and that people with blurred vision can

consciously learn an d practice these habits to norm alize their vision. Because

of his success in his research and w ork, Dr. Bates conclud ed th at vision is really

90 percent men tal and only 10 percent p hysical.


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4 Foreword


Important Notice

While the information in this book is considered safe, it is not intend ed to b e

med ical or assistive ad vice. It is your sole responsibility to d etermine the

suitability of the information for your own purposes and assume all risks and

liabilities that result from applying the techniques and recommendations in

this book including any and all claims for direct or consequential damages.

Related M aterials

The Bates Method for Better Eyesight Without Glasses, W.H. Bates, M.D., Henry

H olt and Comp any, Inc., 1971.

Help Yourself to Better Sight, Margaret Darst Corb ett, Wilshire Book Com pan y

by special arrangem ent with Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1949.

The Art of Seeing, Aldou s H uxley, Creative Arts Book Com pan y, 1982.

Improve Your V ision wit hout Glasses or Contact Lenses: A N ew Program of

Therapeutic Eye Exercises, The American Vision Institute: Dr. Steven M.

Beresford, D r. David W. Muris, Dr. Merr ill J. Allen, Dr. Francis A. Young,

Simon & Schuster, 1996.


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Relax, Smile, and Enjoy theView!

1. Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Importan t Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Related M ater ials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2. Vision and Relaxation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Do You Need or Wear Glassed Now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Und erstand ing Diopters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

How Glasses Affect Your M ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Why Relaxation Clears Blurred Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Relaxed Acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Relaxed Breath ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Massage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Blinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Eye Drop s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Blink Frequ ent ly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Hea lthy Mind and Body . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10


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Relax, Sm ile, and Enjoy the View! 3


Using Visualiza tions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

4. Motion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Dod ging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Voluntary and Involuntary eye Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Swings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Finger Swing Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Drifting Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Short Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Long Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Universa l Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

5. Centralized State of Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Relaxed Awareness of Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Seeing One Par t Best . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Being Aware of Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Varying the Dista nce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Sun ning an d Cen tral Fixation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Perip heral Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Op ening Perip heral Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Seeing Points in the Periph ery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Short Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Universa l Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Practice H ints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Motion and Centra lization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Edg ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46


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4 Relax, Sm ile, and Enjoy the View!


Edging an d Swinging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Dim Light and Night Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Accept Wh at you See. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Awaken Interest in Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

6. Memory and Imagination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Mem ory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Types of Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Visual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Kinesthetic Memor y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Auditory Mem ory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Flashing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Shifting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Mem ory of a Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Memory of an Object in its Environm ent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Apple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

One Eye at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Nearsight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Farsigh t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Dod ging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Mem ory Swing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Palmin g . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Black Dot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Keeping a Memor y when Seeing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58


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Imag inat ion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Imag ining Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Imag ining Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Imag ining the Seat of Sight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

7. Healthy Reading Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Looking a t White Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Halos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Reading Com preh ension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Make u p Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Imp ulse Read ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Reading at th e Comp uter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

8. Basic Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Foun dation Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Sunn ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Palmin g . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Blinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Shifting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Motion Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Vision Building for N earsight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Vision Building for Far sight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Nearsight and Farsight Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Vision Building for N earsight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Vision Building for Far sight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Hea lthy Mind and Body Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73


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Centra l Fixation and Reading Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Memory and Imagination Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Specialized Techn iques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Using Strong Points and Developing Weak Points . . . . . . . . . . 75

Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Cur ious Abou t Shap es . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Visua l Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Sensory Awaren ess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Integr ation in to Daily Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Workp lace, Comp uter, and Television Eyestrain . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

9. Common Eye Conditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Nearsight an d Farsigh t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Nearsight Men tal State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Nearsight Techn iques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Farsigh t Mental State. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Farsigh t Techn iques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Squint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Fusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Checking for Two Eye Usage and Fusion . . . . . . . . . . 88

Fusion Card s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

One Eye Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

One Eye Dominance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Two Eye Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94


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Tracking and Converg ing Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Fusion Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Seeing Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Seeing Gates with Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Using Imagination to See One Pencil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Vary the D istance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Other Fusion Techniques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Cross-Eyes and Wall-Eyes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Vertical and Alternate Squint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Strabism us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Am blyop ia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Astigm atism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Eccentr ic Fixation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Ind ex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103


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Vision and Relaxation 1

Is your vision blurry? Is it blurr y all of the time, or d oes it only become blur ry

after several hou rs of a very concentrated activity? If you w ork at a comp uter,

have you noticed a gradual blurring in your vision since you started using the

computer regularly? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you

probably have eyestrain. The good news is there are a number of things you

can do to alleviate the eyestrain an d clear you r vision natu rally.

Eyestrain occurs when the mind is in an unrelaxed state and unconsciously

tries too hard to see. Rather than letting images flow th rough the eyes and into

the mind where they are passively perceived, an unrelaxed mind

unconsciously grabs at and hold onto images. If your mind is not relaxed, any

activity that requ ires concentration can cause eyestrain an d u ltimately blur

your vision.

If your eyesight is blurred, your mind and eyes are probably straining in one

or more of the following ways:

You focus at the same distance for many hours at a time.

You try to take in everyth ing you see at once and at the sam e level of detail

rather than centralizing your mind and accepting your vision.

You sit or stand in one position for long periods of time without moving

your body, head, or gaze.

You become completely absorbed in what you are doing and lose the sense

of yourself in the world and a sense of space around you.


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2 Vision and Relaxation


The theory and techniques presented in this book teach you how to relax your

mind and establish the healthy habits of seeing that can relieve eyestrain and

clear vision.

Do You N eed or W ear Glassed N ow?

If you w ear glasses or contact lenses, the information in this book d oes not

replace your eye d octor, but goes w ith the care you a re already receiving. If

you do not wear glasses or contact lenses and have noticed changes to your

vision, you might want to have your eyes checked for medical problems and

measu red for refractive errors by a p rofessional.

If you n eed an d choose to wear corrective lenses, the method s described in this

book work best if you get glasses rather than contact lenses because glasses can

be removed more easily. The techniques are pra cticed using you r eyes withou t

glasses and the more often you practice, the better and faster the results.

Wear your glasses only when you absolutely need them such as for driving or

reading. Find w ays to wear y our glasses less often. For examp le, you can u se a

magn ifying glass to read, and find locations du ring meetings and presentations

where you can see the white board or overhead slides without glasses.

If you work at a computer, change the font size for the print on your monitor,

choose background an foreground colors that provide good contrast, and make

sure your work space has the appropriate lighting to minimize screen glare.

If you h ave very p oor vision, you m ight have trou ble removing your g lasses at

first because you r mind has to learn to think in a new w ay withou t the glasses.

As you practice the techniques in this book and begin to go without your

glasses more, you will gradually become accustomed to the new you and your

new way of thinking w ithout glasses.

