On Sundays, to encourage myself to use glasses less, I’ve started doing ‘glasses free Sundays’.  I don’t wear glasses at all on Sundays.  This last Sunday was my third one in a row.  I’m enjoying  many benefits from this idea.  Most importantly it reminds me of how much I can do without my glasses.

When I have glasses free Sundays a couple of things happen – I use my computer less!  This means I’m up and moving about more.  I end up taking a break from work/emails/web surfing.  My mantra needs to be:  less reading, more doing.  It is all too easy to read about things I’m intrested in rather than going out and actually doing them, the web really enables this.  So on Sundays my computer time is limited to what I’m willing to do without glasses.  And this is really the bare minimum of emails.  I don’t pack the day full of chores, I leave time for me to have fun.  I’m getting creative again in the way I practice the Bates method.

Although I think reduced prescription glasses have helped me in many ways, by enabling me to go on with the Bates method, but still have a back up for work situations, wearing glasses is a huge hindrance because it is all too easy to simply forget to practice when glasses provide the security  to see.   It is too easy to forget to reduce the reduced prescription glasses to continue improvement.  It also builds a ‘special’ dependence on glasses.  Whereas before (2007) I was ‘dependent’ on glasses, now I feel ‘dependent’ on glasses for important situations.  This situation is almost worse than before because it creates a psychological block to further vision improvement.  When I have a great period with amazing visionl, I have recently become aware of a thought pattern which  says:   oh, this vision is great, but it still won’t be good enough to drive/go to work/watch a presentation, I’ll need my glasses anyway later.  I’m sabatoging myself with these thoughts and with this relationship to using glasses for important tasks!  Accepting clear vision has got to be total – accepting it into all of my life.

So, glasses free Sundays are a way of getting back in touch with what I can do without glasses.  I surprise myself – I can sit down at the piano and often still read the notes!  I can write a few emails and read the text!  When I go for walks I can read licence plates from distances of 5-10 meters.   I can recognize faces across the street.  And I start to accept the fact that my vision is getting better.  On the other days, I’ve still got odd and end things to take care of, and I still reach for the glasses.  But I’m reaching for them less.  I’m back in my exploratory mode of seeking a growing number of experiences where glasses are not necessary, where I can trust my eyes.

If there is only one thing I want anyone to remember, it is that.  When looking at a Snellen chart or anything else, don’t practice struggling to see.  If you can’t see something, and you get frustrated and keep trying harder to see it, and still can’t see it and get more frustrated, that is practicing struggle.  So what can you do instead?  That is exactly what you learn when practicing with a Snellen chart.  You practice doing other things (which I’ll detail in these articles), and you just pay attention to which of them improve your vision.  And the ones that help you to see better, you do more often.  And if you do something that makes you see worse, you don’t do it again.  And you learn to let go of the feeling of struggling to see and replace it consciously with a calmer feeling.

I have written a page about what the Snellen chart is and how to get one, and at the end of this article I have written some alternatives you can use if the Snellen chart itself is boring or a pessimum for you.  This is the first of three articles on using the Snellen chart to improve vision.  It is for beginners, but also to remind people with more experience how to relax with Snellen chart practice.  The second and third parts will detail more specific practice methods for vision improvement.

When you first start using a Snellen chart, the first thing to do is to get used to looking at it.  

Spend a week doing the following:  just look at the chart without glasses or contacts and note what you can see at different times of the day, for different lighting conditions, and from different distances.  Don’t try to see a new line each time, or to improve the vision.  The purpose is to just see what you can see.  You will undoubtedly find that on some days or times your vision is better, and other days it is worse.  This is referred to as variability in visual acuity.  It is important to recognize that this variability is normal both for people with normal sight as well as those with blurred vision.  It is not always obvious, so people with normal sight may not notice the variation unless their attention is called to it.  My husband with perfect sight, for example, knows that when he is tired his visual acuity is worse, but it doesn’t bother him and he doesn’t think about it, because he knows that this is normal and that clarity returns after some rest.  

