Got the Original Bates Book

Couldn't find time to boast that I have ordered and received recently the original Bates book "Perfect Sight Without Glasses", the Edition of 1920. I bought it in an online second-hand book store, quite expensive, but it's worth every penny.


Needless to say that I'm totally enchanted by the book. It is in a very good condition and but the yellowish side face of pages, one wouldn't tell the book is 90 years old! The paper is pretty dense and glows with milky white. The font is also something special - I have never seen that kind of big black periods above i. The illustrations look much more vivid than in the scanned copies, and the photographically reduced micro print is amazing. I even think I should print more pages in micro type on a high-resolution laser printer, because I find reading the fine print very beneficial, when done properly.


The letters seem very black and distinct and seem to swing all by themselves. I believe Dr. Bates intended this curative effect by carefully choosing the font, page size, paper etc. That's what I've bought the book for - I've already read it many times, so I don't need to chase for new information and can read meditatively, swinging the letters, realizing with awe that it's the book printed by the great Dr. Bates himself!

Improvements

I'm happy to find recently that all my Bates skills have improved.

Palming. I seem to find the way to break out of the chamber behind my closed eyelids and let my imagination take control. I have become able to remember black objects, such as black velvet. Especially vivid are the memories of childhood. I get more relaxation and satisfaction from palming now.

Sun Gazing. I no longer get scotomata and no longer fear the sun. The time to get prepared for looking directly at the sun is now shorter and I don't feel any limitation on the duration of sun gazing. It's a shame that in winter there's almost no sun. I use a 500W halogen lamp, but I come to think I should get a 1000W one. I also light my working place permanently with two 500W lamps. Looking at the bright light is the first aid when the strain returns. It's ridiculous how superstitious people are towards bright light.

Shifting & Swinging. I've found the way to shift without effort, unlike I did it before. Letting my eye drift freely and not trying to see all at once feels like a great relief immediately, and when I occasionally get back to my wrong habit, it feels like tension and pain. When I succeed to stay like this for a long time, my vision improves and I get a lot of clear flashes very easily. What is tough though is not to forget to keep permanently doing so.

By the way, Rishi recently wrote what I find a great recipe of Bates routine:
"The treatment is VERY SIMPLE. Just remove glasses, suffer the inconvenience at first, then strive to remember things moving, again and again when you forget, you just remember, everything moves, if something appears as stationary, then it is because we are staring, fixating it for more than an instant, and then, just move away the gaze, WITHOUT BEING CONCERNED ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE VISION, and that's all, just a question of time, but if you are able to PRACTICE these things consciously and intentionally in some particular period of the day, or more periods, then the better, avoid at first difficult situations where you are not able to remember to move your gaze, that's all."

The amazing thing is that it's really THAT SIMPLE. The more I advance, the simpler Bates method appears to me. But at first, everything seemed to be tough, because the eyes were clenched with strain and were not so responsive to my practice, even if and when I succeeded to do something right. Gradually, things loosen up and I gain more control.

Also, I have found it beneficial to watch the way how normal eyes act. When I watched my wife's beautiful healthy eyes, I couldn't stand exclaiming with rapture - the movements were so short and spontaneous, and the stops were so clear-cut like if it were a stepper motor. Remembering this impression makes my eyes act in a similar manner. It works like subconscious imitation of people you like. Myopia is contagious, and so is perfect sight, so the result depends on who is more immune to influences :).

Memory. As an indicator of my current relaxation, I often try to remember black dot and I find that lately I can do it more often and hold it for longer time. I also find that I can more vividly remember black letters after reading fine print at a comfortable distance.

Night Vision. I no longer feel like blind and my head doesn't get squeezed when I walk out in the night. Although I still see imperfectly, it is not worse than in daylight. I asked my wife whether she sees each light perfectly as a pin point. She said: "Yes, but I don't actually look at them". Then I realized that looking at those blurry halos was actually a big strain and I stopped doing so, and began looking at other objects lit by reflected light, then my vision improved.

Flashing. This technique previously didn't work for me, but lately I find it can bring me relaxation and clear flashes in few minutes. I practice it before I go to sleep, as an alternative to palming.


