Are you new to the Bates method and would like to create a natural vision improvement practice?
Or, have you been studying the Bates method for a while now but are struggling to develop a regular practice?
Whether you are new to improving your vision or have been at it for a while, here are 10 tips I hope you will find helpful in creating a successful natural vision improvement practice.
10 Tips For Creating A Successful Natural Vision Improvement Practice
1. Practice Daily
When learning anything, whether it is yoga, piano, unicycling or good vision habits, practicing regularly is more effective than practicing sporadically.
Practicing daily is a simple way of establishing a regular practice. When you wake up each morning, each new sunrise offers a reminder to once again practice.
Daily practice keeps you practicing regularly.
With regular practice, you will enjoy greater progress.
I didn’t get better at riding the unicycle until I made a daily commitment to go out and ride each and every morning.
And, I didn’t see much improvement in my vision until I started practicing the Bates method techniques regularly.
The Bates method is not a regimen of exercises that are hard to do. It is not difficult. But it does take practice. And, practicing daily makes it easy to remember to continue to practice regularly.
2. Practice At Your Best Time
We all have different lives, with different routines and obligations. Fit your vision improvement practice into your own schedule.
I happen to be an early riser and have time to myself in the morning. So, I have always practiced any self-improvement technique in the morning. I start immediately upon waking.
I have found a morning practice very beneficial, as it not only gets my practicing out of the way, so that I don’t forget to do it, but it also sets a relaxed tone for the rest of my day. It gets my mind, body and eyes feeling at ease and functioning well from the start.
But, choose a time that works for you. Find a time when you can focus solely on yourself with no distractions.
This may be while the kids are at school, or during a lunch break, or right before bedtime. Try and find a time that is available solely to you each and every day.
Any time will work, but if you could create a morning practice, it would be a lovely way for your eyes to start the day.
Wake Up Your Natural Vision With A Morning Vision-Wake-Up Practice
3. Practice In Structured And In Unstructured Ways
In addition to establishing a structured daily vision practice, look for times throughout the rest of your day when you can spontaneously practice.
Where can you fit Bates activities and normal vision habits into your day?
How spontaneous, playful and creative can you be about it?
Here are some possibilities:
- Throughout the day, if you notice that the sun has peeked out from behind a cloud, step outside or stand at a window and relax your eyes with some sunning, even if just for a minute or so.
- Whenever you can, take a moment at work and practice palming or simply close your eyes, while bringing to mind a pleasant memory that makes you smile.
- Practice good vision habits while at the computer or phone. Close and rest your eyes while the screen is refreshing. Remind yourself often to use good vision habits, blink, breathe and keep your attention and gaze moving whenever using electronic screens.
10 Tips For Improving Your Eyesight While Using Lighted Electronic Screens
- Practice good vision habits while taking a walk. Pay attention to the apparent motion of people, trees and other objects moving in the opposite direction. Do some sunning and swinging. Practice rapid blinking for 30 seconds or more. Walk with your eyes closed for a few steps. Count your steps, breathing in for 4 steps and out for 6, to calm your nervous system.
- While standing in line at the grocery store, play counting games, scanning around the store for different colors. Sway, swing a little, keep things moving.
- While driving, look for details. Practice good vision habits and play vision games during your commute or road trip. Look near and far, from the dashboard to the road. Swing your gaze to the left and right of the road ahead. Notice the scenery moving in relationship to your swing and to the movement of your car. Play games such as looking for the ABC’s, different colors, models of cars, to keep your mind interested and your gaze moving.
- Throughout the day, no matter what you are doing, practice good vision habits to avoid the stare. As Dr. Bates said,
“So many people with imperfect sight say that they have not the time to practice relaxation methods, as their time is taken up at business or in the performance of other duties. I always tell such people, however, that they have just as much time to use their eyes correctly as incorrectly.”
- Get outside. Being outside is a good place for unstructured vision practice. It offers your eyes endless opportunities for spontaneous vision play. Being outside provides an infinite variety of depths, colors, shades, lighting, movement and subjects of interest and stimulation.
Vision Tip #3: Get Outside
4. Practice With Enjoyment
Seeing is enjoyable. When eyesight is normal, the mind and eyes are enjoying themselves. They are happily and effortlessly experiencing light, contrast, shapes, colors, details, movement. They are having fun!
The eyes are like children. Like children, the eyes love to play. When the eyes are seeing normally, they are playing. And, you are curious, interested in, and excited about what you are seeing.
Normal seeing is delightful and fun. To the mind and eyes, normal seeing is easy. It is play. It is that simple.
Keep this in mind when practicing. Remember that the Bates method is not a set of difficult exercises. And, normal vision habits are not hard work. You are not “strengthening” your eyes.
You are doing just the opposite. You are allowing your mind and eyes to relax and play.
