optimums at work

I’m working the majority of days now without glasses.  Although my work is often a pessimum, I’m improving that by finding things at my desk that are optimums.  Taking a break now and then to shift my gaze to a photograph from my wedding helps.  There’s also a flag above my screen, a chinese mask I got as a gift hanging on the wall to the left, and to the right, there is a blue circle in a white square on two doors in the distance.  I can shift between the further one and the near one which is quite relaxing.  As I work, I often glance at one of these things and find that overall that keeps me more relaxed and working a greater distnace from my screen (without glasses!).

Probably the single most useful thing I do is to keep a small book with notes in it of all the things that help me.  Everything from wiggling my toes to ways of practicing central fixation on the chart.  From one end of the book I can page through and each page has a sentence of something I can do every 10 minutes at work to loosen up (some stretches and reminders to palm and look out the window, etc).  Coming from the other side are more daily reminders of motivation, things to keep in my head like a positive mantra or reminder to remove my glasses.

Christmas Gift

Dr. Bates and Emily always provided some gifts and Christmas cheer for the blind and the poor children who were among their patients.  In this tradition, cleareyesight.info is offering a gift to everyone.  Click on the link for more information.  Here is the message from Clark Night:

We at http://www.cleareyesight.info are giving our books including Better Eyesight Magazines free for the months of November and December.

Thanks so much Clark Night!  I know a lot of people (including me) appreciate all the help you give through correspondence, on iblindness, and on your website.

Palming lessons

Palming with the memory of black really works well for me.  With my eyes open, if I can keep the memory, it seems to center my vision.  Remembering one thing best seems to help me see one thing best.  I had never made this connection until now, I think it’s the most important thing I’ve learned in a while!  I managed to ‘center’ my vision using the memory of a black spot on a vase last week, and the result was seeing the 20 line letters from 10 feet just as dark and clear as I can see them at 6 inches!

I’ve been practicing the memory of black with palming every day for about 15 minutes.  I then noticed after a few days that it no longer improved my vision.  I realized that I had changed my attitude.  Instead of intending to relax while palming and practicing the memory of black, I was intending to test my sight directly afterwards.  I think I will stop testing my sight before and after palming so that the emphasis is on relaxation, not on the end-gaining attidtude of it making my sight better, now.  A year or so ago I stopped testing my eyes after doing the long swing and only then did I begin to find it most beneficial.

I don’t like asking my husband about his eyes, but I was curious if he ’sees’ black with his eyes closed.  I asked him what he sees when he closes his eyes.  His initial response was ‘I don’t know’, and then he said, if I think about seeing something, then I see lots of colors, but normally I don’t think about seeing with my eyes closed, so I don’t see anything.  Then he added  something really interesting, he said, the best is when I don’t think anything at all.  It seems he has an ability to clear his mind of input and that it’s very relaxing.  After thinking about this, I realized it makes perfect sense.  If the visual center is truly at rest when the eyes are closed, no information passes through and therefore the mind is free of any visual input (imagined or otherwise).  I realized that when I close my eyes and try to see black, I’m doing exactly the wrong thing.  I shouldn’t be trying to see anything.  The ’seeing’ part of my eyes and brain should be switched off when my eyes are closed.  If I could further switch off the ‘thinking’ part of my brain for a while, even better. Immediately after he had said this (we were lying in bed, it was really dark), all the bright blobs of color stopped swirling around.  The field was black simply because I wasn’t thinking about seeing at all.

My summary of lessons learned is:
- palm with the intention of relaxing
- when the eyes are closed, don’t think about seeing, use the memory, imagination, or just don’t think of anything at all.

Ch. 32 Reason and Authority

REASON AND AUTHORITY

I find this the most eloquent piece of writing in Dr. Bates’s entire career.  Despite success with patients, he painfully dealt with rejection within his profession over his entire career.  It makes sense that he had a lot of time to observe the weakness of human nature in this regard.

