Ординатура / Офтальмология / Английские материалы / Relearning To See_Quackenbush_2000

The youthful world has become dramatically more violent. Consider this piece of anecdotal evidence turned up by CBS News: The seven top problems in public schools in 1940 were identified by teachers as talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise, running in the halls, cutting in line, dress-code infractions and littering. By 1980, the seven top problems had been identified as suicide, assault, robbery, rape, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and pregnancy.14

What is the explanation for the grave health problems confronting industrialized nations today? Could the increasingly serious health problems in our society be due to the relentless chemical and mechanical assaults on the human organism in the last forty years?

The wanton use of powerful drugs and surgeries constitutes the two major causes, if not the two greatest causes, of the health crisis we are now in.

A N I S S U E O F A W A R E N E S S

A N D S E L F - R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y

I'm alive, I'm awake, I'm aware.

—Lyrics from the song "I'm Beginning to See the Light"

Natural vision student Dr. Shoichi Aoyagi, D.C., a San Francisco chiropractor and Ayurvedic practitioner of eleven years, writes:

I have seen far too many people relinquish their responsibility for good health and hand it over to the health care practitioner. Optimum health begins and ends with responsibility. There are no magic drugs or cures that will totally resolve a health issue.

If a person does not take the responsibility to eat right, breathe properly, exercise regularly, and actively reduce distress,

the disease will return or manifest in a different form. The only lesson the person learns is: When another problem arises, it is time to return to the doctor for more drugs and surgeries. This is simply another version of the Pavlovian dog response.

Unfortunately, many people have gone from human beings to human doings We allow the medical profession to do all sorts of unnatural and harmful procedures to us—from vaccinations to chemotherapy.

This is not to say that orthodox medicine does not have its place; it does. But with proper attention and care to one's own body, many health problems may be avoided. If good health is a concern, begin by becoming aware of what enters your body as well as your mind. From there, your mind and body will only want what is most beneficial and nurturing.

Twentieth-century medicine has been— for the most part—about cutting out, irradiating, and suppressing unwanted diseases from the body—a violent form of health care. But twentieth-cenmry health care will revert back to the wisdom of the past when people took responsibility for their own well-being and lived in peace and harmony with nature.is

S Y M P T O M S — H O W T O A N S W E R T H E M E S S A G E S

Mendelsohn writes:

I believe that more than ninety percent of Modern Medicine could disappear from the face of the Earth—doctors, hospitals, drugs, and equipment—and the effect on our health would be immediate and beneficial.16

One of the advantages of improving vision naturally is that the individual often becomes aware of other parts of his life that are out of

balance. With awareness, changes can begin. Symptoms are usually messages of im­

balance.

How a person deals with current symptoms can have major consequences on his longterm health. If the person supports the body in healing naturally, the symptoms can pass, and the person can return to his former state of health. Oftentimes the individual becomes even stronger after healing naturally.

К the person suppresses the symptoms with drugs or removes a part of the body by surgery, his health will likely lower. The prob­ lem is: even though a specific symptom may no longer be present, its cause can remain. And if the cause remains, the person is still ill.

This is where the Western, reductionistic (left-brain) approach to health and healing has failed. Our health system is not balanced with the empirical (right-brain) approach to health and healing—especially in respect to long-term health problems.

Psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, M.D., writes in his bestseller The Road Less Traveled:

The other development that is assisting us to escape from scientific tunnel vision is the relatively recent discovery by science of the reality of paradox. A hundred years ago paradox meant error to the [rational] scientific mind. But exploring such phe­ nomena as the nature of light, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics and relativity theory, physical science has matured over the past century to the point where it is increasingly recognized that at a certain level reality is paradoxical.17

Peck then quotes the nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer:

or an answer which will at first sight be reminiscent more of a strange catechism than of the straightforward affirmations of physical science. If we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains the same, we must say "no"; if we ask whether the electron's position changes with time, we must say "no"; if we ask whether the electron is at rest, we must say "no"; if we ask whether it is in motion, we must say "no." The Buddha has given such answers when interrogated as to the con­ ditions of a man's self after his death; but they are not the familiar answers for the tradition of seventeenthand eigh­ teenth-century science.18

More and more Westerners are availing themselves of empirical approaches to health and healing—because, in the proper hands, they can be more effective. A few insurance companies now cover some "alternative" health care modalities. They are discovering these modalities can be cost-effective.

