“The normal eye when it has normal sight rests very frequently by closing the eyes for longer or shorter periods, and when practiced quickly it is called BLINKING.”
– William H. Bates, M.D.
The Habits of Natural Vision: Breathe, Blink, Shift
In a previous post, I introduced the Habits of Natural Vision, that naturally release strain and improve eyesight. As I mentioned in that post, I first learned about the Bates method over 20 years ago from the book “Relearning To See: Improve Your Eyesight Naturally!” by Thomas R. Quackenbush.
In his book, Quackenbush lists these “Three Habits of Natural Vision” as “Breathing, Blinking and Shifting.”
Habits Of Natural Vision
- BREATHING - The habit of breathing naturally and effortlessly supports clear eyesight. When seeing clearly, breathing remains free and easy. Dr. Bates taught breathing techniques to encourage not only the eyes to relax and let go of tension, but also the mind and body, especially the muscles of the face, throat, neck and shoulders.
- BLINKING - Dr. Bates states, "The normal eye when it has normal sight rests very frequently by closing the eyes for longer or shorter periods, and when practiced quickly it is called BLINKING. When the normal eye has normal sight and refrains from blinking for some seconds or part of a minute, the vision always becomes imperfect." Blinking gently, effortlessly and regularly is a normal and healthy habit. It is part of clear Natural Vision and is very relaxing for the eyes when done with ease. It lubricates the eyes, increases circulation to the eyes, helps the eyes to adjust to bright light and allows them to momentarily and continuously rest and refocus.
- SHIFTING - Shifting is continually alternating one's focus and attention from one point to another. Effortlessly shifting, sketching, brushing, moving the eyes, head and neck together, following one's attention across the visual field, is a normal habit of clear Natural Vision. It incorporates well all three of the natural vision principles of relaxation, movement and centralization. It helps to break the habit of staring and with each shift of one's gaze allows the eyes to rest and refocus. Dr. Bates taught many variations on Shifting, including the Long Swing, Short Swing and Sway. Through these movement practices, Natural Vision Principles can be realized and Natural Vision Habits can be reestablished. Shifting encourages total relaxation and produces signs that Natural Vision is being awakened - an awareness of central clarity, where the center of one's visual field is clearer than the periphery and an imagined sense of oppositional movement, where objects in the visual field appear to be moving in the opposite direction.
And, in that previous post, I also mentioned that these Habits of Natural Vision allow you to effortlessly experience normal eyesight because they follow the Principles of Natural Vision: Relaxation, Movement, Central Fixation, Imagination and Memory.
Principles Of Natural Vision
- RELAXATION - The eyes must be at rest to see clearly. In order for the eyes to be at rest, the mind and body must be at rest as well. Tension in the eyes, the mind or anywhere in the body lowers vision. Learning to let go of tension and relax the eyes improves vision. This is the foundational principle of the Bates Method. According to Dr. Bates, "All methods of curing errors of refraction are simply different ways of obtaining rest."
- MOVEMENT - In order for the eyes to be relaxed, they must be in dynamic relaxation. They must be in motion, without undue tension. The eyes are at rest only when they are moving. And, when the eyes are moving they are at rest. The eyes are anatomically designed to require movement in order to see clearly. They can see clearly with movement, and can do this with ease. The eyes depend on movement to function normally. Keeping the eyes from moving, for example by staring, is a strain on the eyes and lowers vision.
- CENTRAL FIXATION (OR CENTRAL CLARITY) - Central Fixation is seeing most clearly where one is looking; having more clarity in one's central field and less clarity in one's peripheral field. The eyes are anatomically designed to see most clearly at the center of the visual field, since the majority of cone receptor cells which are capable of seeing with with great clarity are found at the center of the retina. Dr. Bates said, "In central fixation, one sees best the point regarded, while all other points are seen less clearly." Central Fixation applies to the mind as well. Seeing clearly requires that one's attention and interest be primarily on the point where one is looking. Regaining clear Natural Vision requires regaining Central Fixation of the mind and the eyes.
- IMAGINATION AND MEMORY - Imagination and memory improves vision. Since we see more with the mind than with the eyes, a perfectly relaxed mind, with a perfect imagination and perfect memory means perfectly clear vision.
- IMAGINATION - Regarding Imagination, Dr. Bates said, "When the imagination is perfect, the mind is always perfectly relaxed, and as it is impossible to relax and imagine a letter perfectly, and at the same time strain and see it imperfectly, it follows that when one imagines that one sees a letter perfectly one actually does see it." In other words, imagining seeing clearly, with the eyes closed, relaxes the mind and relaxes the eyes to a similar degree as using clear Natural Vision with the eyes open. Since we see primarily with the mind, when the mind is relaxed, the eyes are relaxed and believe they are seeing clearly. Even if the eyes are closed, they physically let go of strain and respond as if they were open and truly seeing clearly.
- MEMORY - Regarding memory, Dr. Bates said, "When the sight is perfect, the memory is perfect, because the mind is perfectly relaxed. Therefore, the sight may be improved by any method that improves the memory." Remembering something in the past perfectly clear relaxes the mind and the eyes. Again, even with the eyes closed, they respond by letting go of tension as they would if they were truly seeing clearly.
Also, in that same previous post, I talked more about The First Habit of Natural Vision: Breathing.
My previous post on The First Habit of Natural Vision: Breathing.
In this post, let’s look at the second Habit of Natural Vision: BLINKING.
Like breathing, blinking is a natural, normal, automatic vision habit. As with breathing, you don’t have to think about. It just happens. We naturally blink as needed. And for normal eyesight, adequate blinking is needed.
Blinking does many things. It keeps the surface of your eyes nice and moist. It helps to spread the tears that wash away dust and debris. And, blinking is relaxing, because It keeps your eyes moving. It prevents the strain of staring. In fact, it’s just about impossible to stare if you are frequently blinking. This is because, with each instantaneous closing and reopening of the eyelids, the eye shifts it’s aim to a different point. The muscles of the eye aren’t held still long enough to stare and strain.
We take it for granted that we are blinking.
Do you think about blinking? Probably not, unless there’s a problem. Many years ago I had a friend who had Bell’s palsy, with paralysis in the facial muscles on one side of his face. He was unable to blink his left eye. Throughout the day, he had to manually close his eyelid regularly. And at night, sleep with his eyelid taped shut. It made apparent the importance of the automatic habit of blinking.
Do you blink enough?
How often do you blink? If your eyesight is not normal, probably not enough. Similar to breathing, blinking slows down the more we feel stressed. When we feel stressed, our breathing slows down. We may even hold our breath. And, when we feel stressed, our blinking slows down. It may even nearly stop. This is staring. This is a strain, and lowers your vision.
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