The opening:

SOME one—perhaps it was Bacon—has said: “You cannot by reasoning correct a man of ill opinion which by reasoning he never acquired.” He might have gone a step further and stated that neither by reasoning, nor by actual demonstration of the facts, can you convince some people that an opinion which they have accepted on authority is wrong.

reminded me of something my grandfather used to say:

“Don’t confuse me with the facts, I’ve already made up my mind”

This is his sarcastic response to people’s idiotic belief in a principle against the facts presented to them.  Read the chapter, click here, it’s well worth your time!

After reading the chapter, you might wonder, despite the belief in authority, how do these optometrists sleep at night knowing that they are swindling the public when a natural alternative to glasses and surgery exists?!  The answer is, really, they truly believe what they are doing is the right thing.  It all boils down to statistics, and how easy and common it is in science to make big mistakes by disregarding outlying data.

A lesson from statistics.  How does science work?  You make a hypothesis such as “near work causes myopia”.  Then you gather some data.  Let’s say you look at a population of indiginous people of a certain age that don’t spend any time with books and none of them have myopia.  Then you study the same age group in a classroom and find 50% have myopia.  The trap of statistics is that many people would conclude that the statistics “proved” that near work causes myopia.  In fact, you can’t prove a hypothesis with statistics, you can only disprove it.  Recognizing this and other observations, Dr. Bates wondered why not all of the children exposed to near work acquired myopia.  Dr. Bates then made a hypothesis, “strain to see at the distance causes myopia” and he gathered data in school children.  Those that were taught not to strain at the distance recovered from myopia or never acquired it compared to those that weren’t trained not to strain.  His hypothesis isn’t proven, but supported by his observations.  What is the competing hypothesis?  That only some children acquire myopia because something is physically wrong with the shape of their eye which can’t be cured.  This is an example of how statistics can disprove a hypothesis.  Dr. Bates observed that many cases of myopia, presbyopia, cateract, and glaucoma, among other eye problems, could spontaneously improve.  With more study, he discovered how to treat these problems to improve the condition.  By doing this, he showed that myopia can be cured, which disproves the hypothesis that it can’t be cured.  So, how does a hypothesis then become known as a truth if you can’t prove it?  In general, this happens when competitors can’t come up with any more data to disprove it, or the people who support the competing (and wrong) hypothesis grow old and die.  Sounds funny, but I’ve seen in many areas of research that that is in fact how science works.  The optometric industry is so big now, that it can’t grow old and die because there are thousands more going to the schools that teach that myopia can’t be cured, and they are then following authority and believing it as a truth.  That’s where this chapter comes in, Dr. Bates eloquently explains how a belief accepted by an authority is unshakable with facts.

The industry claims that cures are rare and therefore disregarded from the facts.  This is an example of how statistics can get you in trouble.  In general, statistics are supported by a distribution in the data where most of the data follows the hypothesis, and the cases that don’t follow it are so few and far between that they are discarded as erroneous.

Here is a story about how two balloons sent up in to the atmosphere to measure the levels of ozone around the globe.  One discovers the hole in the ozone layer, the other doesn’t. Why the difference?  In the first balloon, they had made the observation, that above their own country, the concentration levels of ozone in the ozone layer followed a normal distribution and were on average 0.7  (I’m making the numbers up for simplicity!)  They observed that within a certain range (in statistics jargon, within 3 standard deviations of the mean), say within 0.5 and 0.9, they can be sure there are no ‘outliers’ of false data.  Any data outside of this range is discarded and not used to compute the mean concentration of ozone.  When measuring at the ozone hole, all data at a concentration of 0 is then thrown out and only the outliers used to compute the mean!  Therefore, no hole was found.  A different country sends up another balloon, this time without the fancy statistics programming, and they discover the hole in the ozone layer purely because they looked at the data before throwing any of it out.