T W O P A R T S T O N A T U R A L H E A L I N G

The doctor of the future will give no medi­ cine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.

—Thomas Edison

The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature heals the disease.

—Voltaire

Two major parts of natural healing are:

1)removing the causes of the imbalances, and

2)accelerating healing.

REMOVING THE CAUSES

To what appears to be the simplest ques­ tions, we will tend to give either no answer

In order to truly heal, the original cause or causes of the imbalance need to be removed.

It is often helpful if the cause can be identified. If poor diet, including overeating, is the cause of an illness, the diet must change. Many types of cancer have now been correlated to poor diet. If over-working is the cause of an illness, rest is needed. If excessive emotional, mental, or spiritual strain or trauma is the cause, it must be resolved. If harmful drugs are the cause, they must (eventually) be eliminated.

The cumulative effect of different stresses can create a critical health problem. This can explain why one modality of natural healing might be just as effective as another—when the total strain on the system is lowered, the illness may heal.

Of course, removing the real cause is usually easier said than done. True healing of chronic health problems often requires changesin the person's lifestyle.

Sometimes, the underlying cause is never identified but can still be removed by natural healing. In fact, one of the assumptions of the empirical school of health and healing is: "Workings of life force unknowable." See Fig- ure 20-1: "Scientific Assumptions of the Rational and Empirical Schools of Health and Healing."

ACCELERATING HEALING

The period of time required to heal severe imbalances may be unacceptably long if only the original causes are removed. A person may want to access holistic healing modalities to accelerate the rate of healing.

Some modalities of natural healing are described briefly here. For a larger presentation, refer to Richard Orossinger's

Planet Medicine: Modalities, listed in the

Bibliography.

Homeopathy

Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, 1755-1843, was the first physician to fully recognize the principles of homeopathy. G. Kent Smith, M.D., in Homeopathy: Medicine for Today's Living writes:

Hahnemann soon decided that he was doing his patients and family more harm than good by treating them according to the accepted medical practice of the day. For this reason he gave up the practice of medicine...

Homeopathy has no medicine for the name of a disease. Each patient, regardless of the name of his complaint, must be treated according to his individual symptoms ...

Homeopathy treats the patient and not the disease.19

Vithoulkas, in Homeopathy, Medicine of the New Man, writes:

Finally, after centuries of stumbling and experimenting, we have a system of medicine that not only recognizes the presence of the healing powers of the body and of Nature, the vital force, but actually bases its entire system upon the stimulation of that force.20

Basically, homeopathy works by stimulating the specific life-force energy currently at work within an individual which is attempting to heal that individual.

The set of physical-emotional-mental symptoms created in a healthy person by taking a large dosage of Substance A is the same set of symptoms an energized dilution of Substance A will heal in an ill person. This law of similars is based on philosophies of healing dating back more than 2000 years to Hippocrates.

Maesimund Panos, M.D., and Jane Heim­ lich, in Homeopathic Medicine at Home, write:

Hahnemann did not claim to discover the concept. In the tenth century ВС, Hindu sages described the law, as had Hippocrates, who wrote in 400 ВС: "Through the like, disease is produced and through the appli­ cation of the like, it is cured." Paracelsus, a sixteenth-century German physician, reit­ erated the law. Hahnemann, as an erudite thinker, was undoubtedly familiar with these writings, but he was the first to test the principle and establish it as the cor­ nerstone of a system of medicine.21

visual system to the liver and kidneys. Chi­ nese doctors say if a person has liver or kid­ ney problems, that person can have vision problems. One Eastern healer I talked with said that many of her clients who wear cor­ rective lenses have "classic liver-yin defi­ ciency." Yin is a right-brain characteristic.