P.S. When I told my wife about my improvements she asked me whether my vision has also improved, and guess what - I realized that I didn't even know! Unlike before, I just no longer have any interest and care to check my vision all the time. Then I became interested and checked several times throughout a single day and found that my average vision has also improved slightly (not counting the clear flashes), just to tick off in my blog :)

Bates Method Ain't Mechanical

Every my appreciable advance in Bates practice I did in a special state of the mind that I would call conscious and responsive reflection. It is usually when I am not in haste, not obliged to do and think anything and have my time to be with myself and meditate. I look inside my mind and sometimes cope to recognize clearly the wrong thoughts that cause me strain, and eliminate them. These thoughts are not like words but rather volitions (like a mental command to clench fists) that have become habitual and subconscious. Having realized and canceled these, I enter the condition when I no longer support strain, but am not yet fully relaxed. It is quite volatile, I need to continuously balance and dodge my mind to keep the wrong thoughts off. This condition of "no longer supporting strain" is the best starting point for practicing other Bates techniques, such as central fixation, swing, shifting, flashing etc., which are in this case very efficient.

I think my findings accord with what Bates wrote about mental strain:

"TEMPORARY conditions may contribute to the strain to see which results in the production of errors of refraction; but its foundation lies in wrong habits of thought. In attempting to relieve it the physician has continually to struggle against the idea that to do anything well requires effort. This idea is drilled into us from our cradles. [...] The mind is the source of all such efforts from outside sources brought to bear upon the eye. Every thought of effort in the mind, of whatever sort, transmits a motor impulse to the eye; and every such impulse causes a deviation from the normal in the shape of the eyeball and lessens the sensitiveness of the center of sight. If one wants to have perfect sight, therefore, one must have no thought of effort in the mind. Mental strain of any kind always produces a conscious or unconscious eyestrain and if the strain takes the form of an effort to see, an error of refraction is always produced."

Unfortunately, the next time I try to reproduce my previous success, it often happens that I fail to remember the mental state I was in, and only try to repeat things mechanically, which has little or no efficiency. I think many practitioners are familiar with this effect.

The resolution I'm finding is that one has to let more peace into the mind for more quality reflection. Perhaps one needs to devote more time to practice and during that time learn to fully retire from any business one may be doing during the day. Nothing is going to work if one keeps thinking about other things, while straining volitions remain in the background. Also, it is easier and more efficient to support the relaxed state of the mind afterwards, than to reacquire it again, but one needs yet to learn to do it, because it easy to return to the habitual strain when one gets back to work.

Another thing to mention is creative thinking. Our mind likes to have fun and play games, and is relaxed by doing so, but dislikes boredom and is strained by the latter. For this reason, even if some particular thought or image used to do a great job of relaxing my mind, after having been repeated many times it ceases to work, because it becomes boring and my mind rejects to think it any more. So I need go ahead and invent another one. These little and temporary personal customizations of Bates techniques make them work for me, provided that I thoroughly understand the underlying fundamental principles.

I've seen some people claiming that Bates method isn't perfect and needs to be enhanced because many people fail with it. I believe though that it's not the problem of Bates method but the problem of practitioners. Bates method is not mechanical but creative, and people are sometimes just not willing to be like that.

Dodging Your Eyesight or "What Is the Bates Routine?"

Look at this impressing story told by Dr. Bates:

"The patient, a man with fifteen diopters of myopia, was so much disturbed by what he saw when his vision had been improved by the memory of a period that he was directed to look away from the Snellen test card, or whatever object he was regarding, when he found the letters or other details coming out; and for about a week he went around persistently dodging his improved sight. As his memory improved, it became more and more difficult for him to do this, and at the end of the week it was impossible. When he looked at the bottom line at a distance of twenty feet he remembered the period perfectly, and when asked if he could see the letters, he replied: "I cannot help but see them."

It is known that Dr. Bates did not provide any routine for his method. This fact is very confusing for most newbies who tend to think about the Bates method as a set of exercises, like bodily ones. Look at the community forums and you'll find that "What is the daily Bates routine?" or alike is a top 10 question. It's hard to get comfortable with the idea that the Bates method should be practiced all the time. It's just unclear how to technically do it.

