Ординатура / Офтальмология / Английские материалы / Relearning To See_Quackenbush_2000

are moving to the left. Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap- tap-tap! The sun warms your body as you swing. Breathe in the fresh, clean air.

After swinging for a few minutes, sweep your nose-feather along the many beautiful and vibrant flowers in the field in front of you. Continue to swing left and right with your nose-feather.

About twenty feet away, there is a tall, white picket fence that extends all the way around you. Sweep the nose-feather along the pickets from left to right and back, tapping the pickets with the tip of the nosefeather. Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap. When you are swinging to the right, all of the pickets sprout little feet and run to the left. When you are swinging to the left, all the pickets run back to the right.

Do the Long Swing for several minutes. Remember to blink frequently and breathe aMorninally.The more a person practices the Long Swing, the more fluidly the distant objects will flow in the opposite direction. The student can use the degree of fluidity as a gauge of progress.

The Long Swing can also be done with closed eyelids while remembering the image in Plate

6: Long Swing Lake, or any other beautiful, expansive scenery. Swing your nose-feather from one side of the lake, along the mountains, and to the other of the lake. Pretend you are enjoying the fresh mountain air and the warmth of the sun.

The purpose of the Sway and the Long Swing is to encourage, not force, stationary objects to appear to be moving in the opposite direction of your head and body movement.

Brush with the nose-feather as a habit all day long!

Chapter Nine: The First Principle—Movement

Some students feel small vibrations in their eyes, eyelids, and/or nose when swinging the feather along the pickets. This is a positive sign, because normal eyes have many different types of movements, oscillations, and vibrations. The rigid habit of staring causes the eyes to slow down their movements and become locked tight. Staring causes the eye muscles to lock the eyeball into a rigid, distorted shape.

TOM'S PERSONAL LOG: When I first did the Long Swing, I did not want objects in the room to move at all. As I turned my head to the left, I would lock my eyes on an object (in a diffused way) on the right side of the room, trying to keep everything from moving. Eventually, the eyes have to turn with the head! Finally, my eyes would jump to the front part of the room and lock there, while my head continued turning to the left. When my head had turned all the way to the left, my eyes would once again jump to the left and lock on that part of the room.

I discovered I had a very high resistance to movement and oppositional movement. The thick, coke-bottle glasses I wore were proportional to my rigidity.

Become a Sharpshooter with Oppositional Movement!

TOM'S PERSONAL LOG: When in basic training in the service, I was taught by experts how to shoot a rifle.

I was instructed to align the front sight5 and the rear sight of the rifle with the stationary target, the "bull's eye" in the distance. One's initial inclination might be to try to lock the front sight onto the target with no movement.

Figure 9-4: Movement During Target Practice.

Keeping my attention on the front sight, I was told to move the front sight smoothly through the target—first slightly to the left of the target. While moving to the left, the target appeared to move to the right. Then I was told to move the front sight smoothly back through the center of the target, and continue to move slightly to the right. The target then appeared to move to the left. "Breathe normally," they said.

Continuing this left-and-right movement of the front sight through the target, they then instructed me to slowly squeeze the trigger as I moved the front sight through the center of the target. There was a continual movement of the sight through the target at all times. The rifle never stops moving!

Not knowing any better, I followed their instructions exactly. I scored 58 out of a possible 60 points.

To quote again from Bates and his Better Eyesight magazine, January 1926:

SWINGING

When the eyes move slowly or rapidly from side to side, stationary objects appear

to move opposite to the movement of the head and eyes. People with normal vision are not always conscious of the swing. When called to their attention, however, they can always demonstrate it, and are always able to imagine all stationary objects to be moving. In imperfect sight, the swing is modified or absent. This is a truth that has been demonstrated over a long period of years by a great many people and no exceptions have been found. The normal or perfect swing is slow, short, easy and continuous. When the swing is normal, it is always true that not only is the vision normal or perfect, but also the memory, the imagination or the mental efficiency corresponds. When the memory is imperfect, the imagination and mental efficiency and the sight are also imperfect.. .Severe pain, fatigue, or worry often prevent the demonstration of the swing.. .[and the illusion of oppositional movement.].. .Make no effort to imagine stationary objects to be moving....