Couldn't the opposite also be true? If a person chronically strains his visual system, could he have liver or kidney problems?

I met one acupuncturist who, by reading natural vision books and receiving acupunc­ ture, eliminated his need for corrective lenses.

Western critics have long ridiculed diluted homeopathy remedies as worthless. Yet, sophisticated scientific instruments have now shown that the energetic property of a sol­ vent changes after diluting and succussing a solute beyond the point that any solute atoms remain in the solute?2

G.E Barnard and James H. Stephenson state, "...inhomeopathy one may be giving to a patient the informational content of a chemi­ cal without any actual chemical mass... ,"23

Critics also state the diluted homeopathic remedies are of value only because of the placebo effect. Yet remedies are effective when used with animals and babies. Addi­ tionally, rigorous double-blind tests have proven homeopathy is effective.

Acupuncture

Like homeopathy (I like to refer to home­ opathy as "needleless acupuncture"), acupunc­ ture is based on the flow of energy through the body. Many imbalances can be corrected with an experienced acupuncturist.

Chinese healing philosophy connects the

Herbs

Herbs can help detoxify and restore balance to the body.

The acupuncturist just mentioned said the herb Ming Mu Ti Huang Wan has been used by many Eastern healers to nourish "yin-defi- cient" liver and kidneys and to improve eye­ sight. Benefits reported by others include increased lacrimation (tearing) for dry eyes and reduction of sensitivity to bright light.

Iridology

Classical iridology focuses much of its atten­ tion on imbalances caused by poor diet. These imbalances can be "read" in the iris. See Fig­ ure 20-2: "Chart to Iridology" by Bernard Jensen, D.C.,Ph.D.

On the physical level, the colon is consid­ ered to be the "hub" of the nutritional sys­ tem. The area of the iris that corresponds to the colon encircles the pupil like the hub of a wheel. The areas related to the organs of the body extend out from the central colon area, like the spokes of a wheel, to the outer edges of the iris.

Professional massage therapy and bodywork are often helpful in releasing chronic tension in the body. They can also educate the client about how she is living, providing her with the opportunity to make adjustments in her

C o l o r H e a l i n g

See Figure 19-3: Brain Characteristics.

The colors red, orange, and yellow are asso­ ciated with the left hemisphere. Blue, indigo,

and violet are associated with the right hemisphere. Green is the "balancing" color.

Psychologists have known for many years the impact of colors on the mind. Have you ever seen a fast-food restaurant which does not use the colors red, orange, and yellow? These colors activate the hunger centers in the body.

In respect to healing, left-brain dominant individuals can use right-brain colors, for example, blue, to help re-establish a balance. Right-brain dominant individuals can use left-brain colors, for example, red and orange, to help re-estabUsh a balance.

Stanley Burroughs, in his book Healing for the Age of Enlightenment, states:

All hot (acute/left-brain) disorders are conected or balanced by use of the cold colors. All cold (chronic/right-brain) disorders are corrected or balanced by the use of the warm colors.24

The color red is a hot, or warm, color; blue is a cold, or cool, color.

The color red is associated with near vision; the color blue is associated with far vision. Many nearsights have derived benefits from right-brain colors, and many farsights have derived benefits from left-brain colors. Light:

Medicine of the Future, by Jacob Liberman, contains a list of color work (syntonic) practitioners.

Other Healing Modalities

In addition to the above holistic modalities, many people have received benefit from the following incomplete list:

•Stress reduction programs

•Osteopathy

*Naturopathy

*Cranial-mandibular orthopedics (TMJ)

*Craniosacral therapy

*Chiropractic

*Acupressure

*Ortho-bionomy

*Retreats

*Applied Kinesiology

*Breathing education

*Yoga

*Rolfing (Structural Integration)

*Exercise

*Meditation

*Natural vision training

All of the above have contributed significantly to the improvement of my health.

The Feldenkrais Method and Alexander Technique, and many other holistic modalities, can also be beneficial. All types of holistic health support each other. Holistic modalities are opportunities to return to, and maintain, a balance.