Understanding Diopters

Vision is measured at 20 feet. The reading 20/ 40 means that you see at 20 feet

wh at a p erson w ith norm al sight sees at 40 feet. The read ing 20/ 10 mean s you

see at 20 feet what a person w ith norm al sight sees at 10 feet.


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W hy Relaxation Clears Blurred Vision

Clear vision requires light to pass unobstructed through the cornea and lens,

and focus p recisely on the retina. For the light to focus p recisely on the retina,the six extraocular mu scles that control eyeball movem ent m ust be relaxed.

Emotional, mental, or p hysical stress tenses the extraocular m uscles which can

change the shape of the eyeball and cause the image to focus in front of or

behind the retina.

This figure shows a simplified eyeball anatomy including the superior rectus

and inferior rectus extraocular muscles. Consult an anatomy book for a more

detailed anatomy and explanation, and the names and locations of the other

four extraocular m uscles.

Nearsight is when the eye focuses the incoming image in front of the retina,

and farsight is when the eye focuses the incoming image behind the retina.

Superior rectus muscle

Retina

Inferior rectus muscle

LensCornea

Nearsight Farsight


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Corrective lenses for nearsight and farsight make images strike precisely on the

retina in spite of the am oun t of tension in the extraocular m uscles. By learning

to relax when you see, you can relax your eye muscles and let light strike

precisely on th e retina w ithout corrective lenses or laser surgery.

Relaxation is the key to imp roving vision because the nor mal state of the

senses is at rest. Your eyesight is best wh en you r sense of sight is completely

relaxed. Tense eye muscles put the mind into a mental stare, and when the

mind is in a mental stare, the eye m uscles cann ot relax. The relaxation and

vision building techniques presented in this book both relax the eye muscles

and break the mental stare to clear blurred vision.

Relaxed A cceptance

The first step to relaxation is to accept you r vision for the w ay it is now. Take

off your glasses and p ay attention to details. Notice what you do see; not w hat

you do not see. Be aware of images flowing through your eyes and into your

mind. Do not judge the images as blurry or clear, but just let them flow into

your mind without effort. After doing this for awhile, you might find that no

matter what your current vision is, you actually see quite a lot already!

Accepting you r vision for the w ay it is also mean s accepting th e fact that you

do n ot see the same level of detail at every distance. It is common for people to

blur th eir vision b y straining to see the sam e level of detail in an object far

away that they would see in it if it were up close.

One afternoon in 1988 I was sitting at my dining room table with two friends

discussing these exciting new ideas in vision improvement.

One of my friend s is extremely nearsighted w ith astigmatism and I

asked h im to take off his glasses. We talked abou t the techniqu esand I had him take a few deep breath s, massage his face around his

eyes, blink, and accept his vision for how it is right now without

glasses. As we all continued to talk about th e relationship between

relaxation and vision, he mu st have been listening very carefully

because he suddenly exclaimed that he had experienced a flash of

clear vision and then everything went blurry again, but not nearly

as blurry as it was when he first removed his glasses.


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Relaxed Breathing

Breathing brings motion into the body and breaks up the mental stare. When

un der stress, breathing becomes shorter a nd shallower. This is also true if youstrain when seeing. Deep breathing increases the oxygen to the body, and

oxygen relaxes the nervous system . Learning to take long, deep breaths relaxes

your mind and creates a mental and physical environment beneficial to

improving eyesight.

Goal Relax your body and mind with deep breathing.

Steps Throughout the day, pause, remove your glasses, and notice your

breathing. Drop your shoulders, and let your hand s and arms rest loosely atyour side.

Inhale slowly to a count of 5 and exhale to a coun t of 10. Release all

thoughts as you exhale, and take in warm, clear sunlight as you inhale.

Take abou t 5 of these deep breaths increasing the inh alations to the count of

8 and the exhalations to the coun t of 15.

Once you increase the length, take 5 more deep breaths.

M assage

Physical and mental tension from sitting in one position too long while you

wor k, or from a poor home or w ork environm ent are all stored in your bod y as

ph ysical tension. These tension tend to collect in you r neck, up per ba ck, and

the areas in you r face around your eyes. You can relieve the tension by

massaging the critical areas. Of course, there is noth ing like a p rofessional

massage from a certified therap ist, but you can provid e relief for you rself at

any time during the day by learning these simple techniques of self-massage.

Goal Relax your body and mind with self-massage.

Steps Find a comfortable sitting position and remove y our glasses. Take a

few deep breaths with long exhalations, drop your shoulders, relax your jaw

mu scles, and b ecome awa re of the floor your feet are resting on.

Reach aroun d w ith your right hand to you r left neck and shou lder areas and

massage the mu scles. Do the same with th e left hand on your righ t neck and

shoulder areas.

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The next set of self-massage techniqu es are common ly used by school children

in China. Massage the inside eyebrow corners with your thu mbs, and u se your other

fingers slightly curled against your forehead to massage your forehead.

View of back of head,

neck, and shoulders

and areas to massage

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1



Use your thu mb and index finger to massage the bridge of your nose by

pressing d ownward, then u pward.

Place your thum bs on your lower jaw an d p lace your index and m iddle

fingers against both sid es of your nose near th e nostrils. Use your ind ex and

middle finger to massage these areas. Lower your middle fingers andmassage the same areas with your index fingers.

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1


With your fingers curled u nder an d your thu mbs on each side of your

forehead, use the sides of the index fingers to run outward following the

pattern 2-3-4-6-5.

Blinking

Blinking keeps the eyes lubricated, clean, and moist; relieves pressure; and

prevents th e mind from going into a men tal stare. It is very imp ortant to blink

when working at a compu ter because the heat and light emitting from the

monitor can dry your eyes and cause redness and irritation.

If your work requires long hours of concentration, you might go for long

periods of time without blinking. When you stop blinking, your mind goes

into a mental stare, and when your mind is in a mental stare, you stop

blinking. It is easy to break the m ental stare by getting into the h abit ofblinking frequently. People with norm al vision blink frequently an d irregularly.

EyeDrops

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Blink Frequently

Practice blinking whenever you can waiting for a meeting to begin, waiting

for a compu ter connection, while on hold on the p hone, walking d own thehallway, walking up stairs. If you find yourself in a mental stare with blurred

vision, take some time out and blink rapidly for a few minutes.

Goal Get into the h abit of blinking.

Steps Find a comfortable sitting position, relax, and remove you r glasses.

Take a few deep breaths with long exhalations and drop your shoulders.

Count an irregular rhythm an d blink wh enever you count. For example,

1,2,3 4,5 6,7,8, 9, and so on.

Blink rapid ly for several minutes.

Cover one eye with one hand and bring the other hand tow ards the open

eye. Imagine a cushion of air is being pressed against the open eye by the

hand . When your h and gets very close, let the air cushion pu sh your eye

closed. Pull your hand slowly back and allow the air cushion to suction the

eye open. Repeat with the other eye.

