How To Use A Vision Shifter To Break The Stare And Kick-Start Your Eyes Into Shifting Again

“All persons with imperfect sight make an effort to stare with their eyes immovable. The eyes have not the ability to keep stationary. To look intently at a point continuously is impossible; the eyelids will blink, and the effort is accompanied by imperfect vision.”

“All persons with normal sight do not concentrate or try to see by any effort. Their eyes are at rest, and when the eyes are at rest they are constantly moving.”

– William H. Bates, M.D.

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Using A Vision Shifter To Improve Your Eyesight

A Vision Shifter is a visual education tool that can be used to improve your eyesight by stimulating the natural, automatic, and relaxing shifting of your eyes. It is typically made of a thin, flat board with slits cut out. When placed between your closed eyes and a bright light source, and moved in opposite direction to the movement of your head and eyes, the light coming through the slits and filtering through your closed eye lids stimulates the natural shifting of your eyes.

Saccades

Your eyes are constantly moving. And, they never stop moving, even when you close them to rest or even sleep. This natural continuous shifting of the eyes is called saccades. It is natural, automatic and very relaxing for the eyes and mind. This saccadic shifting of the eyes, and the relaxation it provides, is necessary for normal clear vision.

Your eyes normally shift 70 to 100 times a second. It is what gives the sparkle to your eyes. You may have noticed that people with normal vision have brighter, more vibrant looking eyes. This is because their eyes are shifting quickly, many times a second, making the reflected light dance and flicker.

The way I understand it, with each quick saccadic shift, your eyes take a new picture of a different point in your visual field. The faster your eyes shift, the more pictures they can take, the more data your mind can receive, and the clearer your vision.

So, your eyes must shift quickly, automatically and in a relaxed way in order for you to see clearly. If this shifting is slowed down, your eyes take fewer pictures, your mind gets less input, and your vision becomes more blurry.

Staring

The most common thing that slows down the shifting of your eyes and makes your vision blurry, is staring. Staring is an acquired and unfortunate habit. It is a response to stress that interferes with the saccadic movements of your eyes. It causes eye strain, creating excess tension in the muscles that surround, move and help to focus your eyes. This tension slows down the speed of your saccadic shifting. And, it manifests as staring.

I’m sure you have experienced staring.

Have you ever “zone out,” parked your eyes, gazed off into space and let your mind wander with no interest in what your eyes were pointing at? You were probably staring.

Have you ever driven for a while, “woke up” and realized that you didn’t remember the last 10 miles of your trip? Your mind was somewhere else? You were probably staring.

Have you ever gotten so engrossed in what’s on the screen of your phone or computer that you forgot to blink, breathe, move your eyes, your head or your body? For hours? You were probably staring.

Have you ever been stressed out for any reason, and responded by feeling angry, sad, depressed, anxious? You were probably staring.

While staring may feel normal, comforting, or even relaxing, most likely it is just familiar. It is an all too common response to stress. It may feel relaxing, but in reality, it is a strain on the eyes. It tenses the muscles around the eyes, squeezes your nice round eyeballs out of shape and slows down your normal saccadic eye movements. It lowers vision. It makes it blurry. If you have been staring, you may also find it causing your eyes to feel dry, itchy, irritated, burning, tired, sore and generally uncomfortable.

“If you have imperfect sight, you are staring. The eyes are stopping too long on one spot, causing a blur. You may not be staring consciously, but you are staring unconsciously. It has become an unconscious habit.”

– Gloria Ginn, from “Improve Your Eyesight: Get Your Eyes Shifting Again”

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Breaking The Stare

So, how do you stop staring? How do you break your habitual stare and get your eyes shifting again? There are many Bates method practices that can help to break the habit of staring – the sway, the swing, rapid blinking, strobing with your fingers while sunning – to name a few. If you’re creative, the possibilities are endless. But initially, an easy and good place to start, is using a Vision Shifter.

Using A Vision Shifter

Using a Vision Shifter is easy to do. You simply face the sun, or a bright light, with your eyes closed, hold the shifter between your eyes and the light source, and move it in the opposite direction to the movement of your head and eyes.

The flickering light, that passes between the slats of the moving Vision Shifter, kick-starts your eyes into shifting. It happens automatically. Your eyes will just begin shifting spontaneously. And, since your eyes are closed, it’s nearly impossible to stare. They have nothing to see. There is nothing for them to do, but relax into the shifting.

“Because the eyes are light-finders, they shift over the black slats in the shifter, and look for the light coming through the holes. You don’t have to do anything; the shifting begins automatically.”

– Gloria Ginn

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How Do You Use A Vision Shifter?

1. Close your eyes and face the sun or a bright light.
2. Hold the shifter horizontally, between your face and the light source.
3. Allow the light to shine through the openings in the shifter onto your closed eyelids.
4. Slowly and gently turn your head left and right, as if saying, “No.”
5. Move the shifter in the opposite direction of your head. When your head turns left, move the shifter to the right; when your head turns right, move the shifter to the left.

How Often And For How Long Should You Use A Vision Shifter?

There is no set amount of time for practicing with a Vision Shifter. But, as with any practice, the more often and the longer you practice, the better. A good place to start is once or twice a day for at least 5 minutes. If you don’t want to watch the clock, count to 100, with a swing to the right being “1”, to the left “2”, and so on. Or, do it until you feel a sense of relaxation set in, that makes you not want to stop. Then, do it a bit longer, and enjoy the relaxing and soothing effect.

“Use a shifter for 5-20 minutes, once or twice a day. If you want faster improvement, shift for a half hour up to three times daily.”

– Gloria Ginn

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If you have an questions about using a Vision Shifter, or have any other questions about the Bates Method or Natural Vision Improvement, don’t hesitate to ask.

Resources

• Improve Your Eyesight – Get Your Eyes Shifting Again by Gloria Ginn
• Bates Method 101: How To Use Shifters with Nathan Oxenfeld