You will also notice that some lighting conditions help and others don’t.  You may also find that once you have memorized the chart it becomes easier to see it.  When first introduced to the Bates method, people think this means that using a familiar Snellen chart is cheating.  This misses two points.  First, it is normal to see things better that we know well.  Second, the purpose of the Snellen chart is to practice the Bates methods, not to test the vision.  So memorize the chart, and the sooner the better.  It will make your practice with it easier.  Also, once you’ve memorized it and used it, you will have a very good idea of what you can and can’t see on it.  So if after that point you can then read another line of letters, that is true progress.

Make detailed observations and you will never get bored with the Snellen chart. 

How dark do the smaller letters look compared to the larger letters?  Can you see the white space between the letters or between the lines of letters?  Do not force yourself to either see the letters or not see them.  Can you see the curvature of the letters?  It might help to write your observations down for future reference.  

Again, remember, you are observing, not testing.  See how you feel when you make these observations at different distances, you may be surprised to find that you are more relaxed at certain distances.  Listen to these instincts.  Don’t expect improvement at this stage.  You are simply practicing your ability to be aware of what you are seeing in front of you and how you feel.

It is beneficial to palm before and after Snellen chart practice.  Start making it a routine to palm, then spend some time making detailed observations of what you can read on the chart.  Then palm again.  If you don’t have time for both, then prefer palming afterwards.  

I haven’t mentioned how long to look at the chart on purpose.  Remember the first thing I wrote:  don’t practice struggle.  As soon as you are bored, anxious, uncomfortable, or stressed, then stop and palm.  Make this a habit because it will be even more important when you are doing more specific practices with the chart.  Practice looking with interest and making observations of details.  Don’t practice struggle.

Alternatives to a Snellen chart

Some people just don’t like the chart or associate it negatively with the eye doctor’s office.  That is ok, then use anything else with clear high contrast details of various sizes (like a calendar or a photo you have a positive association with).  The main points are to have different sizes of details to look at, and to have colors which are still going to be distinct even when things blur out.  Here are some examples and what to look out for:

Calendars:  the best ones are the wall ones you probably get for Christmas each year.  There is a nice pleasing photo on top that will change every month, and the text below is all different sizes.  For example, mine shows the Month and year in the largest size letters.  Below, the month is written again in other languages but slightly smaller.  Then the days of the week are written even smaller.  The numbers of each day are quite large, and then in the lower corner there is very small text showing the previous and next months.  Keep in mind you may need to practice quite close to the calendar (1 to 5 feet) but it is a very useful tool with so much variation in text sizes, as well as having a nice photo on top.

Alternative Snellen chart:  It is possible to make a Snellen chart of objects you know a lot about.  So instead of letters, use something else in different sizes.  For architects or designers, you may find this chart interesting:  feedproxy.google.com/~r/ArchDaily/~3/Yh1BqR6R9mg/    You can identify the chair instead of a letter!  Of course, for people like me who can’t identify these chairs, this obviously wouldn’t be a good chart because I would struggle to describe the chair.  It’s a lot easier for me to recognize a letter B than to say, oh that’s an Aeron chair.  But that’s the point!  Choose something you’re interested in and go wild.

Basketball fans might like this one:  http://datavis.tumblr.com/post/4496835837/nba-champions-snellen-chart

Business men might like:  http://www.thereformedbroker.com/2010/12/06/snellen-chart-fortune-45-logos/

As you can see, it is easy to build a Snellen chart from anything you are interested in:  team/business logos, designs (not just chairs, you could do planes, classic car profiles, locomotives, animals).  do an image search on Google for ‘animal eye chart’, ‘dog eye chart’ ‘sci fi eye chart’ ‘herman snellen codified chart’ to get some interesting ideas.  

I thought this was pretty funny:  http://www.richmondproducts.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1124

Photos can work as well if you use them close up.  I would also suggest using a large painting or print in your house.  It’s harder to give examples here since it depends on personal preference.  Go for something you like (obviously), but also keep in mind the possibilities for practice are more if there are a range of details and sizes of details to look for.  Here’s an example:  http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/vangogh/the-bedroom  There are different sized objects, and Van Gogh’s painting technique adds interesting variation at the small scale.  From further distances you could practice looking at the features of the bed and chair, from medium distances look at details on the pictures on the wall and at close range you could analyze his painting strokes and the slighter variations in color.

