Sunlight, Sunning, The Sunglass

[ClarkNight]

Sunlight, Sunning, The Sunglass;

http://cleareyesight-batesmethod.info/id13.html
http://cleareyesight-batesmethod.info/id57.html
http://cleareyesight-batesmethod.info/id62.html
http://cleareyesight-batesmethod.info/id59.html


  Precautions when Sunning.pdf (Size: 848.21 KB / Downloads: 227)

Alternate palming with sunning; http://cleareyesight-batesmethod.info/id49.html

EYE-SHADES

(No Sunglasses, Tinted Lenses, UV Blocking Lenses…)

When the eyes are hypersensitive to light, one usually obtains immediate relief from the discomfort by the use of an eye-shade. This relief, however, is temporary, and very soon glasses are prescribed which seldom are a permanent benefit. The conditions are not favorable for normal vision when using eye-shades.
The normal eye is not made uncomfortable in a good light. An eye-shade makes the eyes more sensitive to light and causes eyestrain. Patients who have used eye-shades habitually, are very difficult to cure. Sun treatment, when used properly, is often followed by quick relief. The patient sits in the sun facing the strong light with the eyelids closed. The head should be moved slowly from side to side. At first there may be slight discomfort which usually disappears in a few minutes. Continue for half an hour or longer. Now turn the back to the sun and open the eyes. There should be relief at once. By repetition the benefit becomes greater and more permanent. Do not be in a hurry to look in the neighborhood of the sun. The strong glare may cause a temporary loss of vision, and other discomforts which may continue for some hours or days before recovery. There is no danger of a permanent loss of vision by looking more or less directly at the sun.
(Modern teachers advise closed eye sunning only due to depletion of the earths ozone layer. Others state it is ok to look near the sun at the bright sky. The head is moved continually left and right to avoid concentration of the sun on any one area of the skin, eyes/sunburn.)



Q—Can you explain why I see yellow and blue spots after looking at the sun?
A—You are straining. Do not look directly at the sun until your eyes are more accustomed to it. Practice the sun treatment—sit in the sun with the eyes closed. Allow the sun to shine directly upon your closed eyelids, as you slowly move your head a short distance from side to side. Do this for half an hour or longer as often as possible whenever the sun is shining.
Modern teachers state to not look into the sun with the eyes open.
Look to the side, out to the bright sky, clouds. Blink, shift continually, easy, relaxed, move the head and eyes. Daydream something pleasant.

Q—Is working or reading under electric light harmful? Should a shade be worn?
A—It is not harmful to read by electric light if the eyes are used properly. Do not wear a shade or any other protection for the eyes. Practice sun treatment.

Q—Do you get as much benefit from gazing at the sun through a window as you would outdoors? I have read that it did no good to take a sunbath through glass.—E. C. H.
A—Yes. The strength of the sunlight is not appreciably modified by the glass.
Modern teachers state that; all glass, plastic… (windows, eyeglasses) block part of the suns light spectrum resulting in unbalanced, unhealthy, partial spectrum light entering the eyes, brain, body. This impairs health, function of the eyes, brain, body, left and right brain hemispheres, sleep, hormones, other body systems and clarity of vision. Sunlight through a window is better than no light but pure full spectrum sunlight is best.

Illusions

By W. H. Bates, M.D.

