Since my last post…

I’ve haven’t used my Snellen chart since my last post, and have been mostly focusing on how I use my vision throughout the day.  However, my default vision has seemed to improve since I stopped testing it with the chart.

A major thing that I’ve been trying to do (and is very difficult with glasses on) is to see with my central and peripheral vision at the same time.  This reminded me of Jacob Liberman, who was able to see clearly through the use of open focus.  It seems that his normal vision was too focused on the center of his visual field.  So, when he relaxed and saw with all parts of his visual field, he was able to see clearly in the center.  I haven’t read his book recently, so I’m not sure if he attributed the cause of his myopia to the center-focused vision (pretty much tunnel vision) or the other way.  Anyway, I seem to have the same problem as Liberman had.  So, I’ve been trying to see with all parts of my visual field, the edges of my peripheral vision to the center, and have had much success with it.  I especially notice this with reading words at the edge of the blur zone; when I use an open focus way of seeing, the words at the center are seen clearer.

Another way I’ve thought about this cause/symptom of my myopic condition is that currently I am doing central fixation.  However, to have clear vision I only need to have central fixation.  The difference between the two (myopic/emmetropic) is that the former uses central fixation as a focused action (a verb) while the latter has central fixation as a way of seeing (a noun).  This is a difference that I’ve seen Robert from the Effortless Vision website describe, but now I have experienced the difference for myself.  For a practical example, I’ve observed lately that when I use the computer, read, watch T.V., or do any other relatively close-distance activity, I am only aware of what I am directly looking at in the center; I would only see the computer/television screen and none of the desk or walls or objects around the computer/television.  In order to change this, when I use the computer or watch televison now, I try to also notice the rest of the room beyond and in front of the screen.  This is a change for me since I can tell that previously I pretty much turned off my peripheral vision when I did those activities.

While I look around with the open focus state of seeing the entire visual field at once, I am not trying to see everything clearly.  I just notice everything within my area of vision and realize (mentally) that the very center is the clearest.

Since my problem (and solution 🙂 ) seem to match Liberman’s, I think I just need to do what he did to clear his vision.  He practiced open focus every day for longer periods of time until it became the dominant way of seeing for him.  That (along with long swinging since it also helps me) will be my current technique for improving my vision. 8)

My new thoughts

Lately I haven’t been using my Snellen chart as I feel that I’ve been using it wrong (or at least in a way that will not promote vision improvement).  This is based upon two things.  First, my readings have been the same for a long time.  They generally go from 10/200 to 10/50 when I use some Bates technique.  However, the starting number is never lower and the ending number is never really lower.  While this was temporarily effective, my default visual acuity never changed.  Therefore, it seems that I was using an effort to bring the number down within the practice sessions.

Second, I’ve been reading a lot of posts on the Outlook Insights (Effortless Vision) forums that seem to point out how I was using the Snellen chart the wrong way.  Basically, I’ve been using the Snellen chart as a test instead of an indicator to when a Bates technique had reduced my mental strain.  When I was trying to get a lower reading, I was concentrating too hard since I knew what the blurry letters should be.  I believe now that the most effective way to use the Snellen chart is to regard the letters as shapes or designs and not a form of written communication that I need to figure out.  This belief seems to be supported by the ideas I read from Bates, MacCracken, and Robert (from the Effortless Vision website).  So, I think I will mostly use the chart in this way from now on and not record daily readings (testings 😦 ).  However, I will occasionally do tests with the Snellen chart by just looking at it for a few seconds and noting what my default visual acuity is.

On to another topic, I tried the longer palming session while playing the fly game last week.  I did this for about 20 minutes, and my vision was not improved afterword.  While this at first upset me, I later used the experience as a learning tool.  First, my shoulders were sore and tightened up by the end, so it is obvious that I hadn’t relaxed my mental strain (which always precedes the relaxation of physical strain).  Second, I discovered that it was very difficult for me to sit in the same position for that long.  Whenever I am sitting for the computer, a meal, or television, I change my sitting position every 5-10 minutes; I either move the arrangement of my legs, change my posture, or change how reclined I am.  Based on this fact about my usual behavior, it’s obvious to me why I was not relaxed during or after the long palming session.  What I’ve learned from that experience is that palming will only be beneficial to me if I do it in sessions of no more than 10 minutes and generally in the range of under 5 minutes.

Since the palming didn’t seem to help me relax, I started to read about swinging on the Outlook Insights forum (which I registered in today 🙂 ).  This gave me many helpful ideas for long swings: lead the twisting movement with your hips, notice the motion blur and oppositional movement, the slower you can swing while still seeing the motion blur the more beneficial the activity is for your vision.  Anyway, I’ve started using long swings more since I’m able to do them for longer periods of time (because of the involved movement as opposed to stillness).

Some final miscellaneous observations I’ve had recently are:

• If I breath deeply while focusing on filling up my ribcage, I feel a minor soreness or pain behind my arms (where my teres major and minor muscles are located).  However, if I focus on filling up my abdominal area, there is no pain.  This sort of changes my thinking that Quackenbush’s emphasis on abdominal breathing was not natural; it now seems that abdominal breathing is less stressful for me 😐 .
• I agree with Robert that Bates’ “shifting” is more natural than Quackenbush’s “sketching”.  I’ve been using shifting instead of sketching when I’m aware of how I’m using my eyes.
• The goal of all vision improvement work should be to relax mental strain.  Once this is accomplished, all the components of clear vision (shifting, central fixation, the universal swing, imagination, memory) will naturally take place.