Hints Leave yourself a note on your m onitor, on you r desk, at home, and inyour car to remind you to practice blinking.

Healthy M ind and Body

Vision problems can be made worse by poor nutrition, lack of sleep, and

insufficient exercise. You need a h ealthy, well-rested m ind and bod y on wh ich

to build th e new habits of seeing you will learn in th is book. Check you r local

health food store, book stores, and h ealth clubs for information on eatingprop erly, getting enou gh sleep, an d exercising regularly.

Eating

Always take a meal break du ring your w ork day. If you cannot leave your

office, at least sit away from the desk or computer so you are not tempted to

eat and w ork at the same time. The break will relax your m ind, bod y, and eyes

and promote better digestion. If you are stumped over a problem, the solution

might come to you as you relax and take your m ind aw ay from the p roblem.

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Avoid snacking on junk food while you work. Keep healthy foods like apples,

carrots, or crackers and cheese around if you must snack.

Sleeping

Avoid staying up late working. It can be hard to go to sleep or your sleep

might not be restful. You shou ld stop w orking early enough so you hav e a time

to unw ind and be with loved ones before going to sleep.

Exercise

Aerobic exercise and / or w eight training are importan t to combating the men taland ph ysical tension that comes from sitting in one position for long p eriods of

time. Try to incorporate regu lar ph ysical activity into your life. Some large

compan ies have fitness centers or p rovide access to pu blic fitness centers and

health clubs for a discount. Take ad vantag e of this imp ortant ben efit if

possible.

If you do not like to exercise, get into the h abit of moving you r bod y m ore. For

example, you can move your legs while you sit, stretch your arms in the air

and arch your back, walk rather than drive, get an exercise machine to use athome while on the phone or watching television, or use exercise videos.

Mental Stress

Mental stress can result from environm ental p ressures (job, fast pace of life,

dead lines, jugg ling w ork and family respon sibilities), and m ental control must

be regained to handle the stress effectively. Try to identify stressful areas in

your life and change them or your attitude towards them so they are lessstressful. Learn to slow down, prioritize, and take things as they come.

For example, if you find you do not have enough time to accomplish

everything causing you mental anguish, take a class in time management. If

certain people aggravate you, take a course in handling difficult people or

arrange your life so you do not encounter these people very often.


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13


Healthy Habits of Seeing 2

People with norm al vision experience eyestrain on occasion, bu t generally

have clear vision. If their eyesight becomes temp orarily blurry, it soon clears

when they practice the healthy habits of seeing again because the healthy

habits of seeing m ake the eyestrain go a way. People who h ave clear vision

most of the time are u sually quite u nconscious of this process.

If you learn and incorporate the h ealthy habits of seeing into you r d aily life,you can relieve your eyestrain an d clear your v ision too. The techniqu es in the

rest of this book show you how to learn and practice the healthy habits of

seeing. Integration into Daily Life on 79 an d Workp lace, Comp uter, and

Television Eyestrain on 80 provide adv ice on h ow to incorporate the healthy

habits of seeing into your da ily life.

The healthy h abits of seeing a re the following :

Relaxed mind A relaxed mind lets images flow through the eyes and into

the mind with no mental effort to hold onto or grab at the images. True

relaxation involves a centralized mind and an awareness of motion.

Centralized m ind A centralized m ind sees by focusing w ith interest on one

tiny point best, and m oves quickly to the next point. A mind not centralized

attemp ts to take in everything at the same time and w ith the same degree of

focus. A centralized m ind is fully relaxed and perceives motion.

Your eyes are designed to see a series of small details in succession, and not

take in large chunks of visual information. The part of the retina with themost visu al acuity is the fovea. The fovea is a very tiny inden tation in the

central portion of th e retina that, because of its size, can receive only one

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2

14 Healthy Habits of Seeing


small point of light a t a time, bu t receives the p oint w ith acute clarity. The

fovea sends an impulse to the mind once and is ready for the next impulse.

If you tr ain your mind to relax, shift, and see small points w ith interest, the

light strikes precisely on the retina and the fovea receives numerous pointsof light and sends the impulses directly to the mind in succession with

extreme clarity.

Motion A mind that p erceives motion is awa re of objects falling aw ay in

the op posite direction as the p hysical body m oves throug h sp ace. This sense

of motion is an illusion, but is a very n ecessary comp onent for clear vision.

A blur results whenever the mind tries to stop motion in mu ch the same

way a photograph blurs when a camera uses too slow a shu tter speed to

capture a still image of a moving object. People w ith norm al vision h ave anunconscious perception of motion all the time because a perception of

motion is everywh ere whenever the bod y moves. Any attempt to mentally

stop motion creates eyestrain and blurs the vision.

Eye and M ind Coordination

A relaxed and centralized mind that perceives motion in the world around is

coordinated with the eyes. Eye and mind coordination means the mind is

present an d interested in w hat it is looking at. It never becomes stuck on a p ast

or present moment by holding onto or grabbing at images, but lets visual

images flow through the eyes and m ental thoughts flow through th e mind

without effort. As soon as you try to hold onto or grab at the images or

thoughts that come into your mind , your eyes and m ind are not coordinated.

These attempts at control only make your ability to see and your mental

processes less efficient. The eyes and mind are d esigned to register a single

image or thought instantly and then go on to the n ext. Holding onto and

grabbing at images and thoughts gets in the way of the natural w orkings ofyou eyes and mind.

The reason you try to hold onto and grab at visual and mental images is that

you are unconsciously either sticking in the past or jumping into the future. If

your attention is easily divided between two activities to the point that you

lose your sense of being present in the world, your eyes and mind are not

coordinated and you cannot practice the healthy habits of seeing. This is

because the division puts your m ind into an unrelaxed and u ncentralized state.

Not b eing present m akes it impossible for you to perceive the illusion ofmotion as your body moves in space. In fact, your body might not be moving

at all!

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Hu man beings are complex creatures. They can let visual images flow throu gh

their eyes and into their m ind w hile mental thoughts flow into the mind.

Sometimes the mental thoughts are stimulated by the images flowing in, and

sometimes the mental thou ghts seemingly come from now here. Your m ind an deyes can lose coordination if your mind is taken away by the mental or visual

images, but as long as you remain present and aware of your surround ings,

eye and mind coordination is there regardless of the number of images and

thoughts flowing through your mind .

Goal Be present.

Steps Practice this techn ique as often as you can to establish an d maintain

eye and m ind coordination throughou t the day.

Remove your glasses and take a few deep breaths.

Sit in a comfortable chair with your feet firmly on the floor.

Be aw are of the floor beneath you r feet.

Keep the awareness of the floor and add an awareness of the chair you are

sitting on. Feel the seat beneath you and the backrest behind you.

Put your arms on the armrest (if there is one) and notice how the armrest

feels holding your arms.

