Ординатура / Офтальмология / Английские материалы / Relearning To See_Quackenbush_2000

NATURAL VISION H A B I T S = S A F E R

DRIVING

Ninety percent of the information we receive while driving comes to us through sight. Natural vision habits help a person remain more alert—and therefore safer—while driving a car or other motor vehicles.

When someone has a car accident, oftentimes we hear the driver say, "I just never saw it"—"it" referring to another car or object the driver hit. Many accidents can be attributed to "spaced out" staring. The driver was simply "not paying attention." How many of us have had "close calls" due to "not paying attention"? The danger of unnatural staring while driving should be obvious. The fact that most Americans have blurred vision means most Americans practice "spaced out" star- ing—a good reason to be especially attentive while driving.

Many of my students say how much more relaxed and comfortable they now are driving a car, especially when traveling long distances. Many vision students have experienced less eyestrain, fatigue, neckaches, and headaches by using correct vision habits while driving.

Head movement is important while driving. Head movement loosens and relaxes the neck. Abdominal breathing and butterfly blinking are also relaxing and energizing. Normal vision is a form of relaxed alertness.

R E L E A R N I N G C E N T R A L I Z A T I O N A N D M O V E M E N T W H I L E D R I V I N G

All people with blurred vision have mastered diffusion. Some of my students have told me they are willing to relearn centralization during all of their activities—except for driving. They think—erroneously—that in order to be safe, it is essential to diffuse. They say, "I have to see everything on the road equally at one time." Some students have also told me they think they must keep their head locked straight ahead in order to drive safely.

Some students tell me that—while driving

with their glasses on—they can see every­ thing clearly simultaneously. This is, of course, impossible. As discussed in Chapter io,"The Second Principle—Centralization," it is impossible to see everything clearly at one time. Only one central point is clear at any instant. If a person diffuses while driving, he is unnaturally and dangerously taking his pri­ mary attention away from the only place he sees clearly—the center.

Attempts to support the erroneous belief that diffusion is essential for safe driving are only made by those people who have mas­ tered diffusion, i.e., those who have blurred vision.

The fact is people who have normal sight centralize when they drive—just as they do when they are not driving. They shift their attention from one point to another. This is safe driving.

Once again, the rods are designed to pick up movements in our peripheral vision. When a person locks their head and diffuses, periph­ eral movement perception is lowered not increased. Paradoxical as it may seem, the better and more a person centralizes (and moves the head), the better objects in the peripheral vision are picked up by the rods.

It takes practice, trust, and time to relearn natural vision habits while driving. By prac­ ticing correct vision habits more each day when you are not driving, the correct habits and principles will eventually become auto­ matic while driving.

During the first few weeks of vision classes, one of my students said she was unwilling to centralize while driving her car. One day, while stopped at a stoplight, she was sketch­ ing a car on the other side of the intersection. To her surprise, she picked up the changing of the light signal in her peripheral vision.

Prior to this experience, she thought she had to centralize on the light signal to see whether or not it had changed from red to green. Sur­ prise! Now she was willing to centralize while driving. She learned to trust the rods' ability to pick up movement and changes in the peripheral vision—automatically.

Notice how, throughout this book, the beliefs a person holds about how eyesight should be used and how it functions are very often the opposite of the facts—even after the facts are clearly stated and repeated many times. One of the benefits of attending vision classes is the support the student receives in changing their incorrect beliefs into true beliefs.

As discussed in Chapter 10, "The Second Principle—Centralization," centralization does not mean the peripheral field is not seen, or is of no interest. To the contrary, periph­ eral vision is essential vision—but it is never clear. It is designed primarily for movement perception. It is our "protection" vision. If an object moves in the peripheral vision, the rods pick up its movement; then we shift our nosepencil to that object to see its detail—to determine exactly what the moving object is.

Another student told me she perfected dif­ fusion while living in New York City. She said she was so afraid of being attacked, she felt she needed to protect herself by trying con­ sciously to see everything around her clearly—simultaneously. Her mastery of dif­ fusion resulted in her not being able to drive a car. She was so diffused, she was not able to keep her attention in the center—"on the road." "Diffusion is confusion," and danger­ ous About halfway through the vision course, she was able to drive a car again—for the first time in many years.

I have heard hundreds of "diffusion" sto-

ries like this one from students. The return from diffusion to centralization is one of the most important aspects of returning to clear vision. Sight, as Bates correctly stated, is pri­ marily a mental process.

Patience is needed while relearning to see. The strain of incorrect vision habits from the past needs time to unwind itself.

Diffusion and rigidity are fatiguing. A per­ son with incorrect habits will become fatigued sooner than someone who has correct vision habits.

Some of my students who only needed glasses for driving temporarily postponed dri­ ving while improving their sight. They wanted to stop wearing glasses completely and as soon as possible.