LONG SWING

.. .The long swing when done before retiring lessens eyestrain during sleep.

Simply allow stationary objects to movenaturally. Do not try to force the illusion of oppositional movement.This will slowdown, or defeat, progress.

Better Eyesight magazine, October 1923:

Question: WTien does the long swing fail to produce relaxation?

Answer: When one stares at objects [that appear to be] moving.

In other words, when a person locks onto an object, trying to stop the illusion of oppositional movement.

Swinging, when done correctly, is relaxing

One Bates teacher had a history of migraine headaches until one day, while doing the Long Swing, her headaches stopped and never returned again.

The Infinity oo (orFigure-8) Swing

The Infinity, or Figure-8, Swing is an excellent variation of the Long Swing.

* See Figure 9-5; The Infinity Swing.

In the Infinity Swing, the nose-feather brushes the tip of the middle finger of each hand as they alternately move in the shape of an infinity sign, °°, or the shape of a horizontal "figure-8."

Continue the basic Long Swing movement, with the following changes:

Begin with the two middle fingers touching each other in front of your body, approximately sixteen inches from your nose. With the nose-feather brushing the tip of the middle finger of the left hand, begin moving the left hand upward and to the left in a counterclockwise direction. The movement is very graceful and easy, like the graceful movements of a ballerina or Tai-Chi master. The head and the nose-feather follow the middle finger's movement around this circle. The body turns to the left during the upper half of this circle, just as in the regular Long Swing, and returns to the middle at the completion of the circle. Remember to lift the opposite heel when beginning the turn of your body. Breathe abdominally and blink softly and frequently.

When the circle is completed, the two middle fingers touch once again in front of the body as you return to the starting position.

Now follow the tip of the middle finger of the right hand upward and to the right in a

Chapter Nine: The First Principle—Movement

clockwise direction, turning the body to the right and then back to the middle as you complete the circle, where the fingers touch again.

Notice that when you move your hands in the correct direction, you will always be moving the hands upward in the middle of the infinity sign, and downward on the outsides of the loops If you are moving in the incorrect direction, you will be moving downward in the middle, and upward on the outsides.

Do not go clockwise on the left loop and do not go counter-clockwise on the right loop. This is imbalancing.The proper directions are important.

Not a few students forget, and later, when doing the Infinity Swing, go in the incorrect directions. Going in the incorrect directions is an indication you are not balanced. It is important to remember to move in the correct direction?)—even if you feel like the incorrect direction feels more "natural" to you.

TOM'S PERSONAL LOG: When I first did the Infinity Swing, it was very difficult for me to go the proper directions. In fact, it would make me nauseated. Moving in the incorrect direction—down in the middle of the infinity sign—was more "comfortable" and felt more "natural."

The reason for this is I was very unhealthy at that time. When a person is out of balance, the incorrect directions seem correct. The "comfort" of moving in the incorrect directions only matched my imbalance.

In time, especially with benefit of years of natural healing, the correct directions began to feel comfortable and the incorrect directions began to make me nauseated. Today, I begin to feel nauseated just to think about going in the incorrect direction. This, of

course, is a very good sign of progress, not just for my vision, but for all of my health.

I like (or should f say dislike) to think of going downward in the middle of the infinity sign as "depressing." I like to think of going upward in the middle of the infinity sign as "uplifting." Here is yet is another way to gauge your progress. The more comfortable the correct direction feels, the more progress you are making.

It is also important to keep your attention brushing the middle finger. If the attention goes into the distance, distant objects will most likely not appear to move in the opposite direction.

The Infinity Swing is an especially powerful variation of the Long Swing and most students find it very enjoyable, relaxing, and even energizing. Some students have uncomfortable sensations when doing the swings in the beginning. This is because they are not used to natural movements, and allowing stationary objects to move in the opposite direction.

The Infinity pattern (in the correct directions) helps to activate and balance the right and left hemispheres. Another advantage is the continual flow of movement, even at the right and left extremes.

Some students feel more comfortable on one side of the swing than the other. This is very common, and the movement becomes more balanced with practice.