Do some deep breathing and think of something pleasant or listen to music

w hile you keep a sense of your feet on the floor and how it feels to sit in th e

chair.

Transfer this technique to a stand ing p osition by feeling the floor beneath

your feet. Do this whenever you are standing in line or standing and

waiting for someone or something.

Explanation When you are taken aw ay with you r thoughts, you lose theph ysical sense of being in the world. A good w ay to bring your mind back and

coordinate it with your eyes is to become aware of your body in the world. If

you maintain this awareness while you think and see, your eyes and mind will

remain coordinated an d you will not be taken aw ay by your thou ghts.

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Joy

The value of joy in your life cannot be underestimated. Joy opens your heart

and mind, increases your energy, and brings wonderful feelings. Mentaltensions and negative emotions like anger and animosity cannot be present

wh en joy is present. The m ind cannot fix on an ything because joy is

movement.

When you are in a joyful state, you are present in the world in a happy way.

Seek out activities and peop le who make y ou feel joyful. If you can tran sfer a

feeling of joy to how you practice the techniqu es presented in this book, you

will make better p rogress than you wou ld w ithout a feeling of joy. A joyful

mind is coordinated with the eyes and happily accepts images without tensionor jud gment.

Think of something that brings you joy grandchildren, music, dancing, a

favorite restaurant, special people, singing and take a few deep breaths.

Eyestrain will leave you immediately as you achieve a restful and happy state

of mind throu gh joy. Let the feeling of joy infiltrate you r m ind and body.

I particularly like to u se the Long sw ing d escribed in Chapter 3,

Motion to get my body and mind into a happy and joyful state. I

found that many of students had this same experience. Joy is

awakened by motion and mu sic which are the major components

in the Long swing technique.

Shifting

When the mind is in a restful state of interest and happiness, the eyes have a

natural and pleasing sparkle and the eyeballs have a smooth shifting motion.

Shifting is the involuntary movement of the eyes that allows you to scan anentire scene and pick out th e minu test details. The n ormal eye shifts 70 to 100

times per second to see all details in a scene clearly. With eyestrain and blurred

vision, the sh ifting of the eyes has an erratic, sticking or jum ping motion w hich

causes details to be missed and indicates an unfocused state of mind. Shifting

breaks the mental fixing and jumping of the mind.

Shifting occurs when you let your head move and allow your eyes to follow

your nose, so you are in effect looking with your nose. People with clear vision

never try to see. If they cannot see a p oint, they shift to another p oint. They

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move from point to point while the mind notices and registers what is in front

of their eyes. Shifting is an un conscious p rocess for person s w ith clear vision,

and can be consciously learned by others.

Shifting techniqu es teach you to let you r eyes follow as you r bod y, head, an d

nose move to look at something. This method breaks the mental tendency to

hold onto and grab at incoming visual images and increases shifting.

Your eyes contain a vitreous fluid similar to lymp h. In the same w ay that

muscle action moves lymph through the lymph nodes and cleanses it, shifting

moves the vitreous fluid in th e eyeballs. The more you m ove your bod y and let

your eyes follow you r nose, the m ore you w ill shift. When th ere is a lack of

shifting, the vitreous fluid becomes sluggish and the result can be blur red

vision.

N ote Do not practice any one technique presented in this book for so long

you become tired and strain on the technique. Have fun, relax, and stay

interested because relaxation an d interest are critical to ma intaining good

vision. If you are not making progress with a particular technique, return to

short period s of sunn ing, palming, shifting, and sw inging (described below) to

restore the relaxed state, and find a d ifferent techniqu e to try.

This simple technique gives you a beginning idea of what shifting involves.

The techniqu es that follow bu ild on th e basic ideas you learn here and provid e

add itional w ays to increase shifting.

Goal Increase the shifting of your eyes and mind.

Steps Practice this several times a da y. Put a note in an easy place to see to

remind you to practice shifting.

Remove your glasses and take a deep breath.

Extend your arm and hold your index finger in front of your face.

Move your head from side-to-side.

Notice how your finger moves to the right as your head turns left, and

mov es to the left as your h ead tu rns right. Do not let your eyes stick on your

finger, but follow your nose as your head swings in either direction.

Continue doing this for several minutes until you are comfortable with it.

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Hints Elongate your head a nd n eck to reduce the strain on your head , neck,

and spine. Do not stick on the object as you shift past it. You might tend to lead

with your eyes when you move your h ead, or let your eyes hang behind .

Follow your nose to counteract these tendencies.

Shifting at y our Computer

After practicing the shifting technique above, apply it to your computer.

Goal Increase the shifting of your eyes and mind.

Steps Practice this several times a d ay. Put a n ote on you r mon itor to remind

you to p ractice shifting.

Remove your glasses and take a deep breath.

Look at a corner of your monitor and move your head from side-to-side.

Notice the corner move the right as you r head goes left, and m ove to the left

as your head goes right.

Take another deep breath and rock your body from side-to-side so your

head an d bod y move together.

Keep the awareness of the corner of the monitor moving in the opposite

direction from the direction of your head and body.

Take another deep breath, keep you r body rocking, and m ove your h ead

letting your eyes follow to the computer desktop.

As your body, head, and eyes move, start noticing individual items on your

computer desktop.

Notice the backgroun d color.

Notice the foreground color.

Notice the shap es and colors of the icons.

Notice the applications you have running.

Do not p ause on any item, but let your gaze continue aroun d the desktop

by moving your head and letting your eyes follow.

Hints Interest and relaxation are the keys. If you keep your interest in the

individual objects on the desktop as you shift over the desktop, you will

counteract the tendency to take in the entire desktop or large chunks of thedesktop at once. Elongate your head and neck to reduce the strain on your

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head , neck, and spin e. Do not stick on th e object as you shift past it. You m ight

tend to lead with your eyes when you move you r head, or let your eyes hang

behind. Follow your nose to counteract these tendencies.

Long-Term Vision Improvement

If you are like many people, you probably found that shifting and

incorporating th e healthy h abits of seeing relaxation, centralization, and

motion are very d ifferent from h ow you norm ally see. The challenge is to

make this new w ay of seeing u nconscious and p ermanent, and is perhaps, the

biggest challenge for imp roving eyesight over the long term because you have

to change how you u se your mind to see.

To make th e mental shift, you m ust be fully present and interested in wh at you

see. You h ave to break th e habit of drifting off into space with you r thou ghts,

or getting into a fixed gaze (mental stare) without blinking when you

concentrate. You h ave to learn to close your eyes an d palm (described below ),

notice motion, or find interesting details, when you eyes and mind feel tired

and you are tempted to drift off with your thou ghts or go into a mental stare.