People supporting the Bates method would say this is what modern optometry has done.  Bates says, some people with no lens in their eyes can accommodate, so therefore there must be a way to accommodate without it.  They say, those cases are so rare we discard them and don’t think the way they accommodate is possible for everyone.  They say they have proven that the lens can be responsible for accommodation and therefore nothing else is.  Bates says he observed the exterior muscles can accommodate and a lensless eye can accommodate, therefore the lens doesn’t.  However, in the heat of the discussion, neither realized that either observation doesn’t prove that it is the only mechanism of accommodation.  It is unfortunate that a ‘grand unifying theory’ of accommodation was never sought out.  Instead, Bates went his way and modern optometry continued to be modern despite not reacting to observations poking big holes in its theory.  In this way, any facts showing that myopia is reversible are disregarded by the industry because they can’t fit those facts into the theory they believe as the truth.

Well that’s it, I hope you gained a lot from a careful reading of Dr. Bates’s book!

progress

The last weeks of practicing with the chart twice daily brought me back up to where I used to be in the spring before I got busy with phd deadlines, writing up stress, life in general worries…  Here are some things I learned from my general Bates practice the last two weeks:

reading the chart every day really does help my vision throughout the day to be clearer.

be in tune to what I feel like.  If I stand from 10 feet and strain to see a line I can’t read, then I either change my distance or change the line I’m looking at. There’s no reason to go on straining to see a certain line at a certain distance!  Sometimes, although I can make out the 50 line from 20 feet, I gain more benefit by practicing central fixation on the 100 line.  It’s really more fun to improve the sight for a line of letters that can already be seen correctly, because i don’t feel the strain to ‘try’ to see the letters on that line.  Instead, creativity takes over, and I use my imagination to improve the darkness of the black, or my memory of the shape to improve the clarity of the curves or lines.

read the chart quickly sometimes – a feeling of dodging perfect sight is fostered by this.  I don’t have time to stare at the chart if I have to read it quickly!  I do this when I’m in a hurry or I just don’t feel like practicing.  Something is better than nothing!

Another thing I do, when I don’t feel like reading the chart, is to stand pretty close (1-2 feet) and read the whole card.  Then I gradually step back as far as I can to still see the lowest line letters.   My best so far is 6/10.  I also used this to be able to read 20/50.   Doing this really keeps my eyes moving because i have to pay a bit more attention to my surroundings as I’m walking backwards, yet I’m seeing best on the chart (which sways as I step).

palming – by first improving the memory of black helped me a lot!  I know, I should have done this ages ago.  I have attempted a lot of different palming routines (using the memory of a period, or the last letter I read in a sentence, drifting on pleasant thoughts, imagining various swings, etc), but I had never done this!  I used a crystal flower vase that has a black stripe along the length.  I first opened and closed my eyes alternately looking at the black stripe and then remembering it.  This was the first time I realized how non-black it is when I close my eyes.  I used to think it was nearly black, but now I realize it was just a really dark field, usually dark red or green.  As I practiced the memory of the color, it struck me how much more beautiful the black on the vase looked.  After I could remember the color reasonably well to be impressed by the color in my memory, then I would compare my memory of the black to the black I saw while palming.  If at some point I couldn’t remember the black well enough to compare, then I would look again before resuming the palming.  I think this method is better for me because my thoughts don’t wander to work or my worries.  The light in my living room was dim, and my mini-chart was about 6.5 feet away.  usually palming clears up the 50 line (so 6.5/50 eyesight in dim conditions), but by using this palming method, after 15 minutes the whole chart looked so much more vibrant and I could definitely read 6.5/30 and get glimpses of the lower lines.  In fact, for the next hour or so, all colors looked a lot more vibrant, I think because I was unconsciously comparing them to the memory of a deep black.   I’ll practice this every day for about 15 minutes this week.

Finally, glasses really are addictive!  No I don’t need them, yes I wear them when I’m stressed out at work…   Overall I’m getting better at not wearing them most of the time, but sometimes they just end up on my face!

How can I make my work an optimum?  I think if I could do that, I wouldn’t strain so much.