“Changing your mindset from effort to play can change your vision. Because, as you now know, vision practices are not exercises meant to train the eyes and attain better muscular control. They serve to re-mind the mind how easy vision can be when we let go, when we forget ourselves like children at play.”
Orit Kruglanski
5. Practice What Is Easy
What do you find easy to practice? What do you like doing? Palming? Swinging? Sunning?
Whatever it is, this is a good place to start your practice.
If you find a technique easy, then it is most likely more relaxing than a technique you find difficult. Don’t worry if you find a technique difficult. Eventually, as your mind and eyes become more naturally relaxed, a time will come when the difficult practice will become easier.
When I started my own vision practice, I was unable to palm very long because I was unable to sit still. Palming, or just closing my eyes made me feel anxious. So, I started with the long swing, which I found fun and could do indefinitely. Eventually, after meditation and mindfulness training, palming became easy and relaxing.
Today I palm or simply close my eyes quite often. Now I find it soothing and enjoyable.
Dr. Bates reminds us that,
“All methods of curing errors of refraction are simply different ways of obtaining rest. Different persons do this in different ways. Some patients are able to rest their eyes simply by closing them, and complete cures have been obtained by this means, the closing of the eyes for a longer or shorter period being alternated with looking at the test card for a moment. In other cases patients have strained more when their eyes were shut than when they were open.
“Some can rest their eyes when all light is excluded from them by covering them with the palms of the hands; others cannot, and have to be helped by other means before they can palm. Some become able at once to remember or imagine that the letters they wish to see are perfectly black, and with the accompanying relaxation their vision immediately becomes normal. Others become able to do this only after a considerable time.
“Shifting is a very simple method of relieving strain, and most patients soon become able to shift from one letter to another, or from one side of a letter to another in such a way that these forms seem to move in a direction opposite to the movement of the eye. A few are unable to do this, but can do it with a mental picture of a letter, after which they become able to do it visually.
“Patients who do not succeed with any particular method of obtaining rest for their eyes should abandon it and try something else. The cause of the failure is strain, and it does no good to go on straining.”
“All day long use your eyes right. You have just as much time to use your eyes right as you have to use them wrong. It is easier and more comfortable to have perfect sight than to have imperfect sight.”
William H. Bates, M.D.
6. Practice What Is Challenging
That being said, if you only practice techniques that are easy, you are missing out on techniques that may accelerate the improvement of your vision.
We tend to be drawn to what is most comfortable. We prefer to take hot showers over cold, and to brush our teeth with our dominant rather than non-dominant hand.
But, challenging ourselves by doing things that make us a little uncomfortable, has its benefits. Taking a cold shower boosts the immune system and improves sleep. And, using our non-dominant hand to brush our teeth stimulates learning and improves cognitive function.
In a similar way, we tend to choose vision improvement techniques that are easy for us over ones that are more difficult. Unfortunately, the difficult techniques are often the very ones that are most helpful in breaking our poor vision habits of strain.
For example, I didn’t practice much sunning for a long time, because I had sunlight sensitivity. Sunning was uncomfortable and therefore challenging for me.
But, when I started practicing sunning more often, more consistently, and for longer periods of time, my sensitivity to bright sunlight improved to the point where now I virtually have none. My eyes are now completely comfortable in sunlight. I still keep my sunglasses handy in the glove box of my car, but have not needed them for many years. And, I live in Florida, the “Sunshine State.”
As Dr. Bates suggested, it is good to choose techniques that are easy. Easy techniques will benefit you because they tend to be very relaxing. But, feel free to gradually try out difficult techniques that challenge the very habits of mental and visual strain you are in the process of releasing.
“The eyes need the light of the sun. When the sun’s rays are excluded from the eyes by dark glasses, the eyes become very sensitive to the sun when the glasses are removed.”
William H. Bates, M.D.
7. Practice What Compliments And Supports Relaxation And Normal Function
The Bates method, and natural vision improvement in general, is founded on relaxation and the normal functioning of the visual system, which is automatic and effortless. Any practices that support relaxation, health and the normal functioning of your mind, body and eyes can be helpful in improving your vision.
When I first learned about the Bates method, I was physically, mentally and emotionally unhealthy, which interfered with my vision improvement practice.
Complimentary practices, that have improved my overall well-being, have also helped me in improving my eyesight.
There are unlimited complimentary practices you can explore that may be of benefit.
Here is a list of practices I have found helpful and supportive:
Yoga
Pranayama , Breath Awareness
Meditation, Mindfulness
Qigong
Tai Chi
HeartMath, Heart-Brain Coherence
Power of Intention, Affirmative Prayer
Guided Visualization, Guided Relaxation
Postural Awareness and Improvement
Massage and Bodywork
Reiki, Energy Medicine
EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)
Autogenic Relaxation Training
Diet and Nutrition
What other practices might you add as a compliment to your vision improvement practice?
What practices are you drawn to?