M E S S A G E S O F P R O G R E S S —

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

H E A L I N G AGGRAVATIONS

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between symptoms caused by doing something unhealthy, and symptoms caused by natural healing. If a person begins natural healing, and then feels uncomfortable, he might conclude he is doing something incorrect—when, in fact, he may finally be giving his body an opportunity to truly heal.

A healing aggravation is a period in which the mind, emotions, and/or body experience symptoms because o/natural healing.

In his Doctor-Patient Handbook: Dealing with The Reversal Process and The Healing Crisis through Elimination Diets and Detox- ification, Dr. Bernard Jensen emphasizes

proper nutrition and detoxification. In regards to nutritional healing, he states there are two ways a person can know if they are experiencing a "healing crisis":

1.Usually the person feels stronger just before a healing crisis; and

2.Elimination is perfect.

Figure 20-4: "Homeopathic Aggravation and Healing"'is a graph from Vithoulkas' The Science of Homeopathy. ("Homeopathic Aggravation and Healing" is my [TQ] caption.) This ideal case shows the intensity of symptoms increasing slightly after the homeopathic remedy is administered, followed by a dramatic decrease in symptoms.

Many vision students have had a tight neck

for many years. When correct vision habits are practiced, the chronic tension begins to release. One student experienced soreness in her neck after a few weeks of practicing correct vision habits. In the sixth week of the course, she said that she had previously gone to many different holistic healers for her health problems. She stopped visiting every holistic practitioner after the first visit because she felt uncomfortable symptoms after their work. She had concluded that their work was making her worse. She now believes her reactions were healing aggravations.

TOM'S PLRSONAL LOG: The first treatment I received from a holistic doctor (an M.D.) resulted in excruciating back pain. By the

INTENSITY

O F

SYMPTOMS

T I M E P E R I O D

R E M E D Y

Figure lb:

CASE I:

Palieni: "1 feel much better—in every way."

Case: Definite aggravation, then defi­ nite improvement of all symptoms.

Interpretation: Remedy was precise.

М/Е - C E N T A L / EMOTlOHAL

C C = P H Y S C A L CHIEF COMPLAINT

0 k —

1 MONTH

Strong defense mechanism. Good prognosis.

Prescription: Wait a long time—likely six months or more.

time I returned to work, I felt nauseated and dizzy. I called the doctor and he explained that such reactions can occur for some peo­ ple. I felt so "ill" I had to go home.

The healing aggravations I experienced were proportional to my critical health prob­ lems. Not everyone experiences such painful aggravations. Over the next several months, I had significant improvement in my health.

The experience of uncomfortable healing aggravations may cause a person to approach holistic healing patiently. It takes time and energy to heal. A very ill person does not have a lot of energy.

Education and understanding may be the most important part of natural healing. When

one identifies and uses true, natural modal­ ities of healing, the healing aggravations from those modalities can be regarded as correct. If healing aggravations are suppressed, the illness can continue and become worse.

Of course, a person must not allow a seri­ ous symptom to go unattended when it is not part of a healing aggravation. This is where the study of holistic books can be helpful, along with consulting experienced natural health practitioners.

In regard to long-term health issues, I have come to the conclusion that:

• With conventional approaches to health problems, a person often feels better right away (due to the suppres-

sion of symptoms), but becomes less healthy in the long term.

• With natural approaches to health problems, a person often feels worse right away (due to a healing aggravation), but becomes more healthy in the long term.

Not only can a person feel worse temporarily, some holistic practitioners anticipate healing aggravations. They can be a sign of true healing.

Another clue to natural healing is re-expe- riencing the same (or similar) symptoms we had in the past. These are known as reversals. Reversals often occur during a healing aggravation.

R E V E R S A L S — A C L U E T O T R U E H E A L I N G

Healing occurs from within out (the most important inner organs heal first), from above down (head down to the feet), and in the reverse order in which they were acquired.

—Hering's Law of Healing

When an imbalance from the past is addressed by natural methods, some of the mental, emotional, spiritual, and/or physical manifestations of that strain can return temporarily. This is known as a reversal. A reversal is a full or partial return of symptoms of a former imbalance that did not fully heal in the past. Reversals are very common when a person begins natural healing.