Chapter 30 and 31

Ch. 30, Ch 31

Chapter 30 shows how Dr. Bates believes his method can be used for the military.
Chapter 31
I enjoy reading reports from people in their own words about how their eyesight has improved.  It reminds me of the first time I experienced these things without glasses, there is such a marvelous feeling of discovery.  There are many more reports in the magazines. I’ll put in some of the quotes from this chapter that reminded me of things I have experienced and have read of many other people on the iblindness forum experiencing.

Without glasses people often notice that they see more depth, and enjoy the spatial quality of natural vision more:  “Things seem to me now to have more form, more reality, than when I wore glasses.”

It is difficult to go back to glasses once you have learned the Bates method:
“The glasses I especially wanted to push away. They brought irritation at once. I took them off and felt peaceful.”

Creativity is improved:  “I teach better. I know how to get at the mind and how to make the children see things in perspective. …What you have taught me makes me use the memory and imagination more, especially the latter, in teaching.”

People notice they are calmer:
“My nerves are much better. I am more equable, have more poise, I am less shy.”

The mind is more focussed:
“To sum up the effect of being cured upon my own mind: I am more direct, more definite, less diffused, less vague. In short, I am conscious of being better centered. It is central fixation of the mind. I saw this in your latest paper, but I realized it long ago and knew what to call it.”

As a result of a calmer and a more focused mind, tasks can be done efficiently and with less effort:
“I particularly noticed his serenity of mind after treatments. In this serenity he seemed able to do a great deal of work efficiently, and not under the high nervous pressure whose after-effect is the devastating scattering of forces.”

Since improving my eyes, I have received many comments as to how bright and alive they look. This is a very common effect of the method!
“I was surprised and pleased at the comments of my family regarding the appearance of my eyes. They all thought they looked so much brighter and rested”

Ch. 29 Mind and Vision

MIND AND VISION

Part I are my thoughts on the chapter written by Dr. Bates. Parts II and III provide links to some related thoughts that other people have written about on the web.  The common theme is how the mind influences vision and healing.

Part I.

I think this quote says it all:

“When one is not interested, in short, one’s mind is not under control, and without mental control one can neither learn nor see. Not only the memory but all other mental faculties are improved when the eyesight becomes normal. It is a common experience with patients cured of defective sight to find that their ability to do their work has improved.”

I agree with this 100% and have experienced it myself.

Many people on forums argue with this that they know of someone who has photographic memory and they wear glasses, and other examples.  Further, many academics wear glasses, and by Bates’s logic that means they must not have been able to learn and get so far.

However, there is a different way of looking at it.  How much effort does it take for these people with glasses to achieve their success compared to their peers who don’t wear glasses?  How much more could these people have achieved without glasses?  With the effort required to maintain the knowledge for their area of specialty, what other memories are they giving up or losing?  Do they remember the color of their children’s eyes?  How long do they remember details?

I could always study for an exam and get the best grades, but if I had to take the same exam 1 year later, I would do worse than the same students I had gotten a better grade than.  This happened time and again.  In college when I would study wtih people, all of whom had better eyesight than myself, they would say, ‘don’t you remember that from last semester?’.  I wouldn’t, and my education was a process of knowing that a concept existed, knowing I had learned it once, going back to refresh, and then moving on with the next lesson.  It was my persistence, not my memory, that was responsible for getting me to my phd position.

I have always had a hard time remembering faces (in addition to forgetting names!).  Let me tell you, it’s extremely embarrassing to meet someone, then see them again the next day and have no recollection of even seeing them.  I’ve always worked around this with conscious effort.

My sense of direction is horrible unless I have a map and I put in effort to notice details.  I will have to go over complicated routes multiple times before I have a chance of finding my way without a map.  My husband on the other hand, can look at a photograph of a street that we visited more than a year before only once and immediately know which town it was in, what was nearby, and how we got there from the car.  He has perfect sight.  I don’t even recognize anything in the picture!