What have you already practiced and found to be beneficial?
“All methods of curing errors of refraction are simply different ways of obtaining rest.”
William H. Bates, M.D.
8. Practice Remembering And Imagining Clarity
The use of memory and imagination is an important aspect of the Bates method.
Since relaxation is necessary for normal vision, and vision is primarily mental, mental relaxation can help to improve your vision. Remembering and imagining clarity relaxes your mind, which in turn relaxes the muscles of your eyes.
The use of memory and imagination is a key ingredient of the Bates method that differentiates it from eye exercises.
The practice of exercising implies mental and physical effort. Where as, the practice of remembering and imagining clarity, is relaxing for your mind and eyes. And, while your mind is relaxing, your eye muscles are relaxing as well. Your eyes are given a taste of the very same effortlessness that is experienced during normal and clear eyesight.
Do you have difficulty imagining clarity?
Can you remember clarity from your past?
Can you remember what the world looked like before your vision went blurry?
Have you had flashes of clarity?
Remembering clarity is helpful in improving your ability to imagine clarity.
Dr. Bates used memory and imagination quite often, with practically every patient that he saw. He called this use of memory and imagination, “The Imagination Cure.”
Here are some examples from Better Eyesight magazine of using memory and imagination, in Dr. Bates own words:
Be sure to include the memory and imagination of clarity in your vision improvement practice.
9. Practice Patience And Kindness
Natural vision improvement gets to the root of your problem of strain, and can result in a permanent improvement of your vision. But, it is not a quick fix. Returning to clarity may take time. It may take time for you to completely release the habits of strain that have been lowering your vision. It may take time to reestablish your normal habits of ease that are the hallmark of normal clear eyesight.
So, be patient with yourself. Treat yourself kindly. Show yourself encouragement. Give yourself support.
Your eyes are a direct link to your subconscious. When you talk to yourself, your eyes are listening.
When you say, “I can’t see clearly. I am blind as a bat,” your eyes are listening.
When you say, “I see clearly. My eyesight is getting better and better everyday,” your eyes are listening.
Your eyes, like your subconscious, are like small children.
If you say, “I hate my eyes. My eyes are terrible. My eyes are bad. ,” like children, your eyes believe you.
Like children, your eyes take what you say literally. This is why positive self-talk and affirmations can be helpful. Talking to yourself and your eyes with empathy, gentleness and optimism helps you and your eyes to relax. And, the key to improving vision is what?
Relaxation.
So, instead of stressing out your eyes by criticizing them at moments when things look blurry, encourage them to relax by acknowledging the positive changes, the successes. Keep track of days when your eyes feel comfortable, look for moments of clear flashes, times when your eyes see a little better today than yesterday. Celebrate your successes and roll with setbacks.
Acknowledge everything your eyes have been doing for you. Appreciate that your eyes are doing the best they can to help you see the world as clearly as possible.
Be kind. Support your eyes when they are struggling. Help your eyes learn to see better just as you would help a child learn to ride a bike, with knowledge, gentle guidance and love.
“Remember your successes (things seen perfectly); forget your failures (things seen imperfectly); patients who do this are cured quickly.”
William H. Bates, M.D.
10. Practice
The Bates method of natural vision improvement is a practice.
It involves practicing techniques that help you to relearn and reestablish the habits of normal vision.
Improving your vision may take time. But, the more you practice, the more your vision will improve.
Natural vision improvement is a practice of letting go of trying to see better, while applying to the best of your ability the automatic and effortless habits of normal vision.
The Bates method is not a regimen of exercises. It is a practice of relaxing, relearning and reestablishing normal and effortless vision habits.
Summary
10 Tips For Creating A Successful Natural Vision Improvement Practice
I hope these 10 tips are helpful for you in creating a successful natural vision improvement practice.
Do you have any questions or comments?
Please let me know.
And, let me know if I can help to guide and support you along your vision improvement journey.
Resources
- “Bates Method Nuggets: The Fundamentals of Natural Vision Improvement” by William H. Bates, M.D., Compiled by Esther Joy van der Werf
- “Better Eyesight Magazine”Better Eyesight: The Complete Magazines of William H. Bates, M.D.” (edited version by Thomas R. Quackenbush)
- “Better Eyesight Podcast: A Monthly Podcast That Reads The Better Eyesight Magazine From 100 Years Ago” with Nathan Oxenfeld and Ester Joy van der Werf
- “Optimal Eyesight: How To Restore And Retain Great Vision” by Esther Joy van der Werf
- “Play Your Way To Better Eyesight” by Orit Kruglanski
- “Relearning To See: Improve Your Eyesight – Naturally!” by Thomas R. Quackenbush
- “The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses” by William H. Bates
- “The Bates Method For Better Eyesight Without Glasses” by William H. Bates (revised edition of The Cure of Imperfect sight by Treatment Without Glasses)