In time, the student can comfortably experience objects moving in exactly the opposite direction of the finger's movement all the way along the infinity shape. When the finger is moving upward, background objects seems to move downward; when the finger moves left, background objects seem to move right; when the finger moves down, background

Chapter Sine: The f-irst Principle—Moxemtnt

objects seem to move upward, and so on. No matter which direction the finger is moving, background objects will seem to be moving in exactly the opposite direction.

One advantage of the Infinity Swing is the neck releases in more directions than the basic Long Swing.

One of my students, who was a cello musician with the San Francisco Symphony, demonstrated in one class how, when he moves the bow forward and backward, he includes a small looping pattern with his hand at the end of each stroke. There is no stopping at the end of each stroke. There is a continual flow of movement in the shape of an infinity sign.

The above Sway and Swings are used to teach students the important principle of movement. The Sway is a "subtle" Long Swing.

From Bates, Better Eyesight magazine, March 1928:

Since a short swing improves the vision more than a long swing, the benefit of the short swing of the period [or any other small object] at the distance is manifest.

Ultimately, the Sway is more powerful than the Long Swing, because the feeling of oppositional movement is more subtle. In the beginning, however, the Long Swing may be more beneficial, because the feeling of oppositional movement is more obvious as when doing the Sway (short swing).

The nose-feather, described in more detail in Chapter 12, "The First Habit—Sketching (Shifting)," is the Long Swing "all day long." Re-integration of the movement principle is the key. The purpose of all of the above, again, is to eliminate the staring habit.

DOUBLE OPPOSITIONAL MOVEMENT

^ E X P E R I E N C E D O U B L E

O P P O S I T I O N A L M O V E M E N T

. Perform the regular Long Swing, with objects far in the distance. The distant objects seem to move in the opposite direction of your head movement as usual.

Now place a tall thin vertical object, like a pole or stick, in front of you about eight feet away. While you are doing the Long Swing the pole will appear to move in the opposite direction. However, the objects in the distance now seem to move in the same direction as your head movement, relative to the pole's movement.

'

The distant object's oppositional movement relative to the pole's oppositional movement creates a "double oppositional movement" or "same-direction" movement! In reality, even the distant objects are moving in the opposite direction of your movement, but that illusion is cUrninished because of the pole or stick eight feet away.

O P P O S I T I O N A L M O V E M E N T AND D E P T H P E R C E P T I O N

A cue the brain uses to gauge relative distances is the observation of how fast stationary objects move past us as we move past them.

As the car moves from right to left, the tree seems to move from left to right. The house also "moves" from left to right, but more slowly than the tree's movement. Both the tree and the house seem to move faster than the hills behind them.

Because the tree is "moving" faster than the house, the brain assumes the tree is doser to us. The house must be between the tree and the hills because it seems to move more slowly than the tree, but faster than the hills. In reality, all stationary objects—near, middle distance, or far—move past you at the

same speed.

John P. Frisby writes in his book Seeing- lllusion, Brain and Mind:

Objects at different depths produce retinal images which move at different rates

across the retina when the head is moved, a clue (or "cue") to depth called head- movement parallax. The brain is quite up to the task of using this cue to generate vivid depth perceptions which can appear equally as good as stereopsis. This is why in the opening paragraph you were invited to walk around the room with one eye covered, rather than looking at it from a single stationary position. Walking ensures that the depth cue of head-movement parallax is available to the visual system....6

While waiting to receive the ball from the server, professional tennis players move constantly to the left, to the right, forward, backward, up and down. Movement is essential for normal depth perception.

THE NEAR-TO-FAR/FAR-TO-NEAR SWING

Another important application of the movement principle is in near and far vision. Not only do we look right and left and up and down, we also notice objects up close and in the distance. Since the head is not normally moving forward or backward when we change our attention from far to near, respectively, the movement of vision from near to far and back occurs primarily in the mind. Usually there is a small, natural, up and down

Chapter Nine: The First Principle—Movement

head movement when looking far and near, respectively.

It is mainly our interest that moves from far to near and back. There is no "picture" out in the world—only light rays enter our eyes The picture we see occurs primarily in the mind. The eye sees, and the mind perceives.