For example, a person may take correct action to heal his cancer by eliminating harmful foods from his diet. If this person eliminates his cancer, he does not necessarily become 100% healthy immediately. Rather, a previous—but less serious—illness from the past may take the cancer's place.

Jensen, in his Doctor-Patient Handbook, describes the progression of illnesses, and the reversal experiences his patients go through when they improve their diet and/or fast. This book is one of the most important I have read on health and healing.

TOM'S PERSONAL LOG:

A. When I was born, casts and braces were immediately put on my deformed legs, so that I would be able to walk in the future.

After the first eight months of natural healing (about age 30), my legs started to bow back in again. I walked around awkwardly for about three days, after which my legs felt fine again. My holistic doctor told me he had found the cause of my leg problem in my spinal column, and he was correcting the imbalance with cranial-sacral manipulations.

B. Because of my illnesses as a child, I liked the rain because I did not have to go outdoors. Every winter, when others complained, I would say how much I liked the rain.

In the winter of 1993, after many years of holistic healing, I began to tell my osteopath/chiropractor/acupuncturist how much I liked the rain. But something strange occurred this time. I said, "I like the ra—. Wait a minute. No, I don't. I was going to say, 'I like the rain.' But I don't anymore. I am healthier now, and I want to be outside in the sunshine."

Reversals can occur on all levels.

I discovered that to move forward with my health problems, I needed to go backward temporarily. The old tension and strain were still in my body/mind, and needed to be released in order to truly heal. The alternative was to remain ill.

Reversals do not always appear in exactly

the reverse order in which they developed. Which symptoms return at a specific time depends to some degree on the timing and type of the natural healing the individual is receiving. For example, if a person had flues in early childhood, and neck problems later due to a car accident, the flu symptoms may return before the neck symptoms if the person begins changing her diet. The neck symptoms may resurface later during chiropractic adjustments.

Reactions may be exaggerated during a healing aggravation or reversal. Natural healing can be powerful, and the mind-body wants to elirninate any imbalances as quickly as possible.

In the case of chronic neck tension, a person's neck may have become tighter more each year for many years. While improving vision, a healing aggravation in the neck may be exaggerated because the healing process occurs in a relatively short period of time (a few months for some people). Compare this to the time it took for the neck to become chronically tight.

The student of natural health may appredate the importance of healing health problems in the correct manner when they first occur. If problems are suppressed, the lifeforce energy of that individual can lower, and the symptoms may need to be experienced again in the future when true healing is used.

During a natural vision course, one of my students remembered how she diffused when a swarm of bees surrounded her. She tried to see all of the bees at the same time. This is an example of a vision reversal. Reversals related to vision are common experiences during natural vision improvement. They are a sign of true healing.

TOM'S PERSONAL LOG: After about two yean> of improving my vision, a memory returned to me of being in the yard of my home as a child. I was watching a bee fly from one flower to another flower. I was moving my head naturally, and centralizing perfectly. I had normal vision and excellent vision habits at that time.

This return of the memory of normal vision and correct vision habits was an important part of my vision improvement process I now practiced better vision habits more each day—not just because my vision was improv- ing—but because these vision habits are exactly the same ones I used to have when I had normal, clear sight long ago. The vision habits I am relearning are natural and normal. I am now relearning to see.

" H E A L T H R E T U R N S I N C Y C L E S "

Figure 20-5: "Health Returns in Cycles" shows various factors involved as health becomes worse, and when it gets better.

As health becomes worse, as shown on the left side of the graph, there are times when a person feels better—the body wants to heal. Notice on the right side of the graph that there are temporary setbacks when improving health. Some of these setbacks can be caused by healing aggravations.

Some students take a rigid approach to their vision improvement process. They expect the vision to improve constantly every day—lin- early, without any setbacks. This will not happen. Vision improvement is no different from other forms of relearning or learning processes There will be fluctuations and temporary setbacks. Unpredictable fluctuation is primarily a right-brain characteristic and is part of the natural vision improvement process.