At first, I tried different routines (even exercises beyond the Bates method), and I confirm that just doing things few times a day (excluding sun treatment) doesn't work in the long run, or works very inefficiently. Even if I get relaxation and a clear flash during my Bates session, it's pointless if I then go back to work and strain. I like how Rishi said: "You have the same time to use your eyes wrongly than you have to use them rightly." So, my real challenge is to put my habit of strain on a slippery slope, so that it would be slipping down all the time, even if I am not busy controlling it.

I think I am close to finding a solution, and it is what I call, following Dr. Bates, dodging your eyesight. In short, it means to consciously divert your mind's attention from the act of seeing, and thereby begin looking without effort. This is nothing new; in fact, all Bates techniques, such as central fixation, memory of black dot, swinging etc. are techniques of dodging. The subtle but important peculiarity is that I learned to identify and support the state when I pretend that I don't care about clear vision and rather engage my mind with other qualities of vision than its acuity. When I succeed to dodge long enough without "getting disturbed", the clear flash arrives almost with no additional action on my part. I'd say anything I do while dodging slips me down to the clear flash.

What I need to do now is take each of my daily activities and learn to dodge at the same time – first dodge consciously and then unconsciously. Currently I have learned to dodge while I'm on a walk outdoors. Unfortunately, when I use my eyes to obtain information, e.g. when I work at the computer, it is very easy to go back to strain. Combining dodging with reading is what I'm currently working on. I have thought up a bunch of "dodging games" that help me obtain that state. I will write about them in my next posts.

One Year of Bates

Today is precisely one year since I set out on my Bates journey, and it's hard to keep myself from summing up.

If you ask me about my progress, you will most likely get different answers at different times. There are clear days when I feel two steps away from the complete cure and there are still days of relapse when I feel like if I were back to the start. After asking me a few questions, Rishi concluded, to my disappointment, that I'm only at the beginning. Surely, I haven't reached stable comfortable vision, but I see improvements in many aspects (that would take too long for one blog post). A good evidence of my progress for you could be that I'm positive to continue my practice.

Every time I make another step forward, I realize what a fool I've been and why I used to fail before. The right thing always appears to be very simple. I am always left wondering - if I were intelligent enough, could I have come straight to what I have found out, or is the progress only possible after I take my time coming through all the blunders?

Also, my criteria for progress have changed. Bates method has appeared to be something that is very accordant with my entire nature. I find my personality, my beliefs and my lifestyle gradually changing to something very exciting, something I have always unconsciously dreamed to be like.

You may have expected me to show numbers, such as Snellen reading, but I don't have them, sorry. It is probably the most difficult thing to stop caring about checking my vision all time to see if there's an improvement. It's only now that I come to realize that I have been doing it all the time and I now strive to cancel this habit. So you shouldn't be expecting any numbers from me in the nearest time. After all those clear flashes and relapses, all I know is that my Snellen reading is approximately between 20/200 and 20/30 :).

My case history: My eyesight grew myopic in age of 8-9 and gradually deteriorated over 10 years down to 20/200. My last glasses prescription was -4D, both eyes. Then I switched to wearing contact lenses (-3.5D) and worn them for another 10 years, without further worsening. On September 15, 2006 I forever discarded contacts and began practicing Bates method.

How to Use the Burning Glass on Yourself

Here's how I learned to point the burning glass blindly, without assistance from another person and without a mirror.

1. Determine the focus distance of the burning glass. Focus sun rays on a sheet of paper and remember the distance between the glass and the paper, approximately. In my case it's about 5 inches.

By the way, here's how to choose the right burning glass. The burning glass is a convex lens ("+" diopters), such as a magnifying glass. It is important that the glass focuses a sufficient ray beam, such that provides the relaxing effect and doesn't overheat your eyeball too fast.

The light beam is greater when the diameter of the glass is greater, and/or the diopter of the glass is greater. In other words, you can take a smaller glass with more "+" diopters or you can take a bigger glass with fewer "+" diopters.

Here's my own burning glass (the ruler is in cm):


2. Sit down in sun light and direct your face to the sun so that the sun rays are square with your face. Under the eyelids, point your eyes to the sun.

3. Use the burning glass with closed eyes. Bring the glass close to one eye, so that the frame touches your eyebrow. From this reference point, move the glass away from your face along the sun rays until you reach the focus distance. You can tell the right position by the maximum of intensity of the light spot seen through the eyelid. Don't forget to move the glass from side to side, to avoid overheating.