Sorry for the lack of updates this month – lots of life changes and transitions going on.  I didn’t forget my 4th year anniversary of this blog, though, and my own vision improvement.  I started out testing the Bates method 4 years ago.  After I figured out it works, it’s become a way of life.  That might sound funny, but the Bates method is about self care, about recognizing that the body can regenerate and heal if allowed the time and space in the form of regular breaks for rest and relaxation.  

I often palm when I need to relax, not just for the purpose of vision improvement. This has taught me the most about correct palming, since my intention to relax aligns with the purpose of palming – to rest.  I’ve learned some things this way:

Things not to do while palming:

-run through to do list
-worry about a recent or future conversation
-play back stressful situations and better ways to react
-any worrying!

Things to do while palming:

-breathe in, breathe out (and that’s about it)
-If muscle relaxation is needed:  make small very movements (shifts) in arm and hand position during palming helps to relax those muscles (and the shoulder muscles).  For example, I rotate my wrists just a bit, which turns my forarm and for whatever reason releases my bicep muscles, which I never realized before were chronically tense.
-If the mind is busy/agitated/nervous/anxious:  observe those thoughts and don’t make them worse by trying to suppress them.  Then have something else to consciously return the thoughts to (something specific such as the movement of the stomach as the breath goes in and out, or a nice memory)

How to recognize correct palming:

-hands get warmer on their own
-breathing slows and deepens on its own
-eyes feel warm and moist
-field becomes darker
-any muscle twitches stop
-relaxed feeling, calmness

Long term benefits (from palming daily)

- improved memory and imagination
- better eyesight
- more energy
- more restful sleep, needing less sleep

So how much do you palm every day?  If it isn’t every day, then you might not be getting all the benefit you can.  I find 15-20 minutes is a good minimum which brings results.  When I manage an hour per day I see jumps in my vision improvement and feeling of well being.  Remeber though, palm to relax, not to try to improve the vision.  Vision improvement must be invited, it cannot be forced.

I’m noticing the biggest difference in my day since I have finished my thesis is the complete lack of routine.  I’ve been exploring career options, visiting family, and working on some projects.  The first thing I notice is that without a routine, time can just fly by without anything getting done!  I’m not too worried about that, since my brain needed a break from structured thinking, but I think I’ve reached the tipping point where bringing a bit more routine back into my daily life will make things more relaxing (and get more of my planned blog posts online!).

When visiting my in-laws, I marvelled at how calming their (retired) daily routine is:   Wake up.   Eat breakfast.  Swim, garden, errands.  Have lunch. Nap.  Take a walk or visit someone, housework.  Tea.  Read.  Dinner.   Sit in the living room and talk.  Go to bed.  Feel amazingly refreshed the next day!

A routine is calming because the brain doesn’t have to work in the background to decide what to do or to think that something has been forgotten.  Of course, personal taste ranges – some people are not happy unless every day is different while others have every step of their lives preplanned and repetitive like clockwork.  After reflecting, I find I do best with a balance of some routine to provide a bit of reassuring structure, and then some surprises to keep the fun up.

The benefits of routines apply to vision improvement as well.  There are many aspects of the Bates method that can be practiced every day to great benefit.  Palming everyday is a helpful routine, as is practicing with the Snellen chart every day.   Keep in mind, there are many ways to vary elements within a routine to keep it fresh.   A new experience can be reached in palming each time if it is approached with awareness and creativity.  For example, in one session, I can pay attention to my breathing, in the next, I can progressively relax muscles in my body.  But the routine of palming a 15-20 minutes a few times a day stays constant.

It is similar with daily use of the Snellen chart.  There are infinite ways to use it (which I will discuss in the next posts).  By approaching routines with creativity, you can do the same thing every day and still learn something new each time.  The routine itself brings consistency and results.   Most aspects of the Batse method are habits, and by routinely practicing the Bates methods, correct use of the eyes becomes a habit.

