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.