People with severe nearsight are very prone to poor mental habits of seeing

and can find it particularly difficult to imp rove their eyesight on th eir own . Ifafter using this book, you find you are not making much progress by yourself,

check local health food stores, book stores, or alternative new spap ers for

advertisements by teachers who provide one-on-one instruction in natural

methods of vision improvement based on the Bates method.

As long as healthy habits of seeing are p art of your life, you w ill not experience

eyestrain and your eyesight will be improved. However, circumstances can

create opportunities for poor vision habits to subtly return. If your eyesight

was normal once and is now less than normal, undoubtedly this is exactly

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With comp uter w ork, you h ave to be especially vigilant particularly if you

spend long hours at a time working at your comp uter. The nature of the work

can make you highly prone to acquiring poor vision habits or making existing

poor vision habits worse, which can ultimately blur your vision.

Sunn ing and Palming

Sunning and palming are effective techniques to relax your eyes and increase

their shifting. The motion a nd centralization techniques in later chap ters help

you maintain the shifting while you are engaged in other activities.

Sunning accustoms your eyes to light and palming accustoms your eyes to

dar k. The fovea is stimulated by light, and light causes th e nerve cells of theeye to replenish visual pu rple. You m ay see sunsp ots (a rosy or p urp le light)

when sunning especially if your eyes are not used to light because visual

purple is depleted by light and replenished by darkness (palming).

Sunning should always be followed by palming to build up the ability of the

eyes to replenish visual purple. Never sun without palming; however, you can

palm without sunning.

Sunning

Your eyes are light receptors constructed to respond to light. Good v ision is a

highly developed sense of light perception, and people and animals living in

bright light have the keenest eyesight.

If you w ork in a w indow less area, chances are your eyes do n ot receive enough

natural light. Some people like to work in very dark offices when at their

compu ters because it cuts th e glare and increases contrasts on the screen.

Unfortun ately, these pr actices ultimately m ake you r eyes overly sensitive to

natural light, and if your eyes cannot handle light, they cannot see well.

Disadvantages t o Su nglasses

Because the eyes require light and dar k contrasts to function prop erly,

sung lasses inhibit the operation of the eyes and their ability to replenish visual

purple. Sunglasses keep this valuable light away from the eyes and also cause

a lowering of your energy level.

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N ote Ultraviolet light can cause cataract and m acular d egeneration. If you

have an eye condition that requires you to wear sunglasses to keep out

ultraviolet light, get the lightest tint you can find so your pupils do not dilate

and make sure the tag states the sunglasses block ultraviolet light.

Su nn ing with a Shifter and Full Spectrum Lighting

Sunning teaches you to let light into your eyes without judgment. A reaction

that light is too brigh t is a judgm ent. Light is just light. Without light, you see

nothing because there are no contrasts, no color, no shadows, nothing to

stimulate you r vision vision is not p ossible w ithout light!

Goal Accustom your eyes to light. Your eyes will adjust betw een light and

dark more quickly once you become accustomed to sunning and palming.

Sun ning is don e with a shifter and a full spectrum light. A shifter is made from

heavy black cardboard . A shifter is about 30 inches long an d 6 inches w ide

with a row of slats cut across the midd le. You can m ake your ow n shifter to the

following specifications:

A full spectrum light can be p urchased at a sp eciality lighting store or d irectly

from a distributor. The brighter the light the better because you w ant you r eyes

to be able to even tually han dle a lot of bright light. A 150 watt fu ll-spectrum

30 inches

6

2-1/ 4 inches 3/ 4 inch 3/ 4 inch

inches

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flood light is good. However, any full spectrum light or natural sunlight will

wor k in the mean time. The full spectrum light w orks best in a gooseneck lamp

so it can be pointed directly onto your eyelids.

Steps Practice this techniqu e for 10 - 15 minutes at a time. For most p eople,

once a d ay is enou gh. If you are extremely light sen sitive, sun twice a d ay. It

can take 2 - 3 weeks to ov ercome a high degree of light sensitivity.

Remove your glasses.

Lower the neck of the lamp so the full spectrum light is pointing towards

you at a comfortable distance.

H old the shifter in front of your face, turn on th e light, and move th e shifter

back and forth between your face and the light while moving your head in

the op posite direction. This makes the brigh t light flicker on you r eyelids.

Explanation The distance of the light from your eyes depends on your

current sensitivity to light. In time you will be able to tolerate more direct light

by moving the lamp closer because the fovea will be conditioned to handle alot of light stimulation.

Hints Sunning can be done by alternating eyes open and closed. Always

start with your eyes closed. If your eyes are open, do not lead with your eyes,

but let you r attention scan across the shifter. If you find your eyes are tight or

dry after sunn ing, you sunn ed too long. Palm to alleviate the tightness and use

eye drops to alleviate the dryness.

shifter

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It is easier to relax when your eyes and mind are not constantly stimulated by

visual inpu t. The goal of palm ing is to create a restful state and to maintain

that restful state throughout the d ay wh en you blink.

Palming can be done any time du ring the day w hen your eyes and mind feel

tired. Always follow sunning with palming to further accustom your eyes to

dark and light contrasts and replenish the visual purp le.

Creating a Restful State

Goal Get into the habit of taking frequen t breaks from your bu sy day to palm

and refresh your mind.

Steps Palm at least 6 times a d ay for a minimu m of 5 minutes at a time. The

ability to palm for a long period of time and maintain the restful mental state

when not palming comes with practice.

Find a comfortable place to sit in a chair w ith a table in front of you.

Remove your glasses.

Rub and shake your hand s to relax them.

Massage your eyes as described in Massage on 6.

Breathe from the abdominal area.

Lean over from the hips and place your elbows on a desk or table on

something soft (a p illow, pile of papers, or a coat or sw eater will work).

Place your palms over your eyes to shut out as much light as possible.

Maintain a positive frame of mind.

Devote the first 3 -5 minutes (or 35 - 45 breaths) to being aw are of your

breathing. Take in the pu re air, exhale it and imag ine the wor ld d ripp ing offyour shoulders and that you have no cares in the w orld.

After being aw are of your breath ing wh ile palming, pu t on some nice music.

If you are in an open w ork area, you might have to use head ph ones for this.

Music helps you achieve centralization because the mind centralizes on the

mu sic. Music also causes your m ind to mov e with the mu sic wh ich aw akens

your sense of motion. The best mu sic for palming is gentle and flow ing w ith

one or two lead instruments rather than a complicated orchestral piece.

Explanation Effective palming changes the state of your nervou s system,

establishes a centralized state of mind, and awakens your sense of motion.


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Awakening a Sense of Space

If you spend a lot of time focusing at one distance (such as working on a

computer, working at a desk, sewing, or painting for hours), your eyes haveprobably lost some of their ability to shift scale and see clearly w ithout

eyestrain at varying distances. When you look up , objects a little w ay off may

be in a blur wh ile the objects close up that you are looking at are in focus.