4. Holding the glass in the same position, look far down and lift the eyelid with another hand. Voila, you are now pointing the burning glass correctly. Keep moving the glass from side to side. If you accidentally lose the position, repeat from step 3.

What you should see is a bright white field with a network of darker blood vessels. This is the projection of sclera's blood vessels on the retina. As you move the glass, the vessels will move too. In the center of that field you will see a spot of slightly different color and texture. This spot doesn't move so I think this is the macula lutea (the central yellow spot on the retina).

Make sure your eyes stay far down, because otherwise the focused beam may touch the pupil, which is an unpleasant thing. For this reason I point the glass blindly and don't use mirrors or otherwise try to peep at my hands.

Treat one eye as long as you are comfortable with it, then pass to the second eye, then repeat again if you like.

7 Tips for Sun-Gazing Learned in the Hard Way - Part II

Continued, see Part I

Tip #3: Clear Your Mind
It matters a lot during sun treatment (and other Bates techniques too) what is happening inside your head. The best efficiency is achieved when your mind is at rest. Or should I say it is the goal of any Bates technique to achieve restful state of the mind, for it's when the eyesight becomes perfect.

Clearing your mind is a very important thing that deserves a separate post, and here is a brief summary. The mind gets cleared when you stop thinking thoughts and switch to abstracted observation. Note that it's not productive (or maybe not even possible) to try to suppress your thoughts. Instead, you should occupy your mind with observation of sensations from your body, such as breathing (see Tip #4). In case if a thought emerges, let it go immediately, like a bubble in a glass of water. If you stop supporting your "thought mixer", it will gradually fade out.

Here's a list of my own typical "fixed ideas" that are interfering with sun treatment, or whatever else Bates practice, and need to be avoided:
- Thoughts about my tasks that I am going to do next after I'm done with Bates
- Dialogs and arguments with imaginary opponents
- Thoughts about what I will write next in my blog :)

The favorable thoughts are the following. Note that these are "slow thoughts", or "thoughts-observations":
- It is pleasant to bask in the sun
- I'm letting the sun shine through me and fill me with light and warmth, I do not resist
- Remember black dot

Tip #4: Breathe Right
Breathing deeply and watching the sensations produced by the air flowing through your throat and lungs is a great way to clear your mind of thoughts and occupy it with observation. Maybe that's the way how breathing works for better eyesight.

I find that it's much easier to open my eyes and begin looking at the sun without discomfort if I make a deep breath in the way how Bates describes it:

"MANY patients with imperfect sight are benefited by breathing. One of the best methods is to separate the teeth while keeping the lips closed, breathe deeply as though one were yawning. When done properly one can feel the air cold as it passes through the nose and down the throat. This method of breathing secures a great amount of relaxation of the nose, throat, the body generally including the eyes and ears.

A man aged sixty-five, had imperfect sight for distance and was unable to read fine print without the aid of strong glasses. After practicing deep breathing in the manner described he became able at once to, read diamond type quite perfectly, as close as six inches from the eyes. The benefit was temporary but by repetition the improvement became more permanent.

At one time I experimented with a number of patients, first having them hold their breath and test their vision, which was usually lower when they did not breathe. They became able to demonstrate that holding their breath was a strain and caused imperfect sight, double vision, dizziness and fatigue, while the deep breathing at once gave them relief.

There is a wrong way of breathing in which when the air is drawn into the lungs the nostrils contract. This is quite conspicuous among many cases of tuberculosis.

Some teachers of physical culture in their classes while encouraging deep breathing close their nostrils when drawing in a long breath. This is wrong because it produces a strain and imperfect sight. By consciously doing the wrong thing, breathing with a strain one becomes better able to practice the right way and obtain relaxation and better sight.

The habit of practicing frequently deep breathing one obtains a more permanent relaxation of the eyes with more constant good vision."

I also use Bates breathing not only during sun treatment, but in all my practice.

Tip #5: Watch the Perceived Color of the Sun
Whenever the perceived color of the sun changes from the perfect white, the brightest white in the world, to another color, such as yellow, it means I should make a break, because a scotoma began to build up.