Unlike some of the students mentioned above, some students find driving the easiest time to practice correct habits. Each student associates correct or incorrect vision habits with different activities. For some, driving is ж optimum; for others it is a pessimum. Change all visual pessimums into visual opti­ mums!

READING WHILE C O M M U T I N G

A person riding on a bus or train can read clearly and comfortably if objects, e.g., the books, are allowed to move. If an effort is made to hold objects rigid, sight will be strained.

Of course, a person would never read when she is the driver of a vehicle.

From Perfect Sight Without Glasses:

I Persons who wish to preserve their eyesight are frequently warned not to read in mov­ ing vehicles; but since under modern con­ ditions of life many persons have to spend

a large part of their time in moving vehi­ cles, and many of them have no other time to read, it is useless to expect that they will ever discontinue the practice. Fortunately the theory of its injuriousness is not borne out by the facts. When the object regarded is moved more or less rapidly... ultimately the vision is improved by the practice.

DRIVER'S EDUCATION = BATES METHODI

In the section entitled "Safe Driving Prac­ tices, Visual Search: Seeing Well," the State of California Department of Motor Vehicles' 1995 California Driver Handbook states:

Keep your eyes moving. Look near and far. Turn your head before changing lanes

... Don't develop a "fixed stare." Look around. Keep your eyes moving. Check the rear view mirrors frequently (every 2 to 5 seconds) ... Keep shifting your eyes from one part of the road to another. Look at objects near and far, left and right.

Be sure to move your head. Moving only the eyes is incorrect. Head movement is espe­ cially important to check for cars or objects in the "blind spots" on either side of the car.

Similar to the DMV manual just quoted, many driver education schools teach their students natural vision habits. They frequently remind their students to shift their attention from one point to another. "Watch the traf­ fic far ahead of you. Check traffic behind you in the rear view mirror. Watch carefully for a child who might dash out into the street, espe­ cially near schools, parks, and playgrounds."

Be attentive while driving—and while not driving!

While driving, notice how stationary objects in front of you move toward you, while in the rear view mirror they move away

from you. Stationary objects on the sides of car move in the opposite direction of the car's movement. (See also Figure g-6: Oppositional

Movement and Depth Perception in Chap- ter 9, "The First Principle—Movement.") Natural clear eyesight is dependent upon movement and the illusion of oppositional movement.

Tip 1: Be sure to keep the windshields of your car clean. Dirt or smudges on the windshield can distract your sight away from the road and traffic.

Tip 2: For additional safety, drive with your car headlights on during the day. Studies have shown that it is easier for other drivers and pedestrians to see you if your lights are on during the day. In fact, some newer cars automatically turn on headlights when the car is started.

If you do not turn your headlights on during the day, at least turn them on at twilight. Most accidents occur at this time. Many people are driving home, tired from a long day at work, when their attention might not be their best. Additionally, the visual system is beginning to transition from daytime vision into nighttime vision.

"MOTION SICKNESS " W H I L E D R I V I N G

Some people become sick when riding in a car. This can be caused by straining, usually subconsciously, to keep stationary objects from moving. Interfering with the illusion of stationary objects moving in the opposite direction of the car's movement is a strain.

T I P S FOR PASSING THE DRIVER' S V I S I O N

T E S T

If you currently have a restriction on your driver's license requiring you to wear cor-

rective lenses, you can have it removed by passing the vision test without corrective lenses.

Here are some tips regarding the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) vision test:

• Since some testing environments are not very relaxing (to say the least), visit the DMV and walk around to get accustomed to the workers, desks, tables, and so on. Stand or sit for a while to become familiar with the total environment. Generally, we see familiar objects more clearly than unfarniliar objects. Practice correct vision habits. Watch the procedures of clerks and clients taking the vision test. Note the lighting level. Vision is highly dependent on the level of light. You can visit the DMV several times before actually taking the vision test. You can also take the test even if you do not think you might pass it yet.

* If possible, visit more than one DMV office. I have found a large difference in the levels of relaxation (read: stress) among DMV offices.

» Check with your eye doctor or DMV to find out what the vision requirements are in your state for safe, legal driving.

At home, place your Distance Eye Chart (located in Appendix F) twenty feet away. Adjust your lights to be approximately the same level as at the DMV. Practice the correct habits with the appropriate line of letters, imagining you are at the DMV. Imagine being very relaxed while seeing the letters at the DMV. Practice in your mind sketching or shifting from one letter to another.

Shift to the top of a letter, then to the bot-

torn, then to the right, then to the left, then through the middle. Imagine the letter is moving in the opposite direction of your nosepencil movement. Imagine you are seeing one part of a letter more clearly than the other parts of the letter—centralization. Do not "lock on," or strain to see a particular letter; this is staring. Continue to shift—even a tiny amount is correct. Do not diffuse.