Objects blur w hen you look up after focusing at one d istance because the mind

is still at the focus point w hile the eyes attemp t to see at a different p oint. If

you think of the object and where it is before you look at it, your mind shifts

scale before you look at th e object with your eyes. Shifting scale helps you

maintain eye and mind coordination.

Shiftin g Scale General

Goal Learn to sh ift scale so your eyes can focus at a ll distances.

Steps Practice this whenever you spend time focusing at the same distance.

Blink your eyes and think of an object in th e room at a different d istance

from the on e you have been focusing a t. It can be someth ing like an object

on your d esk or a poster on the w all.


Briefly look up at the object.

Repeat w ith other objects at d ifferent d istances.

Hints Keep a feeling of your feet on the floor and the chair you are sitting

in. Also develop a sense of things beh ind y ou. It is easier to shift scale wh en

you are present and interested in what you are looking at.

Shiftin g Scale Compu ter

If you w ork at a comp uter, practice the general shifting scale technique an d

this technique.

Goal Learn to shift scale while working at your computer.

Steps Practice this frequently while working at your computer.

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Place interesting pictures or objects in you r w ork area tha t are easy to see

from your position at the computer. Behind the monitor, on your desk near

the comp uter, on the ceiling, on the w alls to either side or above the

compu ter are some possibilities. Blink your eyes and think of on e of the p ictures or objects.


Look up from the monitor at the picture or object.

Repeat w ith other objects and pictures at d ifferent d istances.

Hints Keep a feeling of your feet on the floor and the chair you are sitting

in. Also develop a sense of things beh ind y ou. It is easier to shift scale wh en

you are present and interested in what you are looking at.

Using Affirmations

Use the following affirmation to establish and widen your sense of space:

My world gets bigger and bigger every day

Using Visualizations

Goal Develop a sense of space around you and the objects you look at.

Steps Practice this technique several times a day, when you get up in the

morning, and before you go to bed.

Find a comfortable sitting position and remove your glasses.

Take a few deep breaths with long exhalations and relax your shoulders,

relax your jaw muscles, and become aware of the floor beneath your feet.


Close your eyes and sense the space around you.

Gradually push the space out in all directions by imagining the objects

around you while maintaining an awareness of the floor beneath your feet.

Explanation An awareness of space is important for being present in the

world and maintaining eye and m ind coordination.

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Hints Feeling th e sky is a cap ov er your head and sense objects behind you

at the h orizon.


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29


Motion 3

There are two types of motion: real physical motion and the perception of

motion.

Real motion When you r eyesight is quite blurry, you most likely have a

very diminished or non-existent perception of water flowing downstream,

grasses and flowers swaying in the wind, or leaves rustling in trees.

Perception of motion When you r eyesight is quite blurry, you most likelyhave a very diminished or non-existent perception of the appearance of

objects moving in the opposite direction when you move your bodies

through space.

To relieve eyestrain and clear you r vision, it is very imp ortant to a wa ken a

sense of both types of motion. When your sense of motion is awakened, your

eyes shift, the mental stare is broken, you have eye and mind coordination,

your circulation and breathing are improved, and you are in a state of alert

interest. An awareness of motion helps your mind move quickly andeffortlessly from p oint to point as you take in the scene before you. It means

your m ind is here and n ot stuck in thou ght somewhere else.

This chapter covers many techniques to awaken the sense of motion. The next

chapter Chap ter 4, Centralized State of Mind explains how to transfer your

awakened sense of motion to seeing details.

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30 Motion


Dodging

Dodging is moving your mind and eyes away from a point you see clearly to

keep th e relaxed state of mind that created th e clear vision. Eyes natu rally

move away from what they see clearly. If you stare at your computer screen

fixing on p oints wh ile you try to reason ou t a problem, you w ill create have an

eyestrain that can blur your vision.

Whenever you set your gaze on a point, immed iately move your gaze to

another point or close your eyes (dodge to closed eyes).

At the computer, shift your gaze around the display by moving your h ead

and letting your eyes follow your nose. Close your eyes or use eye drops if

your eyes become tired.

Volunt ary and Involuntary eye M ovement

The eyes can move in two ways: voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary eye

movement is when you consciously move your eyeballs. Involuntary eye

movement is when your head moves and your eyes follow.

Involuntary eye movement is the same thing as shifting while voluntary eye

movement can create eyestrain. Involuntary movement is more rapid than

voluntary eye movement and is essential for normal vision. You can stimulate

involuntary eye movement w ith blinking, sunning, palming, dod ging, and

swinging (described below). Sw ings are par ticularly effective for establishing

involuntary eye movement and increasing shifting.

Voluntary eye movement Hold your head still and move your eyes from

side to side or up and down.

Involuntary eye movement Move you r head from side to side. N otice the difference in the m ovemen t.

As your mind moves over the points, notice the points left behind.

Move your head while you look at a corner of your computer m onitor or

something on your desk. Notice the difference in the movement. As your

mind moves over the points, notice the points left behind.

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Motion 31


Swings

Swing s are a family of techniques th at increase shifting (involuntary eye

movement) and awaken your sense of motion. This family of techniques is

called swings because they involve physically swinging your body and

mentally noticing how objects appear to swing in the opposite direction.

Swings teach you to see with your whole being from the back of your head,

and to let your mind lead and the eyes follow. Once you learn to swing, you

should keep a short swing going throughout the d ay to maintain a perception

of motion at all times and keep your mind present and interested in what you

are seeing.

In 1988 I worked with a student w ho had no sense of motion and her mindwas in an extreme m ental stare. She came to m e for lessons to relieve her

eyestrain and improve her vision. The first things I taught her were blinking

and swings.

With great attention and perseverance for several days she

developed the habit of normal blinking and put herself completely

into motion by practicing swings all day. Her new blinking habits

and awakened sense of motion improved her vision tremendou sly

and her wh ole being changed.

Finger Swing Technique

The Finger swing is the first step to noticing relative motion. Relative motion is

the appearance of stationary objects moving relative to your own movement

very much like when you drive in a car and the road and scenery falls away

behind you.

Goal Get into th e habit of seeing by letting you r eyes follow you r nose.

Steps Use this techniqu e from time to time to break th e menta l stare.

Take off your glasses and relax.


H old a finger 6 inches in front of your nose and a little to the side.

Move your head from side to side letting your eyes follow your nose to

prevent you from moving your eyes separately from your head. The finger

app ears to move in the op posite direction of your head.

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32 Motion


Close your eyes and imagine the motion of the finger as you swing your

head.

Explanation Stationary objects move in relation to you r m ovemen t. When

you n otice this, a sense of motion is awaken ed on objects that are stationaryand moving. If you just move your eyes, there is no appearance of motion.

Paying attention to motion brings you into the moment and relaxes your mind

so you can register images w ithout effort.

Hints Keep your attention on the object moving rather than on your own

movement.

