Ординатура / Офтальмология / Английские материалы / Relearning To See_Quackenbush_2000

Figure 19-3: Brain Characteristics 306-307

Figure 19-4: Left Sides to the Right Brain/Right Sides to the Left Brain 308

Figure 20-1: "Scientific Assumptions of

the Rational and Empirical Schools

Following page 132:

Plate i: The Eye

Plate 2: The Three Layers of the Eye Plate 3: Suzie Q's Red Eyes

Plate 4: Aqueous Humor

Plate 5: The Six External Eye Muscles Plate 6: Long Swing Lake

Plate 7: "Dancer"

Plate 8: Centralizing—The Two Pencils

Plate 9: Centralization vs. Diffusion

Plate 10: Cosmosis

Plate 11: The Nose-Helpers

Plate 12: The Edge

Plate 13: Abdominal Breathing

Plate 14: Eyelids, Eyelashes, and Eyebrows

Plate 15: The Orbicularis Eyelid Muscle

(Side View)

Plate 16: The Orbicularis Eyelid Muscle

(Front View)

Plate 17: The Levator Palpebrae Superioris

Muscle (Side View)

Plate 18: Blinking

Plate 19: The Levator Palpebrae Superioris

Muscle (Top View)

Plate 20: The Lacrimal (Tear) System

Plate 21: The Conjunctiva

Following page 228:

Plate 22: The Electromagnetic

and Visible Spectrums

Plate 23: Sunlight, the Atmosphere,

and the Earth

Plate 24: Go Outside and Play in the Sun

Plate 25: Light for Sight and Health

Plate 26: Spectral Power Distribution

Curves

Plate 27: Living in Natural Light

Plate 28: Retina Cross-Sections

Plate 29: Blood Vessel Sandwich

for the Cones and Rods

Plate 30: Retina (1)

Plate 31: Retina (2)

Following page 260:

Plate 32: Darkness-Adapted Rods

Sensitivity Chart

Plate 33: Daytime Cones Sensitivity Chart

Plate 34: The Eye—Our Natural RGB

Monitor

Plate 35: Daytime Cones/Darkness-

Adapted Rods Sensitivity Chart

Plate 36: Cones and Rods Sensitivity—

Day and Night Cycle

Plate 37: Measuring Density Distributions

of Cones and Rods

Plate 38: Cones Vertical Density Graph

(V1-V2)

Plate 39: Cones 3-D Density Model

(Side View)

Plate 40: Rods Vertical Density Graph

(V1-V2)

Plate 41: Rods 3-D Density Model

(Side View)

Plate 42: Cones and Rods Vertical Density

Graph (V1-V2)

Plate 43: Cones and Rods 3-D Density

Model (Side View)

Plate 44: How We See

Plate 45: A Difference Between Day

and Night

Plate 46: Cones 3-D Density Model

(Top View)

Plate 47: Rods 3-D Density Model

(Top View)

Plate 48: Cones and Rods Horizontal

Density Graph (H1-H2)

Plate 49: The Blind Spots

Plate 50: Animal Vision

Following page 292:

Plate 51: Binocular Vision

Plate 52: Judging Relative Distances

Plate 53: Fusion 1

Plate 54: Amblyopia

Plate 55: Fusion 2—The Bead Game Plate 56: Esophoria—The Bead Game Plate 57: Exophoria—The Bead Game Plate 58: Infinitely Right and Left Plate 59: "Evolution"

Plate 60: The Land of Sketch, Breathe, and

Blink

Most people in this society obtain glasses or contact lenses when their eyesight becomes blurred. These crutches, or "machines of seeing," are not necessary. Nor are they natural. "Corrective" lenses do not correct the real problem. A person wearing glasses or contact lenses still has blurred vision.

Ophthalmologist Dr. William H. Bates, M.D. (1860-1931), discovered the principles and habits underlying natural eyesight. Concurrently, Bates discovered the interferences to normal sight. Bates then taught students to stop interf ering with their clear vision; they were literally relearning to see.