Cover one eye at a time while reading the letters. Then use both eyes. Imagine taking the vision test and passing! Many natural vision students have done this, and you can too!

STUDENT CASE HISTORIE S

The following case histories are about some of my natural vision students who eliminated the restriction from their driver's license which required them to wear corrective lenses.

M.E

M. P., 60, received glasses for nearsightedness at age 14. She had 20/70 in the right eye and 20/200 in the left eye when she started natural vision classes in January 1991. She passed her driver's vision test without corrective lenses by July 1992.

Her mother, 83, and sister, 66, who attended the vision classes with her, have also had excellent improvement of their sight.

S.C.

S.C.,3i,had nearsightedness since age 17. His prescription had increased to -2.75 DS for nearsightedness, and +1.25 DC for astigmatism by the time he enrolled in the natural

vision classes in September 1989. At the end of the vision course he saw 20/10 with the glasses that were 20/20 at the beginning of the course. By February 1991, he passed his driver's vision test, without corrective lenses.

T.L.

T. L., 33, had a prescription of -3.50 DS for nearsightedness and -1.00 DC for astigmatism. She attended natural vision classes in August 1984, and passed her driver's vision test, without corrective lenses, by December

1987.

T. L. also says she now looks ten years younger! The difference between her photos in the old and new driver's licenses is dramatic.

W.C.

W. C, 62, experienced nearsightedness beginning at age 32. He received bifocals in 1975. In January 1992, he attended natural vision classes. By August of 1992, he passed his driver's vision test without corrective lenses.

W. C. is also a graduate of the Natural Vision Center's 1992 Certified Teacher Training Program.

B.D.

I am 42 years old and I have had radiation retinopathy in both of my eyes, and I had been wearing glasses with a correction of -1.75 in both eyes for the last seven years. The retinopathy in my eyes was caused by high-dose radiation treatments for a malignant tumor four years ago. Since that time I have had constant difficulties with my eyes, and reading for more than 15-20 minutes has become virtually impossible

P A R T S E V E N : R E A D I N G , C H I L D R E N , S

I attended [natural vision] classes from September through November of 1995 and integrated the habits of natural vision into my life and daily activities. On January 22, 1996,1 passed the CaUfornia driver's license test without my glasses. In February of 1996, during an eye examination at an ophthal­ mologist, my vision was 20/30 without glasses. I still have many eye problems, but

... I can see more clearly than when he and I first spoke in 1995.

[Signed] B.D.

Permission to reprint

None of these students have had artificial refractive corneal surgeries or ortho-kera- tology. Their vision improvement was by 100% natural means.

More testimonials are given in Chapter 29, " 'This Method Has Been Proved.'"

FLYING

From Perfect Sight Without Glasses:

To aviators, whether engaged in military or civilian operations, or whether they are fly­ ing merely for pleasure, eye education is of particular importance. Accidents to avia­ tors, otherwise unaccountable, are easily explained when one understands how dependent the aviator is upon his eyesight, and how easily perfect vision may be lost amid the unaccustomed surroundings, the dangers and hardships of the upper air.

It was formerly supposed that aviators maintained their equilibrium in the air by the aid of the internal ear; but it is now becoming evident from the testimony of aviators who have found themselves

H O O L S , A N D M O R E

emerging from a cloud with one wing down, or even with their machines turned completely upside down, that equilibrium is maintained almost entirely, if not alto­ gether, by the sense of sight. If the aviator loses his sight, therefore, he is lost, and we have one of those "unaccountable" acci­ dents which, during the war, were so unhap­ pily common in the air service.

All aviators, therefore, should make a daily practice of reading small, familiar let­ ters, or observing other small, familiar objects, at a distance of ten feet or more. In addition, they should have a few small letters, or a single letter, on their machines, at a distance of five, ten, or more feet from their eyes, arrangements being made to illu­ minate them for night flying and fogs, and should read them frequently while in the ah. This would greatly lessen the danger of visual lapses, with their accompanying loss of equihbrium and judgment.

When the US entered WW2, hundreds of natural vision students were able to pass the air corps vision test by taking vision lessons. Margaret Corbett alone helped more than 200 men pass their tests.

Many military and commercial airline pilots are trained to use their sight in many of the same ways Bates taught his students to relearn to see correctly. Pilots are taught to have continual "situational awareness." They are trained to constantly scan and shift from one point to another—left, right, up, down, near and far. Their survival depends on it.

The US Air Force Academy requires pilots to have 20/20 sight, both near and far.

It is not a coincidence that Air Force pilots are required to have normal sight. In addi­ tion to excellent acuity, people with clear sight

have the important qualities of seeing—3-D vision, excellent contrast perception, texture awareness, and superior color perception.

