Two Years of Bates Practice

In few days it's going to be exactly two years since I discarded my contacts. 

I still haven't got perfect sight, and I am still on my way. The problem of imperfect sight appeared to be way more deeply ingrained, and the Bates method is a way more serious and fundamental treatment than one may think after reading the book. My myopia had been developing for maybe ten years, so I guess the cure should not be expected orders of magnitude faster than that. 

Yet I feel my progress is enormous. It is not about the flashes of improved sight, that have become so natural and self-understood, and even some very slow "average" improvement too. The main thing is that I now know for sure what exactly I should do, or, more precisely, not do, to enter this relaxed state - the state of universal swing. The longer this state lasts, the deeper it becomes, and the eyesight improves accordingly. Currently I am able to maintain the universal swing for maybe 5-10% of all time.

Bates practice feels like balancing on a rope, or like carefully saving a candle light from wind, or like growing a tender flower. At some moment you fail and need to start over again, but eventually you become more successful in this subtle balancing. It is completely not like steady body building thrice a week in a gym.

I am at the barrier right now and I don't expect any major breakthroughs until I learn to balance in the universal swing longer and plant it in the background of my mind. It's not fast and easy but I am prepared. 

Bates treatment is not all about the vision only, it's much more. I am amazed how deep and fundamental are Dr. Bates' findings about the nature of mental strain and its influence on our entire body state and health. The corollaries are very interesting and useful. Take for example fatigue, boredom, annoyance, anxiety, fear and so on - these bad effects are all caused by mental strain. There are many possibilities to try and practice, and I do.

For me it's also the science of quitting the deeply rooted wrong habits and changing beliefs. That's what our mind is ruled by - habits an beliefs. If one masters the art of changing them, one becomes the master of his mind, not a slave anymore.  However, no matter how smart a person can be, the brain is very slow in analyzing and realizing how it works by itself, i.e. reflecting in itself. That's why Dr. Bates was a genius. Very few people I know understand or even care that we can change our own habits and beliefs consciously. The habit of strain and the belief that strain is necessary are the most unfortunate ones. I hear people saying they love sweets or can't live without meat or believe eye troubles are incurable or they can't lose weight etc. In fact most people are proud of their "tastes" and deem them to be part of their beloved character, but these all are just habits and beliefs borrowed non-critically and/or unconsciously from the parents and the society. They can be discarded if one stops associating himself with them. It is not fast, but it is possible, like loading another software into a computer. I look around me and see how many other strains surround me, and by becoming conscious of them, I doom them. My life is becoming happier every day. The Bates practice is the right thing for the daring people whose life's mission is liberation. When you get the right thing, it does not matter how long it takes to master it.