^ E X P E R I E N C E T H E N E A R - T O - F A R / F A R - T O - N E A R S W I N G

Sit in a comfortable chair with your arms propped on a table or cushion.

Close your eyelids and pretend you are sitting in a cozy chair on a nice, sunny, island beach. You are holding a rope in your hands, which extends out over the sea to another island.

Brush the rope at your hands in a figure-8 pattern. Feel the texture of the rope with your nose-feather. Breathe abdorninally.The neck is very soft and mobile.

Take a breath in. While exhaling, begin to sweep out along the rope: five feet, ten feet, twenty feet, feeling the rope with your nosefeather as you slide out over the sea. Continue to sweep out along the rope over the sea: 100 feet, 500 feet, 1000 feet, a mile, until finally you reach the end of the rope, where it is tied to a palm tree on a neighboring island.

You have just completed the Near-to-Far Swing!

Now, slide back along the rope over the sea: back to 1000 feet, 500 feet, 100 feet, and slowly back to twenty feet, ten feet, five feet, finally reaching the rope in your hands once again. Brushing the rope at your hands, you have just completed the Far-to-Near Swing!

Continue this swing along the rope from near to far, far to near, at your own pace for a few minutes. The neck is released and you are breathing abdominally.

This swing can also be practiced with the eyelids open and blinking frequently. Simply pretend you are holding a colorful yarn in your hands, and the other end is attached to the other side of the room you are in. Swing from near-to-far and back in the same manner.

One of my students had about 20/40 sight when he started the vision classes. In the third week he had a dream in which he was sitting on the side of a hill observing a waterfall on the other side of the valley. He could see the waterfall with 20/40 sight. As he was listen­ ing to the sound of water, he thought to him­ self that if he could hear the sound of the water clearly, he should obviously be able to see the water clearly. At that moment in the dream, his vision became clear, and he could see the waterfall with perfect clarity!

In the above Near-to-Far/Far-to-Near Swing, be sure to stop if you feel any dis­ comfort or fatigue. Always associate better vision with pleasure, and not discomfort and pain.

Integration of movements from near-to- far and far-to-near throughout the day is the purpose of the near-to-far/far-to-near story above.

For example, when walking down the street, you can brush or sketch flowers along the path. Then, you can sweep out to the dis­ tant trees. When driving, you can shift from near cars or road signs to distant cars or road signs.

Nearsights have better vision habits when doing activities up close. They tend to stare and strain when their attention is in the dis­ tance. Nearsights are learning to have better vision habits when seeing objects in the distance.

Conversely, farsights have better vision habits when regarding objects in the distance. They tend to stare and strain when their attention is up close. Farsights are learning to have better vision habits more with close objects.

As we shall discuss later in Chapter 19, "Brains and Vision," seeing clearly up close is one of the functions of the left hemisphere. Seeing clearly in the distance is one of the functions of the right hemisphere. So, in one respect, seeing clearly near and far re-estab­ lishes a balance between the two hemi­ spheres.

MOTION SICKNESS AND DIZZINESS? MOVE!

Bates discovered that one cause of "motion sickness" and dizziness is the unnatural strain and effort to try to stop objects from moving. A person in a rocking boat who gets "sea­ sick" oftentimes is trying to stop the horizon from tilting. Trying to do the impossible is stressful(!), and when applied to the visual system, interferes with normal eyesight.

Similarly, some people get uncomfortable when attempting to read while in a moving car or train; they are straining to keep the words in the book stationary. People who are uncomfortable with movement need move­ ment.The. attitude that movement is not only OK, but essential and healthy, needs to replace the mainly subconscious desire to freeze moving objects. The person with blurred vision wants to become comfortable with natural movements.

Several of my students have commented on how uncomfortable the Long Swing is when we first do it in the class.This is due to many years of staring. The mind and body have become accustomed to non-movement.

In vision classes, these students sometimes react, temporarily, to what would normally be experienced as enjoyable movements. This discomfort diminishes as the student relearns natural, healthy movements all day long.