The best military pilots have 20/10 sight— eyes like hawks. They can see a 4X4-foot object nearly two miles away, and can spot another airplane fifteen miles away.

Fighter pilots say they see enemy planes long before the enemy sees them. The famous German Ace pilot "Red Baron" Manfred von Richthofen claimed that 80% of the enemy pilots he shot down never saw him.

General Charles "Chuck" Yeager was a WW2 Ace fighter pilot and the top US Air Force Test Pilot for nearly ten years. Elec­ tronic Arts' General Chuck Yeager Air Com­ bat manual contains the following quotes from General Yeager:

Concentration is total. You remain focused, ignoring fatigue or fear, not allow­ ing static into your mind 1

In World War I, detecting the enemy was simply a matter of having good eyesight, knowing what to look for, staying alert— In a sky filled with airplanes, I needed to keep my head on a swivel to avoid getting hit, being shot down, or ruruiing into some­ body. The best survival tactic always was to check your tail constantly, and stay alert— My biggest tactical advantage was my eyes. I spotted him from great distances, knowing he couldn't see me because he was only a dim speck. Sometimes he never did see me—or when he did it was too late—2

THE MAKING OF AN A C E

Electronic Arts:... What characteristics make an ace?

Chuck Yeager: Experience. You start from a baseline of very good eyesight...

I was always gifted with good eyesight, from a kid on up. Even to this day I have 20/10 eyesight ... In World War II, we

learned to pick a piece of the sky and focus out to infinity and back, and then move over and do it again. You don't let your eyes focus on a set place. Normally, if your eyes relax they focus at about 18 feet— you've got to be able to focus them out and in.

Radar caused the pilots to get lazy. They were using radar to look out 20 to 30 miles ahead. Before we had radar, you had to depend on your eyes to pick up things com­ ing. But now with the ability to jam radars, and also stealth technology coming into the picture, we've got to teach the guys to start looking again—

Electronic Arts: Would you describe most pilots as cool-headed?

Yeager: "Cool-headed?" What you don't do is worry about the outcome of anything because you don't have any control over it. You concentrate on what you're doing. If you want to call that "cool-headed," fine.

Electronic Arts: It's a matter of focusing, then?

Yeager: There you are. You focus on what you're doing....

One thing we saw in World War II was that only 11% of the fighter pilots involved in combat with the Germans shot down about 90% of the airplanes destroyed. That's a small number. If you look at the commonality of these guys, they were all rural kids—they understood deflection shooting—they had good eyesight, and were aggressive and self-sufficient.3

One magazine on flying states "make a conscious effort to focus." Following this advice will strain your vision. The correct method of seeing is to "shift constantly from one point to another," in a relaxed, attentive manner.

Many pilots maintain their normal sight during their flying careers. Their training and

practice of correct vision habits keeps their vision clear. I have met and heard of pilots who lost their clear vision after they stopped flying.

So, have "Ace" pilot vision all day long!

S W I M M I N G A N D B O A T I N G

While swmrming in a pool, stationary objects seem to move in the opposite direction of your movement.

Some people become "seasick" when boating. This can be caused by subconsciously trying to stop the illusion of the horizon "tilting." Strain is the result. Allow in your mind the illusion that stationary objects move.

ball is hit to them. In this state, catching the ball is nearly impossible.

One of my students, a fifty-year-old woman, told me she never could catch a ball. When she tossed a ball up into the air, she held her head very straight and stiff. When the ball went up, it went out of her visual field, so she never caught it.

Holding a ball in her hand, she practiced slowly moving and following a ball up and down with her nose-feather, with a head movement. Apparently it had never occurred to her she should, or could, move her head up when the ball went up. Finally, she tossed the ball upward and, by following it with her nose-feather for the first time, she caught it! She was extremely pleased!

It is said that one famous baseball player could see the threads on the spinning baseball as it was being pitched to him. He must have had excellent centralizing and movement vision skills. "Keep your nose-feather on the ball!"

All sports involve movement.

When playing in the outfield in softball, some children "freeze" and diffuse when the

One of the greatest football receivers described how he not only kept his total attention on the football as it was soaring through the air toward him, he kept his attention on the center of the spiraling football.

As noted in Chapter 9, "The First Princi- ple—Movement," the best tennis players are in constant motion. A tournament champion often states how relaxed and concentrated (centralized) she was during the tournament. Relaxation = Movement = Centralization =

Win; Strain = Rigidity = Diffusion = Lose. Notice that most of the greatest tennis players do not wear sunglasses—even while playing in the brightest sunlight. They often wear

a hat.

TOM'S PERSONAL LOG: Reflecting on many years of playing chess in school and in tournaments, it seems that, for long periods of time, only the eyes moved.