Routine Failure

I dropped the routine described in my previous post after almost a month of following it. The lesson I have learned is that once a practice becomes a routine -- something tedious, boring, and scheduled in time, it becomes pure effort, strain and nervousness, at least for me. Actually, I felt great relief when I no longer had to palm every hour, and I can bet even my vision a bit improved. :)

Because the routine failed, for a couple of weeks afterward I tried doing the opposite -- did not practice at all and watched myself. My vision did not worsen and at the beginning was even better than at the end of the routine month. So, the other lesson I have learned was that one should continuously change and try different things, as soon as the previous things stop working. Boredom and tiredness are forms of strain.

The best environment for successful practice, at least for me, appears when I know that I don't have to do anything "Bates", and there are no limits in time. I can do it just for fun to explore how my mind works, or just to entertain myself.

"Practice Time": The Routine of the Bates Method Given by Dr. Bates Himself!

While reading the filing of the Better Eyesight Magazine, I stumbled upon something I thought did not exist. In November 1928 issue, on the first page, there is a small article titled "Practice time" where Dr. Bates gives us a concise yet accurate recipe of what patients should routinely practice to get cured with his method, and most importantly, how much, how long and how often they should do it. 

I was amazed to discover that my own practice has been several times less intense than Dr. Bates suggested it to be. Three weeks ago I discovered this instruction and since then I follow it diligently and literally. As Dr. Bates said many times, the ones that simply do what they are told to are cured the quickest, and finally there is the instruction that is easy to follow. I am already seeing some progress. I admit I was wrong thinking that the Bates method was not routine; now I believe it is more routine and maybe even tedious. Regularity is king. The strategy is to make small improvements as often as possible, never allowing yourself to sink back to deeper strain again. This way the average level of strain decreases. The other strategy - make seldom but long relaxation sessions does not work to make any improvement permanent, I have proved it by two years of my practice.

Because the 1928-11 BEM issue is not available online, I typed it below. 

Practice Time

A large number of people have bought the book "Perfect Sight Without Glasses" but do not derive as much benefit from it as they should because they do not know how long they should practice.

Rest: The eyes are rested in various ways. One of the best methods is to close the eyes for half an hour after testing the sight. This usually improves the vision.

Palming: With the eyes closed and covered with the palms of both hands the vision is usually benefited. The patient should do this five minutes hourly.

Shifting: The patient looks from one side of the room to the other, alternately resting the eyes. This may be done three times daily for half an hour at a time. The head should move with the eyes and the patient should blink.

Swinging: When the shifting is slow, stationary objects appear to move from side to side. This should be observed whenever the head and eyes move.

Long Swing: Nearly all persons should practice the long swing one hundred times daily.

Memory: When the vision is perfect, it is impossible for the memory to be imperfect. One can improve the memory by alternately remembering a letter with the eyes open and closed. This should be practiced for half an hour twice daily.

Imagination: It has been frequently demonstrated and published in this magazine that the vision is only what we imagine it to be. Imagination should be practiced whenever the vision is tested. Imagine a known letter with the eyes open and with the eyes closed. This should be practiced for ten minutes twice daily.

Repetition: When one method is found which improves the vision more than any other method, it should be practiced until the vision is continuously improved.

Nothing Is Straining, Nothing Is Relaxing

It is a mistake to think that there are some "magic bullets" that will make your mind and eyes necessarily relax or strain every time you use them. I've been misguided by this idea for quite a long time, trying and failing many times to reproduce relaxation "that I had yesterday", while doing seemingly the same thing as yesterday. This is a great source of disappointment for the beginners. 

But in fact, nothing strains or relaxes. It all depends on the state you are currently in, and your attitude to the thing. You can use it, consciously or unconsciously, to strain or to relax your mind (or neither nor). Theoretically any procedure can be both straining and relaxing for you at different times. Even sun treatment, even palming can be straining, and what you think is "a strain to see" can be relaxing. I have experienced these.

In practice, however, there are procedures and circumstances that are as a rule relaxing, for the majority of people. These techniques are all carefully collected in the great book by Dr. Bates. There is however no guarantee that you will not misuse them and cause yourself even more strain. In fact, you will, many times, before you learn to use them correctly, without effort. There is a special frame of the mind that you need to discover before you succeed with any of these practices. It is the state of universal swing. 

The Cause of Scotoma

Scotomas are the blind spots of varying color (mine were mostly yellow) that people often experience after looking directly at a brilliant source of light, such as the sun. The blind spots can be lasting and causing much discomfort to people with imperfect sight. However, even people with normal sight may experience the blind spots.

After 1.5 years of practicing sun gazing, I have completely got rid of scotomas. After looking at the sun for arbitrary length of time, I almost never have any blind spots, and never such that last for any appreciable time. My sight is almost always improved after sun gazing and I even no longer have those periods when everything seems darker for the period of adaptation to a lower brightness. I literally turn away from the sun and can read in normal light. I thought that I have completely unlearnt and lost the ability to produce scotomas.

However recently I accidentally produced the old good yellow scotoma (though not lasting) after looking at the sun, and I understood its cause. 

As Dr. Bates rightly said, the blind spots are illusions, an imagination out of mental control coming from a strain. There are many types of strain, each causing its own kind of illusion of imperfect sight. And the blind spots after sun gazing are the result of the strain to see details of a too bright object. Once you stop trying to see anything on the sun, or against the direction of sun rays, and just let the light flood your eyes, you will no longer experience any blind spots. 