As my vision improves I find that I can do my work better and with less effort.  I am more natural with people and remembering things they told me.  Also, when I first met my husband (before I started the Bates method), he was always right when it came to remembering where to go when we went somewhere the second time.  As my eyesight improves, I find that if I wasn’t wearing glasses the first time we went somewhere, I often remember the way better or just as well as he does the second time around!  In fact he says it’s really confusing for him, because since I have many incomplete memories (from times when I wear glasses), and some really good memories, he’s not sure when to trust my memory over his own because I’m either spot on or really really wrong.  His memory, on the other hand, is either right or slightly off.

Part II.

http://dreamersight.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/imaginal-healing-of-an-eye-problem/

Just look at the example Nancy recently posted about the woman who cured herself of melanoma of the eye by using positive imagery when thinking of ‘cleaning’ her eye.  The Eyebody method by Peter Grunwald seems to be based on using imagery on one body part, which will then affect another.  Dr. Bates also talked about optimums and pessimums.  These all point to one thing – we need to be nice to our bodies.  It seems positive mental imagery is one way to accomplish that.

Part III

http://www.effortlessvision.com/forum1/viewtopic.php?t=417

Read about why Robert of Outlook Insight observes that a lot of people fail – because they’ve decided that they want to see their way.  He writes about how the healing process can be held up because of people’s inability to face their emotions, unwillingness to change themselves, and need for perceived control.  Positive thinking and positive imagery may be a way to overcome these hurdles.

ch. 28 Teach!

Ch. 28

The story of Emily is really inspiring.  The message is to teach others!  Use what you know that improved your eyesight to improve the eyesight of others.

The most important thing to remember when teaching other people is that they will only be interested if they experience for themselves the truths of perfect and imperfect sight.  If, on the other hand, you just talk to them about how the Bates method works and what it does they will look at you like you’re crazy and be uninterested.  Dr. Bates points this out in several magazine articles.  This is why every magazine starts with a ‘Demonstrate’ card.  Using a quick demonstration, it is easy for someone to experience that strain ruins the sight and rest improves it.  A theoretical discussion is pointless, because everyone ‘knows’ that eyesight doesn’t improve, you end up talking to a brick wall.

I always start with a palming demonstration.  Have them look at a nice picture or scenery (without glasses).  Then show them how to palm and have them remember the picture or any other pleasant thought for 5-20 minutes.  After this time have them look again and the eyesight is usually better.  Ask them, what made it better?  If they don’t come up with the answer themselves, lead them to the answer that resting their eyes improved it.  Then teach them to stare and show that it is a strain and lowers the sight.  Then do another palming to improve it again. Emphasize again that rest improves the vision and straining, especially staring lowers it.  This can be followed by some simple demonstrations of shifting, which is the opposite of the stare.  You can also procede with central fixation, memory or imagination, anything you personally feel able to teach to them that you have benefitted from.

Other important things to cover:
- any improvement is temporary unless that rested state is practiced until it becomes habitual.
- people with normal vision don’t have it all the time.  They can probably remember times when they have better or worse vision depending on how tired or stressed they are.  This is completely natural!  For people improving their eyesight, the same thing happens: they can therefore expect days when their eyes without glasses are better or worse.  It is the overall trend that gets better over time.  So be sure to emphasize that some days will seem worse and some days better.  That’s why it’s important to keep records of past Snellen chart readings so you can see how they change over the weeks (not just day to day).
- emphasize that no amount of effort or concentration will improve their sight.  If they are practicing a method that ends up lowering the sight, they should stop because they are straining, and ask for help!

remember -  demonstrate!  people learn best from their own experiences.

CH. 26 and 27

Methods that have failed to improve sight: I think the most obvious point to make is one that Dr. Bate made in an earlier chapter.  The ’solution’ our society has for defective sight is glasses, but this doesn’t cure it, it makes it worse!  It is really surpising that more people don’t stumble on this conclusion themselves.  When I was in primary school I thought about becoming an eye doctor.  But when I thought about it, I realized that they didn’t know anything about improving eyesight.  I was always told that the eye had been pulled out of shape and I used to dream about finding a way to reshape it correctly.  But as I grew older and the prevailing opinion that this wasn’t possible was impressed upon me, I lost any aspiration to find a solution and just accepted it as the way things were.  Funny how things work out in the end.