Now, don’t go overboard and make a full schedule of fixed times for vision improvement activities!  The routine itself has to fit into your life, and above all you need to enjoy the time spent practicing the Bates method.  Keep the following in mind:

1. Only add one new routine into your life at a time.  In other words, don’t create full schedule all at once.  If your goal is to palm three times a day, read the Snellen chart twice per day, practice sunning every sunny day, do the long swing before bedtime, take a vision walk every day, and be more aware of breathing and blinking all day….  I would suggest starting by simply palming once a day.  Do it every day for a week.  Then, if that works out and you’re still enjoying yourself, add another activity such as a second palming session or chart practice. 
2. Re-evaluate your vision improvement routines and habits now and then.  Did something lose its fun?  Do you only do it because you feel you have to?  Did you stop learning from this activity or does it no longer improve your vision?  Well, that’s when you need to consider changing that particular routine, because if it’s boring or cumbersome it’s not helping you anyway.  Change it slightly using your creativity or replace it with something completely different.
3. Keep your ‘routined’ schedule in balance and in perspective by having special days now and then.  It’s ok to break from a routine! Perhaps once a week you have a day where you do something completely different.  Or, if you are traveling, don’t feel guilty because you aren’t following the plan, see it as a chance to find fresh inspiration and new ideas.

In that spirit, I’d like to thank all of you long time readers/commenters on my blog as well as those who just peak in or are new to my blog.  All that positive energy picked me up when I was down about my thesis.  Also, it served as a continuing motivation to keep on improving my vision.  Your comments remind me of how far I’ve come, what I’ve learned, and most importantly, I learn so much from your various perspectives!  Thank you for teaching me!  Plus, whenenver I do learn something new about my vision, the process of writing down the experience, and thinking about how I would explain it to others, almost always leads to more insights.  I have definitely learned more from teaching my experiences on this blog than if I had just let my thoughts settle in the back of my head.  So thank you, all of you out there, for helping me in your own way, by commenting, asking questions, and even just reading (higher page views are motivating!).

It’s a weird thing, I imagined euphoria and celebration.  But since I have finished, my thoughts and actions have really surprised myself.  I’ve been drawn to introspection.  I have been repelled by my computer, hence my silence here.  It’s been a time of reflection and evaluation.  It’s been a rather private time (I submitted about two weeks ago); I barely managed to tell my immediate family, and from that point I have been spending a lot of time on my own just thinking, and putting things in perspective.  During every life transition in the past (graduating high school, college, etc) I made a decision about what I would do next early on so I always had a seamless progression of something ending, and something else beginning.   This is the first time I have come to an ‘end’, so to say, without having a defined ‘beginning’ of something else.

We’ll see where this leads!  I’ll do my best to catch up on some of the posts I’ve promised

Yes!  The most difficult part was motivating myself the first few days, but once it became a habit and I noticed the benefits, it became easy to keep it up.  This wasn’t the first time I’ve tried to do this, every other time I just couldn’t manage to keep it up or motivate myself at all.

On the 1st of September I decided something had to change.  I wasn’t really too concerned about what, but deep down I knew I wanted to commit to practicing the Bates method more like I used to – with dedication.   I decided not to wait until post PhD.  I wanted to prove to myself that I can do this even when I am busy or stressed out.   That is, after all, when it is most needed!   So I’ve been palming for about an hour a day since September 1st.

This is the most I’ve ever palmed, period.  I’ve gone through times where I palmed what seemed like a lot, but nothing like this.  I’m already seeing benefits, which surpised me.   I read the entire 40 line from 12 feet for the first time (normally I have trouble with the K on that line) and I can read all of the 20 line letters from further away than before.    This is great, because it’s been quite some time since I noticed clear improvement on the chart.  

One of the best benefits has been the increase in energy I feel throughout the day.  I can sleep less and feel less tired.  I can work all day on the computer without my neck hurting.  My breathing feels deeper.  Palming saves more time than it takes to practice. 

Other benefits:  I can now recognize the difference between successful palming and not successful palming.  Also, my memory and imagination seem better.  I was able to use my imagination to difinitively improve my eyesight -  so now I finally feel like I understand the role of imagination in eyesight.  It’s definitely one of those things that must be experienced to believe.   I’ll elaborate on some of this stuff in later posts (as well as the series of chart posts I promised).  For now, I really do need to finish and submit my dissertation!

I have had a tendency to put off my Bates method practice recently.  In the back of my head I keep thinking that once my phd is done, then I will have some free time that I can devote to improving my sight more.  Deep down I know this is the wrong way of thinking about it because I have improved my eyesight so much already even during my phd.  Also, I use my eyes all day and I have a choice how I continue to use them, whether I’m working or not!  It’s time to get over this ‘too busy’ excuse, especially since a lot has changed in the last year and I will need to start a job pretty soon (goodbye long break!).