Drifting SwingPeople with norm al sight scan the horizon, get th eir sense of place in space,

and scan around the landscape. The Drifting swing is the first step in learning

to scan a scene.

Goal Scan and notice subtle variations.

Steps Practice scann ing at all times at your compu ter, wh en reasoning ou t

problems, or thinking of persons and places far away.

Take off your glasses and relax.


Move your head an d think of your nose as a paint brush or pointer while

you look through your eyes at interesting items on your desk or on your

computer desktop at a comfortable distance.

As you drift, notice something about the items that interests you. For

examp le, their size, shape, color, texture, or contrasts.

Incorporate an aw areness of the scene swinging in the op posite direction as

you move your head.

Explanation Moving your head causes your eyes to shift properly and

prevents you r mind from grabbing at images. When you notice that objects are

not fixed to a point, the stare is broken and motion is sensed.

Hints If you do not get a sense of motion, adjust the distance and focus on

objects closer to you or farther aw ay un til they ap pear to m ove in the opp osite

direction from the direction your head is moving.

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Motion 33


Trailing or leading w ith you r eyes inhibits the shifting. Let you r eyes follow

your nose as you m ove your head.

Shift over more than two points in the scene to help prevent your eyes from

jumping from one point to another.

Be aw are of small par ts within th e scene rath er than trying to take in the en tire

scene at on ce. If you try to see the entire scene withou t allowing the eyes to

shift across it, the scene app ears blurred .

Think of your eyes as two big wind ows the m ind is looking through.

Remember that vision is the mind looking through the eyes.

Short Swing

Use a short swing to shift over small points whenever you need to look at a

small point for a long time,

Goal Practice short swings to reestablish the natu ral movem ent of the eyes

and overcome the mental stare. If you can keep a short sway going all day,

your vision will imp rove d rama tically.

Steps Practice with your head, body, and imagination. Start at the distancewhere you see best without glasses.

Head swing Move your head from side to side letting your eyes follow

your nose to shift across three points in front of you . If you are at a

compu ter, shift across three points on your d isplay. Allow th e movem ent of

your head to move the eyes involuntarily while your attention stays with

your gaze. Gradually decrease the number of points to two, and finally one.

Body sw ay Stand comfortably with your legs apa rt. Move your bod y from

side to side letting your eyes follow you r nose w hile shifting acrosssomething of interest in front of you. The sway should be about the same

width as the object you are looking at. Sway with your eyes open and with

your eyes closed sensing th e movem ent of the object in front of you . When

the mov ement becomes very noticeable, shorten th e sway to mak e the swing

smaller. Take frequent breaks during your work day to practice this.

Variable swing Do a shor t swing with an object at a comfortable distance

(phone, lamp, plant) and be aware of a different object at about the same

distance in your peripheral vision moving nearby (pencil holder, book,poster).

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34 Motion


At the near point Do a short swing on an object close to you and be

aware of a different object moving in your peripheral vision in the

distance.

At the far point Do a short swing with an object far from you and beaware of a different object moving in your periphery nearby. Do a short

swing with an object far from you and be aware of objects moving up

close.

Memory swing Use a short body sway to see the motion of an object at a

comfortable distance. Close your eyes an d rem ember th e sense of motion as

you continue to sway. Open your eyes and notice motion at a distance

w here you d id not n otice it before wh ile you rem ember the sense of motion

as it w as at th e comfortable distance. Try d ifferent d istances. Keep the sense

of motion going in your imagination.

Explanation The involuntar y m otion of your eyes is a reflection of the

natu ral moving an d sh ifting of the mind . Your atten tion shifts natu rally from

one side to the other of any p oint. The mem ory swing sets the sense of motion

deeper into your mind.

Hints Maintain looseness as you look at smaller and smaller objects. Shifting

over 3 points breaks the tendency of the eyes to jump from one point to

another. Learn to move you r attention w ithout m oving you r eyes. Yourattention should be on the m ovemen t of the scene, and not on th e movemen t of

your bod y. Sometimes there is a tend ency for the eyes to stay w ith the object

instead of moving with the head or body especially when the body sway is

shortened. Let your eyes follow your nose and shift over the object.

Objects appear to move differently depending on how close they are to you

and wh ere you look. If the focus is in th e distance, close things have a more

dramatic movement. If the focus is close up, far things have a more dramatic

movement.

Long Swing

The Long swing is one of the best ways to wake up your sense of motion,

increase shifting, and achieve eye and mind coordination. The Long swing

brings flexibility to th e bod y, wh ich in turn , makes th e mind more flexible.

Compare your sense of motion before and after you do the long swing.


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The groun d is conn ected to city so the city is also moving


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Motion 37


The groun d is conn ected to city, so the city is also moving.

The city is connected to other cities, so all cities are also moving.

The cities are connected to th e state, so the state is also moving.

The state is connected to the countr y, so the country is also mov ing.

The country is conn ected to the Atlantic and Pacific so they are a lso moving.

The country and the seas are part of earth, so the earth is also moving.

The earth is connected to space and stars, so these are also moving.

Stop the body sway and let your mind swing.

Come back to the and maintain a sense it is s still moving. Open your eyes.

Notice that anything that you pu t your attention on app ears to move.

Keep the subtle und ercurrent of the swing as you slowly look around.

Keep the swing while you stand up and slowly take one step at a time. If

you lose the swing, get it back before you take another step. Attach persp ective lines between you an d th e swinging objects so all things

appear to swing in a straight line together.

Explanation The Un iversal swings takes the sense of motion to a v ery d eep

and complete level within your being. If you incorp orate it into your d aily life,

you will be present and alert in the world with a solid awareness of the

periphery, and have an awakened sense of motion.

Hints During the swing, maintain a sense of connectedness to the swinging

objects and a feeling of space around you. If you lose the aw areness of motion

when you look at something, close your eyes and sway. When you open your

eyes, notice color, shap es, details, and one p art best. N otice motion in

everything. Look at an object and without moving your body, use the constant

motion within you to imagine its pulsing motion.

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38 Motion



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39


CentralizedStateofMind 4

A centralized state of mind is when your mind focuses with a relaxed interest

on on e tiny point at a time, and mov es quickly, but u nconsciously, to the next

point. When you have a centralized state of mind, you see best where you are

looking and less clearly where you are not looking. The state of seeing on e part

best is also called central fixation.

Central fixation can be demonstrated by looking through a pinhole in a card.

The objects seen through the pinhole appear clear because your mind is

looking through a tiny point which forces it to centralize. When your mind is

in a state of central fixation, your eyes shift over the entire scene tak ing in

crisp, clear details one at a time without judgment. Judgment prevents a

centralized mind because details judged are details not perceived as they are.