Bates’s method that restores perfect vision:  I think the only downfall of the method is its pure simplicity.  People try to make it more complicated than it is and then end up misunderstanding it.  No one will believe that simply looking at a familiar object as a point of fixation is a relaxation and that this trains the eye/brain to use relaxation to see all objects successfully.  The end of the chapter gives clear instructions for using the method in the classroom.  Again, he emphasizes the activity of reading from the Snellen chart daily.

Why is the Snellen chart so vital for success with the Bates method?  Although from the beginning I realized the importance of practicing with it every day, it is only recently that I appreciate why it is the Snellen chart and nothing else that is ideal for practicing central fixation and shifting.

For one, black letters on a white background is the simplest combination of colors.  Black will look black no matter what the lighting conditions are.  Second, letters and numbers are the simlest forms that we can easily recognize and name.  Made up of straight and curved lines, there are 35 possible combinations (letters A to Z plus numbers 1 to 9).  Geometric shapes would be ok, but how much variations can you get besides square, circle, and triangle before you either don’t have a name for it or it just gets too complicated that it isn’t a familiar shape? I often think about different forms of charts using images or outlines of objects (like flowers, leaves, animals, etc), but in the end, the shapes get too complicated or intricate, whereas a letter is so simple and distinguishable.  What would be the alternative?  If we wanted to use a familiar object as a point of fixation for practice, it could be, for example, a photograph.  You can successfully practice central fixation on the features in the picture.  However, you can recognize a fence without centralizing on the grain of the wood, or a flower without distinguishing the petals.  This means that your feedback for how successful your practice has been is subjective.  You can still recognize the fence whether your visual accuity is much higher or lower than normal.  Letters on the other hand, require a greater amount of central fixation to distinguish from one another.  By looking at letters of different sizes, the effect of successful central fixation practice is immediate and obvious because the features of the letters either can or cannot be distinguished depending on how large the letter is.  You know the practice has been beneficial when a smaller letter becomes darker and more clear than it was at the start of practice.

Of course, practicing on every day objects all day long is vital for ultimate success with the method!  However, the basis for learning the finist shifting and smallest area of central fixation is most practically done with the Snellen chart.

Ch. XXIV and XXV Home and Correspondence Treatment

I’ll review home treatment and correspondence treatment together, because the first leads quite naturally into the other.

As an overview, consider that Dr. Bates splits people into two groups:  1.  Those who never wore glasses and 2.  Those who have worn glasses.   These can be split into two further groups, those who can quickly cure themselves, and those who have an obstinate case that will need the help of a teacher.  I’ll summarize Bates’s opinion on each group.

Overall, I think his main point is that it is possible to improve the sight if a few simple directions are followed.  The easiest way to tell if you need a teacher or not is to read Dr. Bates’s article at the beginning of his book ‘The Fundamental Principle’.  If you can manage to help yourself with this method, then keep on going!  If you fail, get a teacher!  Or, if you simply don’t think you will make time to study his writing and use your own creativity for practicing, that will be another indicator that a teacher will be able to help you much faster than you will help yourself.

For those who have never worn glasses:
He recommends reading the Snellen chart twice per day.  This is enough to improve their sight because it allows them to notice what they do to make their sight imperfect (which they can stop), and what they do which improves the sight (which they naturally continue to do all day).  People who haven’t worn glasses will have more of a tendency to notice what they change to improve their sight and to actually do it.