Also, from time to time I look aside from the sun and notice the sun with my peripheral vision. If the sun seen with the peripheral vision is much or even intolerably brighter than the sun seen with my central vision, this is also a sign of scotoma, and I also need to make a break.

When after the break I open my eyes and look at the sun again, I may see some residuals of the previous scotoma. If these dismiss in a couple of seconds, then it's OK, otherwise it means that the break wasn't successful and I need to continue the break or quit the session.

Tip #5: Keep Your Face and Head Muscles Relaxed
Don't squint, don't frown, don't clench your teeth, don't use postures where your neck strains to support your head. It is only beneficial to do sun treatment when you don't have any discomfort, which otherwise makes your face mimics strain.

Sometimes after closing my eyes after looking at the sun, I notice that I involuntarily frowned and strained my forehead muscles. I close my eyes and relax, and the next time I open my eyes, I consciously let go of that strain.

Tip #6: Swing the Sun and Blink
If you wonder where exactly at the sun you should look at, the answer is that you should shift and swing the sun. Also look aside from the sun from time t time, as said in Tip #5.

At first, I wasn't successful and the sun didn't swing or even moved in the same direction with my eyes. Gradually I learned to swing the sun and when I'm capable of doing so, I've got much more relaxation and less scotomata. It is a very bad idea to keep looking at the same point on the sun, just like any staring.

Blink often. Your body will let you know when you need to blink, just listen to it and don't resist (see Tip #1).

Tip #7: Don't Overheat and Don't Burn Your Skin
When you feel it's too hot to stay in the sun any longer or you feel your skin begins to get burned, you are done, quit the session.

If you increase the duration of sun treatment slowly, your skin will adapt and develop the ability to resist sunburns. I started my sun treatment in winter and although my white skin is very prone to sunburns, I was surprised that even in the middle of the summer my skin doesn't get burned any more, though I am not even looking very tanned.

7 Tips for Sun-Gazing Learned in the Hard Way

In my early days, I used to think that sun treatment in Bates method was like vitamin pills - supposed to be good for you, but virtually imperceptible to your overall health unless you've got a deficiency.

Needless to say how wrong I was. Sun treatment appears to be a real strain killer. Its effect is so great that I would say I have never even started practicing Bates method until I began sun treatment. I am not alone in feeling like this, read what others from my favorite Bates community say.

(Note that I intentionally use the original term "sun treatment", not "solarization" or "sunning" that are misleading.)

In fact, the ability to look directly at the sun without discomfort is an equivalent indicator of relaxation, similar to the memory of black dot. In other words, when your eyesight is perfect, you can look at the sun without discomfort and afterimages for any period of time, and in reverse, if you are strained, you can't do this, or only can for a short period of time.

Unfortunately, people are frightened by the idea of looking directly at the sun. For this reason, "Bates disciples" reduced the role of sun treatment in their books, and invented abridged techniques, for they had no true faith in Dr. Bates discoveries and were superstitious that people could permanently damage their eyes. At the bottom line, very few in today Bates communities practice sun treatment. Look at the forums and you will hardly find many threads about sun treatment; in contrast, you will find loads of threads on things that don't matter at all. This needs to be changed.

It is also true however that sun treatment needs to be done properly and with discretion. Look what Bates said:

"One has to be very careful in recommending sun-gazing to persons with imperfect sight; because although no permanent harm can result from it, great temporary discomfort may be produced, with no permanent benefit. In some rare cases, however, complete cures have been effected by this means alone."

When I took my first sun treatment session, I was impatient and stupid enough to do it all wrong. In result, I suffered of afterimages (also known as scotoma, pl. scotomata) that lasted over two months. When that yellowish round spot in the center of my view field didn't go the next day, and after two days, and after a week, you bet it scared the shit out of me. It took me a while to fully demonstrate to myself that scotomata were only illusions caused by strain. Like floaters, I was myself supporting that damned illusion by permanently worrying about it. And paradoxically, the best way to get rid of the afterimage was to look at the sun again :). So looking back I realize that although I indeed haven't caused myself any permanent harm, this temporary discomfort could have been avoided too if I weren't such an idiot.