Bates rejected contemporary theories about blurred vision because he found too much evidence in his practice as an ophthalmologist that contradicted them. Bates' decades of research on natural vision and the real causes of nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, crossed eyes, and many other vision problems went far beyond the ideas of his contemporaries. Today, most orthodox vision specialists still do not support his discoveries Unfortunately, Bates was forced to leave his teaching post as instructor of ophthalmology at the New York Post-Graduate

Medical School and Hospital and was ostracized from the conventional medical community because of his revolutionary discoveries.

Someone once asked Bates what technique he was using. Bates' reply was that he did not use any technique, but if it was a technique, it would be nature's technique. Bates wrote in his June 1923 Better Eyesight magazine, "... my methods are the methods employed by the normal eye."

Blurred vision is a message from the mind and body that a persons visual system is out of balance with nature.

Clarity is a connection; blur is a disconnection. Blur is created primarily in the mind; it is much more a disconnection from ourselves than from the world. The processes involved in improving eyesight naturally are an opportunity to reconnect with ourselves. The Bates educational method is an opportunity for internal change.

The great majority of attendees at my introductory lectures say they have seen their vision improve spontaneously. Vision fluctuates for all people. For many people in industrialized societies, sight generally becomes

R E L E A R N I N G T O S E E

worse over time. Yet sometimes people see better* Most people know, either intuitively or experientially, that there is a way to improve their sight.

How is it people accept a theory that says blurry sight is due to old age when many peo- ple—especially in non-industrialized cul- tures—have excellent eyesight at 40,50,60, 70,80, and even 90 years of age? The idea that age and genetics determine blurry vision is also contradicted by the fact that many students have improved their sight by releaming correct vision habits. And, I have watched many children improve their vision along with their parents in my classes.

Many people experience a lowering of their sight during a period of high stress. Bates showed that when vision (excluding pathologies) lowers, it is due to acquiring incorrect vision habits. When vision improves, it is due to the person releaming relaxed vision habits. Relaxation is the key to normal, clear sight.

Broken bones heal. Burns and cuts heal. Stomach aches get better. Are we to believe that eyesight, the most important sense perception we have and one that has evolved over millions of years, is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself? Are artificial glasses, contact lenses, drugs, and surgeries the only solutions to the functional vision problems, including nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and strabismus? Bates concluded the answer was "no."

Personally, I had several good reasons to pursue the possibility of improving my sight:

1)I suffered physically from wearing heavy glasses and painful contact lenses every day;

2)I began to experience improvement in all parts of my health once I began receiving natural healing and education from many holistic health practitioners. Could vision

improvement be the only natural healing process I investigated that did not work? 3) I experienced a dramatic improvement in my eyesight for approximately one hour while participating in a stress reduction program; this occurred before I knew about the Bates method. So, I knew there was a way vision could improve naturally.

In the beginning, I read several eyesight improvement books. I did all of the "exercises" and "drills," but did not notice any improvement. Looking back, I realize I had almost no real understanding of the Bates method. The processes—especially the more subtle aspects—are difficult to understand from books. I had continuing improvement of my eyesight only after receiving instructions from a Bates teacher.

Contrary to popular belief, the Bates method is not about "eye exercises." Many natural eyesight improvement books present this topic in a relatively ineffective, left-hemi- sphere eye exercise manner. This issue is discussed further in Chapter 19, "Brains and Vision." Since vision is primarily a right-hemi- sphere activity, lessons are best presented in an integrative, holistic manner, with the emphasis on the correct vision habits (or skills) to be used automatically and subconsciously our entire lifetime.

Along with improvement of clarity, many qualities of the vision system improve, e.g., color brightness and variations, contrast, spatial/depth perception, and texture awareness. There is a high correlation between memory and concentration improvement and natural eyesight improvement.

Since poor vision habits strain the neck and shoulders, no one is truly healthy who has blurred sight.

Many of the important writings by Bates

are in his original 1920 book Perfect Sight

Without Glasses and his monthly Better Eye- sight magazine. A good deal of this material is reproduced and discussed in the present book. All indented quotations from Perfect

Sight Without Glasses and the Better Eyesight magazines are indicated by vertical lines along the left and right sides. All material quoted from the Better Eyesight magazines are from Bates, unless otherwise noted.