People who have worn glasses, on the other hand, are usd to chronically straining to fit their eyes to the glasses, and are less likely to be so responsive.
For those who have worn glasses, bad habits are deeply ingrained in the brain, and active relaxation methods should be practiced.  These are described in chapters 7 to 25, and once those have been read, his magazine articles should be read, 1 every day.  Bates says they will have to devote considerable time to the treatment.  ‘Children and adults who have worn glasses will have to devote an hour or longer every day to practice with the test card and the balance of their time to practice on other objects.’  What does this mean?  He has described many methods for practicing central fixation, shifting, memory, and imagination with the test card.  It shouldn’t be boring!  30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening should be a manageable goal for practicing with the test card.  What does it mean to practice on other objects?  With this he is saying that the entire day, no matter what you are looking at, use central fixation to see it, shift to another object, rest your eyes when you can and remember the last object seen perfectly, or imagine something that can be imagined perfectly.  These are simple things that can be done the entire day while doing all the activities you have to do – working, learning, sports, shopping, cleaning…

Then there is the question of glasses, which he obviously.  However, in other articles he has written: ‘As a general rule it is best for the patient to discard glasses. In some cases of extreme myopia, where going without glasses entails too great a hardship, good results have been obtained by gradually reducing the strength of the glasses worn as the vision improves, but the treatment is then prolonged.’ Dr. Bates concedes that weaker glasses, or glasses worn only when absolutely necessary, can be tolerated for the first part of treatment, as that is better than discarding the entire method.  However, once the eyesight improves to a certain degree that the perrson is confident the method is working, glasses should be discarded.  There is a point, and I’m currently experiencing this, when reduced glasses don’t give better visual accuity, most activities can be done without them, and they are worn only because the eyes are addicted to them and depend on them for the confidence of seeing.  This is the point when they should and can be safely discarded in order that further improvement can be made.

The glasses issue shouldn’t get so much attention though!  It is far more important that I discuss the actual practice of the Bates method.  So before I move on to discuss obstinate cases that need a teacher, I will interject a few observations I’ve made.  First, Dr. Bates clearly says that everyone who wishes to improve their sight can do so most easily by practicing daily with a Snellen test card.  For people who have worn glasses, they will need to practice longer, as well as consciously practicing better vision habits the whole day.  Why don’t we see more success stories out there?  For the simple reason that it is quite rare for anyone to actually bother practicing so much.  For the most part I stopped commenting on the eyesight forums because it is in general just full of people complaining about how they can’t get better, and when you ask what they are doing, the answer is usually struggling without glasses and practicing maybe 5 minutes per day.  I have observed in my own experience that what he writes is true.  I have improved the most when I have practiced with the Snellen chart twice per day.  I got to a peak where I could see 10/20 without glasses.  Then after my wedding I got really busy with my PhD and just stopped practicing with the Snellen chart so consistently.  I practice on every day objects and now and then I practiced with the chart, but I wasn’t consistent.  This caused a relapse although I was wearing my glasses less than ever before!   Last week I finally got out the chart again and discovered that I had slipped to 20/100, 10/50!  Since then I started reading it every day again, and after only 1 week I’m now back to 8/20, 20/50.  Although I knew before that practicing with the card was the reason my eyes were getting better, now I realize it is essential for me to continue with the chart until I have perfect sight.  What Helena wrote on her blog last week was spot on – when you change to a better habit, and you see that it does you good, that doesn’t necessarily make it easy to continue with that better habit.  I often slip back into bad habits, especially when I get stressed out with my phd.

Anyway…

If you try and try and nothing works, get a teacher.  This is what Dr. Bates calls an obstinate case.  Dr. Bates has suggested the qualifications for a teacher – that they have used the methods to improve their own sight.  Ask potential teachers in depth what methods they have been able to use themselves to advantage.  Many good teachers offer correspondence treatment.  In the chapter on correspondendence treatment, Dr. Bates mentions that although it is slower than personal lessons, it still works.  Now, with the advent of email, digital photos and videaos, correspondence treatment is easier and more accessible than ever.  Further, many teachers travel around and offer lessons where they go.  It may be appropriate to travel to meet them and then follow up with correspondence treatment.