I will stop waiting for that perfect time to improve my vision and just keep practicing as intentionally as I used to.  
I’ve written a lot about how I think the main way I improved my eyesight was to combine both formal vision practice and informal vision practice.  Formal vision practice for me can be, for example, palming or practicing shifting and central fixation with a Snellen chart.  Informal practice is the rest of the day – it’s awareness of the universal swing, and awareness of how I use my eyes.  

For some time I’ve been preparing a series of posts outlining how I use a Snellen chart in my formal practice and this will be the focus of my next posts. I realize that the Snellen chart is often boring or a pessimum for many people, so what I recommend is to simply use anything else with clear high contrast details of various sizes (like a calendar or a photo you have a positive association with).  For those of you already familiar with how it’s used, what do you think about calling this tool a “contrast chart”?  That way, when I talk about practicing with it, it is more obvious that it can be anything, not just a Snellen chart.  I’ll talk more about what makes a good choice in the next post. 

In my experience, vision improvement (especially from high diopters) can take a number of years.  During that time, visual accuity changes.  Some days are great – it’s like you’ve been given a new pair of eyes!  Other days are dim and blurry – it’s easy to wonder where this is all going – and that’s when people quit.  To bridge the gap between the high points in vision improvement, you need a vision buddy.  A vision buddy is someone who you can talk to about what you are doing, someone you see on a regular basis, hopefully a good friend that is paying attention to what you do that helps or hurts your eyes.

One of my vision buddies is my husband.  I also have virtual vision buddies that I have met through my blog.   I have found the support from vision buddies to be the most important factor for my continued success for the following reasons:

A vision buddy helps you to define what it is you are doing.  When I started the Bates method, my husband was sceptical.  Would it work?  Is it safe?  As I showed him what I was doing, he gained trust that it was safe, and over time he saw that my eyesight really had improved – it works!  By explaining the method to him, not only did it improve my own understanding of the method, it also put him on my side.  Now, he is my 24/7 vision buddy. 

A vision buddy reminds you to keep practicing.  My husband’s support has been crucial recently.  I’m in the last weeks of my PhD.  Writing up this dissertation has been a huge uphill battle.  It seems like every step I take towards finishing turns up 10 more things to do.   In these last few weeks, I’ve had a one track mind:  finish phd.  So it’s no surprise that my vision improvement practice has suffered a bit.  That’s where my husband comes in.  He reminds me to keep going when I don’t practice.  Whenever I wear my glasses, he says, you can take off your glasses.  You don’t need your glasses right now.  These statements are affirming and they have helped me a ton to maintain my vision in the last weeks.   This is the beauty of having a vision buddy – when you’re too stressed out to remember that your eyes are important, your friend will remind you! 

A vision buddy notices when your eyesight improves.  This is so important because it provides that ‘proof’ that the method works.  This type of affirmation is vital when you have a period of high stress and lower than normal visual accuity.   My husband notices when I see things I couldn’t before, and we celebrate!  It’s really nice when I see something and he is surprised – you can see that?  Then I know I have improved just that little bit more.

I am proud to say that my vision is better at the end of my PhD than at the beginning, despite all the stress.  I bet you have many sources of stress in your life, too.  Take heart and share your journey with a friend.  Before you know it, you will have a vision buddy supporting you.  After some time and practice, you too will be able to say your vision is better than it was last year.  How many people can say that?  Be one of them!

Just being aware of worries and internal stress-outs (liked thinking through conversations and situations in advance of them happening) has effectively stopped them.  So I find I have an abundance of time now!  Well… thinking time that is.  All that time I spent in the shower, or eating, or on my way somewhere that was spent worrying is now free.  And it is a surprisingly large chunk of time.  At first I thought, wow, just think of what I can accomplish with all that spare brainpower now.  But then I realized that I could use it in a much more simple way, to just enjoy the moment, to remember something positive, or to even consciously use my eyes better.  I’m finding that this is probably the single best way to increase the amount of time available to practice the Bates method, without having to change anything else in a busy schedule.  Plus, it has the added benefit of relieving anxiety.  It’s been a pretty happy and productive week!