Better Eyesight magazine, December 1922:

One student came to me complaining that never in her life had she been able to ride in an elevator without becoming very ill. Her vision for the distance was normal and she was able to read fine print without trouble. I at once took a ride with her in the house elevator and told her to look at a bell which was stationary in the elevator and to pay no attention to the floors which appeared to be moving opposite to the movement of the elevator. We rode up and down and had a good time because when she did not strain to see the moving floors she was just as comfortable and happy as she was when she did not ride in the elevator.

(In the 1920s, many elevators had iron gates, which you could "see through.")

Bates rode with the student up the elevator, and she acquired a headache during the ride. Bates then told her to notice the buttons inside the elevator on the ride down. The headache vanished on the way down. Bates explained to her that the reason for her headache was that she was mentally trying to keep the floors of the building from moving downward (the illusion of oppositional movement) when she was going up in the elevator. When she had her attention on the buttons inside the elevator on the way down, she was not trying to keep the floors from moving, and therefore the strain was relieved.

Better Eyesight magazine, December 1925:

Bates relates the elevator story again:

Chapter Nine: The First Principle—Movement

DIZZINESS

Dizziness is caused by eyestrain.. .Usually the dizziness is produced unconsciously. It can be produced consciously, however, by staring or straining to see some distant or near object. Some persons while riding in an elevator are always dizzy, and suffer from attacks of imperfect sight, nausea and other nervous discomforts. An old lady, age 60, told me that riding in an elevator always made her dizzy, and produced headaches, with pain in her eyes. I tested her vision and found it to be normal both for distance and for reading without glasses. To obtain some facts, I rode in an elevator with her from the top to the bottom of the building and back again. I watched her eyes closely and found that she was staring at the floors [seen through the iron gate] which appeared to moving opposite to the movement of the elevator. I asked her the question, "Why do you stare at the floors which appear to be moving by?" She answered, "I do not Hke to see them move, and I am trying to correct the illusion by making an effort to keep them stationary. The harder I try, the worse I feel." I suggested to her that she look at one part of the elevator and avoid looking at the floors. Her discomfort was at once relieved

M O V E M E N T — T H E P H Y S I C A L

C O N N E C T I O N S

When a person becomes rigid by staring, not only do the eye muscles contract tight, but many head, neck, and shoulder muscles become chronically tight. Many people have enrolled for my classes as soon as I mention the neck is tight for all people who have blurred vision. They know, experientially, the truth of this statement.

The three semi-circular canals in the ear reg­ ister movement along ciliary hairs to orient us in 3-D space. The lack of head movement, i.e., staring, slows down the normal func­ tioning of the vestibulo-ocular system.

The Human Body states:

Most complex of all eye movements is the vestibulo-ocular system; it works to keep the image of an object on the highdefinition fovea while the head and body are moving. This action is assisted by the vestibular apparatus in the inner ear, which provides the brain with a continuous flow of information about the way in which the head is moving.7

NON-MOVEMENT CREATES TENSION

TOM'S PERSONAL LOG: In 19961 ruptured my

Achilles tendon playing racquetball. My leg was in many casts for several months. When the last cast was removed, I was surprised to discover how tight and tense many of the mus­ cles were in my foot and leg. Many months of physical therapy were needed to bring back normal flexibility to these muscles.

Non-movement made my eye and neck muscles chronically tight.

The light receptors in the retina are not designed to be stimulated continuously by the same color and intensity of light

Several books on vision describe how an "after-image" can be created by staring at an image for a long period of time and then looking away toward a blank white wall or paper.

An American flag, with its colors reversed, is often used as an example. After a person locks the eyes on the flag for a long enough period, the true colors—red, white, and blueof the flag are seen by moving to a white background. (Illustration of flag to practice staring not provided!)

Another type of after-image is experienced when a bright light is observed, like the flash of a camera. If the eyelids are closed imme­ diately after the flash, a small glowing after­ image of the light can be observed.

In her fascinating and beautiful book, Яда Animals See, Sandra Sinclair discusses how important movement is to vision:

The first eyes could detect only light and dark. The next step in evolution was an eye that could also detect movement. In fact, movement is of major importance to all eyes. The human eye cannot focus on any