Central fixation is absent wh en there is no sense of motion, the mind and body

are not relaxed, and there is no central point of vision because the mind and

eyes grab and try see too much at one time. The only way you see more is to be

relaxed and present with a centralized state of mind. The goal of central

fixation is to see with sharp clarity, not to just recognize shapes. To see with

sharp clarity, central fixation mu st be p racticed withou t effort.

Vision bu ilding techniques for central fixation do two things: build interest in

detail and bring u p th e periphera l vision. You can alternate between both types

of techniqu es. It is not n ecessary to be good at one to pr actice the other.

One Saturday after a hard week I was in m y backyard spraying

weeds. My mind was off dealing with tensions and unresolvedissues from the p revious week w hen I became aware of the fact that


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4

Let your eyes follow you r nose as you shift over the entire scene picking u p


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Centralized St ateof M ind 41


interesting details.

Close your eyes and palm.

Open your eyes and repeat, but this time notice details you missed the first

time.

Practice this technique at different distances (closer if you are farsighted and

farther away if you are nearsighted).

Transfer this technique to your computer desktop. That is, let your eyes

follow your nose as you shift over your computer desktop picking up

interesting details.

Explanation When you notice what you see, you see more because you are

present and centralizing on more details.

Hints Do not focus on w hat you d o not see, but on wh at you d o see, and d o

not strain to see what you cannot see.

Seeing One Part Best

Goal Learn to focus on one point at a time.

Steps See one part best as you go about your daily life.

Find a shape on the picture and shift your eyes over it noticing that the

point you are looking at is the point you see best.

Do not stop on the point you see best, but continue to the next point

immediately.

Transfer this technique to your computer desktop. That is, shift your eyes

over something on your desktop seeing one part best.

Explanation Central fixation h elps you see with th e fovea of your eye. The

fovea is the part of the retina capable of the m ost acute vision.

Hints Never test your vision. Instead, see one part best or notice motion.

Being Aw are of M otion

Goal Be aware of motion as you shift around the picture.

4

Steps As you see one part best and shift over the picture, make sure you

h d d i h j l k d i


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42 Centralized State of Mind


move your head and notice the part you just looked at moving away as your

eyes focus on the next part. Transfer this technique to your computer desktop.

Explanation The field of vision is focused at a constantly moving point. Thisrequires eye and mind coordination where the conscious mind is centralized

and the unconscious mind is aware of the periphery.

Hints Notice that the previous point is less distinct from what the eyes are

currently noticing. Cultivate the state of mind where something is always

being left behind . Move on (shift) withou t being stuck (even p artly) on the last

point. Point with you r nose, move your h ead, and allow interest to be there. Do

not test your vision. Instead, see one part best or notice motion.

Varying the Distance

Goal Have a centralized state of mind an d an aw areness of motion w hen

looking at p ictures at different d istances.

Steps When you become comfortable at one distance seeing one part best

and shifting over the picture with an awareness of motion, move the picture

closer to you if you are farsighted or farther away if you are nearsighted.

Transfer this techn ique to your compu ter desktop by mov ing your chair closer

or further aw ay, or changing th e size of the screen font.

Explanation Details perceived in the d istance are different from details

perceived close up.

Hints Focus on wh at you d o see rather than on w hat you d o not see. Keep

looking at one part best with an awareness of motion at the new distance. If

you strain, you will not be able to do this. If you find y ou are straining, change

the d istance to a comfortable distance.

Sun ning and Central Fixation

Goal Use full spectrum lighting to p ractice central fixation.

Steps Sun using tw o full spectrum lights w here one light is brighter than th e

other. As you mov e your head , notice the d ifference in the brightn ess of the

lights and that one light moves away as the second light comes into view.

4

Explanation This is a useful technique if you tend to strain wh en p racticing

central fixation on pictures or objects


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central fixation on pictures or objects.

Peripheral VisionPracticing central fixation establishes p eripheral v ision b ecause to see one part

best, there must be other parts on the periphery within the scene that you see

less clearly. As your eyes learn to shift over a wid er area, the perip hery

becomes wid er. When you look with interest, your a ttention is effortless and

you see one par t best with an aw areness of details and m otion in the periph ery.

Peripheral vision practices help farsighted p ersons get interested in seeing on e

small detail in relation to the entire scene, and nearsighted persons op en up tothe world around them rather than closing peripheral details out of their field

of vision.

Opening Peripheral Vision

Goal Keep th e periph eral vision op en w hen p racticing central fixation.

Steps Isolate an object in the p icture or on your compu ter desktop and notice

whether the object is more interesting by itself or in relation to other objects inthe picture.

Explanation This allows you to u se your w hole field of vision and see more

details. For some people, the peripheral perception comes gradually after

moving from point to point has been practiced for awhile.

Hints If the point you are looking at is less clear than the p oint in the

periphery, you are practicing eccentric fixation. Eccentric fixation is when the

diameter of the center point is so wide is has blurred from the effort toconcentrate at the center. Since central fixation is an involun tary techniqu e,

eccentric fixation d iminishes and finally goes aw ay if you a llow interest to

come up while you shift between points of interest. Be sure the picture you

have is colorful w ith a lot of interesting details, or play w ith the backgrou nd

and colors on your m onitor to make your comp uter d esktop m ore interesting.

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44 Centralized State of Mind


Goal Think of the p oints you are not looking at d irectly as less clear than the

point you are currently looking at (the reverse of seeing the point you are

looking at best).

Steps Shift over a card, picture, or your computer desktop from point to

point seeing the point not looked at as less distinct. Move the card or picture

further away or m ove your chair back from your compu ter and repeat, but

now be aware that the card, picture, or computer is in the room as part of the

whole scene.

Hints Ask you rself if you see a d ifference in clarity betw een the point

looked at directly and the points not looked at. As your vision clears withpractice, start compa ring closer and closer points. Cu ltivate a sen se of space

around you to widen your field of vision when you notice points in the

periph ery. Do not m ove to close points if you feel a strain. Blink and palm to

prevent or alleviate any strain.

Short Swing

Pick an object in your environment and be aware of it moving in your

periphery all day.

Notice the obvious m otion of close objects in you r p eriphery a s you look at

more distant objects that do not appear to be moving. This will transfer the

sense of motion to the d istant objects.

Universal Swing

The Universal swing helps farsighted persons get interested in seeing onesmall detail in relation to the entire scene, and helps nearsighted persons op en

up to the world around them rather than closing peripheral details out of their

field of vision. Practice the Universal sw ing w ith m usic for 10 to 15 minu tes at

the beginning of the day an d carry the swing with you throu ghout the d ay.

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PracticeHints


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The following suggestions for pr actice involve noticing color, contrasts, and

details in a p icture at a comfortable distance. Practice these suggestions as

described, then transfer them to your compu ter desktop.

Notice detail in front of you. Take a picture and seek out th e d etails. Take

the picture away and describe the picture. To remember something, you

have to scan aroun d an d see every point w ith one par t best. Different d e

natural relief for eyestrain from computer use

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