So I gradually elaborated a set of safety and efficiency tips for sun treatment for myself. By following these tips I no longer experience lasting afterimages. The worst I get is a couple of minutes watery yellowish field immediately after sun-gazing. The best I get is no afterimages at all, that is how it should be.

Please note that although these tips are good for me, you may need to adjust them to your own peculiarities, so begin cautiously and learn from your own experience.

Safety Tip #1: Never Force Yourself!
Whenever you look at the sun and feel an intolerable urge to close your eyes, do it immediately! This is how my body signals that I am not ready - it feels like if I were extremely sleepy or like dust fell into my eyes. Never force your eyes to stay open, don't hold your eyelids with your fingers, don't squint, don't frown, don't cover the eyes with your hand etc. Sun gazing is only beneficial when you look at the sun literally without any discomfort, like if you were looking at the screen of your computer. Otherwise it will only cause you afterimages.

For this reason, I find it better to look at the sun when it is high and bright, in contrast to what some may recommend. When the sun is around its peak, it is impossible to look at it without relaxation, whereas when the sun is low (especially when it seems yellow or red on the sunset) or clouded, one can look at it with the strain still there, which causes no benefit but scotomata very quickly.

Safety Tip#2: Be Patient and Moderate!
After learning how good sun treatment is, it is tempting to start right away and do it as often and as long as you can, but learn to be patient and moderate. Start with short sessions and then gradually increase their length, and begin each session slowly and smoothly.

Bright light is beneficial for the eyes. You'd agree that on sunny days you see better than on dim days, and the brighter is the light, the more is the relaxation. This is how sun treatment works. However, an abrupt change of illumination causes a temporary strike of strain (this is why even people with normal sight sometimes see afterimages), so the idea is to drive in (and out of) the bright light as smooth as possible.

Here is a grade of sun treatment methods, sorted by increasing intensity:

1. Look at the sun with closed eyes (few minutes)
2. Look at the sun with closed eyes and focus sun rays on the eyelids using a burning glass (few minutes) Note: Constantly move the burning glass around to avoid heating.
3. Open the eyes and look down while focusing rays on the white part of the eyeball (1-2 minutes)
4. Look at the sky or near the sun with open eyes (few minutes, while you don't feel discomfort)
5. Look directly at the sun with open eyes (1 - 30 seconds, while you don't feel discomfort )
6. Repeat from step 1 (5-10 times).

During each session, I start with a less intense method, then pass to a more intense method, then repeat. Usually I allocate about 30 min in total. If I'm in haste, I better don't do sun treatment at all, because it is not going to be efficient unless I take my time. After all, sun-gazing is a pleasure I would hate to miss or cut short :).

I may take 1-5 sessions per day. From day to day, I may increase the duration (in seconds) of direct sun gazing, and the number of sessions per day, but do it slowly and cautiously, because sometimes it happens that although I don't have an afterimage immediately after sun-gazing, I may have it in the evening of the same day when the strain returns with the twilight.

Here's what Bates wrote:

"Light is necessary to the health of the eye, and darkness is injurious to it. Eye shades, dark glasses, darkened rooms, weaken the sight and sooner or later produce inflammations. Persons with normal sight can look directly at the sun, or at the strongest artificial light, without injury or discomfort, and persons with imperfect sight are never permanently injured by such lights, though temporary ill effects, lasting from a few minutes to a few hours, days, weeks, months, or longer, may be produced. In all abnormal conditions of the eyes, light is beneficial. It is rarely sufficient to cure, but is a great help in gaining relaxation by other methods.

The quickest way to get results from the curative power of sunlight is to focus the rays with a burning glass on the white part of the eye when the patient looks far downward, moving the light from side to side to avoid heat. This may be done for part of a minute at frequent intervals.

Looking at the sun, while slower in its results, has often been sufficient to effect permanent cures, sometimes in a very short time. There is a right way and a wrong way to do this. Persons with imperfect sight should never took directly at the sun at first, because, while no permanent harm can come from it, great temporary inconvenience may result. Such persons should begin by looking to one side of the sun, and after becoming accustomed to the strong light, should look a little nearer to its source, and so on until they become able to look directly at the sun without discomfort."

And please read the related original Bates chapter about sun treatment!