I have watched eyesight improve naturally with hundreds of students from 1983 to 1997. Many of my students have freed themselves from glasses or have prevented moving into wearing glasses in the first place. If you are interested in vision re-education, study this book and other books on natural eyesight improvement to learn and apply as much as you are able; better yet, find a Bates teacher who understands and can teach you the key habits and principles of natural vision. Then, discover the joys and rewards of relearning to see—naturally. As the original jacket of Aldous Huxley's book The Art of Seeing says, this process of improving vision is "An Adventure in Re-education."

A few more notes are necessary before beginning this book.

Because Dr. Bates was a medical doctor and eye surgeon (ophthalmologist), and because much of his work is discussed in this book, some terms used herein are medical. After Bates died in 1931, his wife Emily and other Natural Vision teachers have taught the "Bates method" in an educational manner. The Bates method, as presented in this book, is solely educational in nature—it is not medical or optometric.

Since most Bates method teachers are not eye doctors, some words in Bates' original text, and in some other quoted materials, have

Introduction

been changed or modified to reflect the educational nature of the modern Bates method. As an example, the term "patient" has often been changed to "person" or "student." Such changes are not necessarily indicated in this book.

The term "blur" as used in this book refers to nearsightedness, farsightedness, presbyopia, or astigmatism as determined by an eye doctor. Some individuals have eye damage due to accidents or diseases, and the term "blur" as used in this book does not refer to such conditions Such individuals should seek the care of an eye doctor. Ail vision problems referred to in this book do not refer to any type of pathology or disease unless specifically stated.

The case histories of my students in this book are true, but most of their names have been changed and/or abbreviated.

This book presents a formal, educational approach to improving vision naturally. This approach was discovered by ophthalmologist William H. Bates, M.D.

First, we study basic anatomy of the eye. Next, we gain an understanding of prescription glasses. Then, we explore the research of Bates.

Understanding the cause of, and the solution to, blurred vision has been helpful to many students. With sufficient knowledge, students can not only take measures to improve their vision, but often become highly motivated and enthusiastic about the process of releaming to see naturally.

Then we study the three key principles underlying natural, clear sight—movement, centralization, and relaxation. The student who desires to return to natural, clear vision will need to re-establish the same correct principles of seeing he learned automatically and subconsciously early in life.

Next we explore the three habits of natural seeing—sketching (shifting), breathing, and blinking. These habits are based on the three principles of vision.

Practicing correct vision habits removes

the incorrect habits which created the blurred vision. Bates referred to the incorrect habits as "interferences" to normal, clear vision. Strained vision habits create nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, and many other vision problems. What the natural vision student is learning is more the issue than what the student is releaming.

As the student relearns natural vision habits, a "spotlight" begins to shine on the areas of his life that are out of balance—at least those associated with incorrect vision habits. Correct vision habits are often associated with correct living habits. For some, the interferences may be poor posture or an unhealthy diet. For others the interferences may be overwork, fatigue, accidents, traumas, unhealthy attitudes, boredom, and so on.

If during a period of stress, a person interferes with the normal, relaxed habits of vision given to him by nature, the vision will lower. The principles and habits of natural vision were clearly identified by Bates.

Today we have an even better appreciation of his discoveries, because of advancements in our knowledge of the function of the mind and the body—especially right-brain/

Studying the structure and functions of the various parts of the visual system is helpful in understanding how to use our vision in the naturally correct way.

T H E E Y E O R B I T

The bony structure of the eye orbit, along with the fatty tissue surrounding the eye, protect the back and sides of the eye.

T H E E Y E B A L L

See Plate i: The Eye.

As the human embryo develops, two pro­ trusions extend forward from the brain. The long, thin portions become the optic nerves, and the bulbs at the ends become the two eyeballs. Nerves from the brain travel through the optic nerve and "fan out" throughout the retina. The eyeball is literally an extension of the brain—a "mini-brain."

The eyeball is a soft round sphere filled with liquid. It grows from approximately 1.6 cm (about Уз inch) in diameter at birth to 2.3 cm at age three. Its diameter is about 2.4 cm at age thirteen and older—about the size of a ping-pong ball (1 inch = 2.54 cm).

Figure 2 - 1 : The Skull.