That's why even people with normal sight frown, wrinkle their foreheads and squint their eyes and then experience scotomas for a while - because they expect to see details of a too bright image, immediately, that is impossible and is a strain. That's why they immediately experience imperfect sight - the blind spots - specific for this kind of strain.

This is an interesting idea that every kind of illusion of imperfect sight comes from the strain to do the opposite impossible thing. Like blind spots occur in result of trying to see a too bright object makes the object seem darker, the blurred vision at the distance occurs in result of the strain to see far object, and so on, respectively.

Update: I no longer practice and/or recommend sun gazing with opened eyes, because there are much less intrusive techniques of relaxation in the Bates method, and the risk of acquiring additional strain and scotomas during sun gazing is simply not justified. Exposing your eyes with closed eyelids to direct sun is enough. Just take care to cover your face to protect your skin from sun burns and premature forming of wrinkles, don't do it in the middle of summer day, don't do it for more than 5-15 minutes. Also you can use powerful (~1000 lumens) LED flashlights on your closed eyes with nearly the same effect but without the risk of a UV burn.

The Best Bates Teacher in the World

It is the sun.

People who teach Bates method may be wrong. They may be just earning their living by telling you things that resemble Bates method but actually are against it. They may have been taught by wrong people too. They may not even have perfect sight. There is no guarantee that they completely understand the fundamental principles set forth by Dr. Bates. The reality is that most of them do not.

But even if you find a good teacher, he or she won't tell you the feelings and experiences of your own mind and body you should look for. Human language is just not capable to carry such things. So, the best you can get from a human teacher is just encouragement and a guard from obvious blunders.

The sun is totally different. The sun punishes you immediately with the intolerable discomfort, afterimages and other ill effects when you treat it in the wrong and strained way. And it encourages you with pleasant comfort and improved vision when you find the right way. All this happens directly in your mind, without mediation of words. I often thought that if I only could have a perfect indicator of strain, I would cure myself very quickly. I have finally found it. The discomfort from bright light is a direct manifestation of strain. It IS strain, in a sense.

The next step I have found is a fun game of provoking more discomfort when you reach a certain level of comfort in the bright light. For example, I look at the sky near the sun and notice the sun is seen worse in the eccentric field, look to the earth than back to the sun, swing the sun etc. This all usually breaks my balance, I begin straining and a wave of discomfort returns. Then I dissolve it again, and my comfortable relaxation becomes deeper and more stable.

After successfully learning to obtain comfort in bright light, I began to notice the same discomfort as from looking at the sun with strain, in many other situations, when there is no bright light. It's just too subtle, and that's why I wasn't able to notice it before the sun amplified it hundred times. Now when I am able to sense the discomfort in other situations, I can also apply the same techniques that I use to get accustomed to the bright light. The results are very encouraging.

Right Words and Wrong Words

Our mind uses words to label things. Once a name is called, the corresponding notion of an object or phenomenon begins to exist in the mind, even if the object or phenomenon may not exist in reality. And in reverse, once a name is destroyed, or replaced with a verb meaning an action, the corresponing object or phenomenon disappears from the mind.

Because vision problems are entirely in the mind, it is important to be careful with words, because the ideas behind them may be wrong and thereby retard the cure of imperfect sight. Dr. Bates was EXTREMELY careful with words. Every his word is a gem. I tried to translate Dr. Bates' texts to other languages and I tell you it's very difficult to do so without losing part of the meaning, or using too much words to deliver the full meaning. English is the perfect language for Bates method.

Here is the list of words that Dr. Bates didn't use, and I avoid using myself, in context of eyesight and Bates method:

WRONG: sunning, solarization
RIGHT: sun treatment, sun gazing

WRONG: centralization (I would kill for that! :) )
RIGHT: central fixation

WRONG: clear flash
RIGHT: a flash of improved vision, a flash of perfect vision

There may be others that I will remember and post later

Also, I'd recommend to avoid the following words:
to focus, to concentrate, to try hard, to do my best, to make an effort

And of course stay away from the following optician's words, because the phenomenons meant by them are non-existent but have been brought into your mind by compulsion:
prescription, diopter, myopia, astigmatism, hypermetropia etc.

Psychoanalysis and Bates Method

In context of curing imperfect eyesight, I've found that it's not productive to try to analyze the subconscious and psychological issues that originally caused the strain to build up. It's just the upside-down way. First you should find the way to relax and only then you may discover the cause, but not in reverse order. The ways people strain are countless and knowing the original cause far ago in your childhood will hardly help you cure yourself now, but will more likely divert your attention from the real practice to things that no longer matter.

The Eye Muscles

Forget about the eye muscles. The problem is entirely in the mind. Beside the muscles receiving wrong control impulses from the mind and forcing the eye out of focus, there are also the illusions of imperfect sight, which are the largest defect of imperfect sight, and they are not connected with any muscles, only with the mental strain. As soon as you regain good mental control, the muscles will also be OK, no need to worry about them.

Procedures and Balancers - A Classification of Bates Techniques

I'd split all Bates techniques in two groups: "procedures" and "balancers".

The procedures are routines you do from time to time, several times a day. They are like first aid when you find yourself back in strain, and their aim is to bring you back into a more relaxed state, the best you can get at the moment. Procedures are: palming, sun treatment, sway (also known as long swing) and playing with the Snellen test card.

The balancers are the little tricks you keep doing all the time, when you are more or less relaxed, to prevent building strain and deepen the relaxation further more. Their aim is to dodge your mind and distract it from trying to control the eyes. Balancers are: noticing things moving, shifting, central fixation, remembering black period, imagining things seen clearly, breathing, blinking softly.

Start with the procedures and then proceed to the balancers.

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.