Continued... It's time for me to look at the sun while it's shining in my window :)

The First Thing to Start with

The first and foremost thing you need to do is to read and understand the original Bates book, Perfect Sight without Glasses! This is so important, that I'd begin each and every my blog post with this urgent recommendation.

I can hear you thinking that you've already read it, and you may think you've understood it, but believe me you haven't. I'd bet you read another "Bates-like" book, and it was too much a while ago and most of things you have forgotten or confused with other wrong ideas.

The original book by Dr. Bates is a masterpiece. It's not a usual book that you give a cursory glance and move along. Although the text may look quite dry and old-fashioned at first glance, it is unbelievably carefully worded. There is no single word out of place, and each word is there for a reason. If some pieces seem unclear or unfeasible to you, or in reverse, you shrug shoulders why Dr. Bates writes about such obvious things, this is because you aren't yet experienced enough and haven't reached the state when you can understand it. Keep opening the book now and then, and you will be surprised to find the answers that you didn't previously realized were there. All missing pieces marvelously fit into place.

Like all things of genius, the Bates method is very simple, and the book by Dr. Bates sets forth the complete and pure essence of the method, without any redundancy. Some people call themselves "disciples" of Dr. Bates and write their own books, invent new techniques etc., but what they actually do is at best misinterpret and misplace the accents. I haven't seen not a single book that evolves and adds value to the Bates method, but I've seen a lot of unnecessary and wrong interpretations.

I like to quote one guy who is known to have his eyesight completely cured:

"My recovery has been too long and too slow. I think there are simple reasons for this. First and foremost, I initially had too little faith in the great Dr. Bates. My faith in some of his statements didn't come until I thoroughly had demonstrated the facts to myself, which in some cases took a very long time. Secondly, my mind was for a long time (and maybe still is) cluttered with ideas from Bates books written by people with defective sight and wrong ideas. One of these ideas, I think, is that the people that have the most success, are the people that go on and invent a lot of their own techniques. This I did for a long time. Actually I think I've made up enough of my own techniques to fill up close to a thousand pages in a book. My biggest dream some time ago, was to write all this down, and get my own book on the Bates method published. The techniques I mostly thought were revolutionary at the time I made them. Unfortunately, in the aftermath I've discovered that they're not. What I've discovered is that all of them were just complicated and inefficient ways of doing what the methods, as Bates explains them, do a lot better. That's why I wrote this: "If I hadn't taken all these precautions about posting (and if I weren't so lazy), I would have posted a lot more f.ex. on the use of the imagination, which I consider my strongest card. But I see that the way I use my imagination is changing so much, that I am too afraid to give people wrong ideas - which there is really WAY more than enough of on the other vision lists. I consider the only safe route to perfect vision is to follow the advice of those who have actually got there. Of course, I read other opinions too, but then I'm very careful to have the filters in my brain running." After this time, I've only realized this more and more, and I'm glad that I hesitated in writing up on some of my ideas, because I now know that they were not good ideas. So I doubt that you'll see a book published by me in a long, long time. Anyway, if I had to write down my own experience, I would have to use the same words as Dr. Bates did."

It is unbelievable how many months I have wasted doing totally wrong things while thinking I was practicing Bates. And when I finally got over my laziness and opened the original book, I was amazed to discover that I had never actually read THIS book! Don't repeat my mistake! Now I've made my habit to open the book now and then and it is always a tangible step forward.

This Blog May Be Misleading Too

The golden rule in Bates practice is that you should only trust the original texts by Dr. Bates and his direct associates (such as Emily), and listen only to those practitioners who have completely cured themselves, or are close to the complete cure.

You can find loads of misleading "Bates-like" books by so called "disciples" of Dr. Bates. The Bates community forums are full of nonsense too.

As a matter of fact, Bates method is about 80 years old. It is likely that every meaningful thing that could be said about the method, has already been said. There is no need to write new books and invent new techniques and "Bates programs". What people are really looking for is encouragement from other practitioners, now and then.

Ideally, I should have started this blog when I have myself completely cured. However at that time I will most likely forget a lot and lose my interest, while I'd like to warn the others about the mistakes I am making on my way.

I am not a Bates interpreter. My goal is to attract people to the original ideas of Dr. Bates by sharing my own experience.