Many people who know little or nothing about physiological optics have the habit of criticizing adversely anyone who has the courage, or who is foolish enough, to announce discoveries which do not meet with the favor of people who theorize. In order to bring about quick and lasting cures of myopia, hypermetropia, astigmatism, and many other causes of imperfect sight, one needs to know a great deal about illusions.
Many years ago a student of the eye, a man of great authority, after studying the illusions of perfect sight and comparing these illusions with those of imperfect sight, was very much upset because the more facts he obtained, the greater became the illusions. He finally made the statement that “seeing is deceiving.” By this he meant that no one could understand the physiology of the eye without going to a great deal of trouble to prove that somebody else was deceiving the scientific world. He admitted that he was very much discouraged himself by the large number of illusions which were imagined or seen. To correct most diseases of the eyes it is absolutely necessary that one should learn by repeated experimental work something about illusions.
Unfortunately for the rest of us, this man was persecuted by his friends to such an extent that it ceased to be a joke and became a matter of great importance. It was hard for him even with all his “backbone,” which was considerable, to keep on studying illusions when these studies were so very unpopular.
It may be a shock to some people who have not studied the illusions of vision to find that imperfect sight is difficult. In fact it is so difficult that the majority of people in this world dodge the illusions of imperfect sight because these illusions are usually so disagreeable or painful. Perfect sight can only be obtained easily without staring or straining to see. When the eye is normal, any effort to improve it always makes it worse.
It has been proven over and over again that with perfect sight the eyes are completely at rest. The movement that they always have is necessary in order to prevent the stare and other efforts to see which are difficult, painful, disagreeable, and cause fatigue. But when the eye with normal sight is permitted to move sufficiently to prevent the stare or the strain, the head and eyes do not make any effort. To make an effort requires that the eye should be kept stationary. When the eye stares it is always stationary; when the eye stares, it is always trying to be immovable unconsciously. The stare is only possible when a mental effort is made, consciously or unconsciously, to imagine that everything is stationary.
The normal movements of the eyes are passive. As soon as they become active and the eye is made to move by a strain, or stare, then the movement of the eye is no longer passive, it is active and it is this active movement of the eyes done consciously or even unconsciously which causes so much trouble. This is why shifting is practiced in a relaxed, easy, effortless way, with the goal of it becoming a automatic normal eye function, habit, occurring on its own, a subconscious function, just as the heart and lungs beat, breathe automatically. Practice the Bates method, shifting, central fixation… then ‘take a break’, ‘don’t practice’, forget about the eyes and let the eyes shift… on their own. Return to practice if blur, strain, squinting, staring occurs in order to remove these incorrect functions and reinforce correct function.
This question is often asked: “What is the evidence that the normal eye is permitted to stare and strain unconsciously?” This is the answer. Many people can stare or strain as much during sleep as when they are awake. If the active strain is practiced, a patient may awake in the morning with pain in the eyes, head or in other parts of the body or they may feel a sense of great fatigue. The vision is always worse. When the passive movement of the eyes occurs, the movement may be imagined passively. The active movement requires the stare, strain, or an effort to remember, imagine, or see. This can often be recognized in myopia. The retinoscope is a great help in discovering the active swinging of the eyes. When the patient is asleep and straining the eyes unconsciously, the stare or strain is recognized with the aid of the retinoscope.

NEGATIVE AFTER-IMAGES: When a person with good sight regards a white Snellen test card which has black letters and does so with his eyes open, he may see the truth, that the white card appears white and the black letters appear black. When the eyes are closed an illusion is sometimes evident: the white card when remembered appears black and the black letters appear white. This illusion is promptly corrected with the aid of central fixation. One patient, a teacher of mental science, was able to see a white pillow perfectly white with his eyes open, but when he closed his eyes an illusion was seen or imagined at once - the white pillow appeared to turn into a black one. This was a great surprise to the professor. The illusion was prevented when the eyes were closed, by remembering or imagining each part in turn of the pillow best. He was then recommended to see two corners at the same time. The illusion returned, but it required a strain in order to bring it back.
The patient’s memory was improved by practicing central fixation with the eyes closed, seeing, imagining, or remembering one corner of a pillow at a time best and the rest of it worse. It was all done so quickly that the patient was not able quickly to remember, imagine, or see by central fixation. When he became able to produce the illusion or to prevent the illusion, his memory, imagination, and sight were very much improved.
He had worn glasses for the relief of headache for more than fifty years. It was a new and pleasant sensation for him to discard his glasses without suffering, as he had previously, with frightful headaches. The correction of various illusions of the sight are one of the best methods we have for the cure of imperfect sight without the use of glasses. If we correct the illusion, the eyesight may be improved.
One time I happened to be in the office of a well known professor of astronomy. With me was a high school girl, one of my patients, who wanted to learn something about astronomy. The professor asked us what we would like to see and with the naked eye I looked up toward the center of the sky where one could see the moon about the size of a nickel. I spoke to the professor and told him that I had so often seen the moon appear as big as a house and instead of being a dull gray it was usually a fiery red. I told him that I would be very much obliged if he would explain to me why the moon looked so much larger on the horizon than it did overhead. The professor said that there was a change in the density of the atmosphere when the moon was viewed low down on the horizon, which was entirely different from the air overhead. This, of course, is an illusion, not of imperfect sight, but of perfect sight, caused by conditions over which we have no control.
A man interested in the illusions of imperfect sight reported the following facts. One morning when he entered the bathroom he was surprised to observe that the tiles composing the floor had changed their colors. All the blue tiles had become pink and all the pink tiles had changed to blue. The illusion was very vivid. “What can I do” he asked, “to prevent this illusion, because it is maintained with a strain or effort to see which lowers my vision?” He was advised to practice central fixation which prevented or relieved the illusion very promptly.
Illusions are not harmless, as many people may think. They are always one cause of pain with imperfect sight. It is interesting to observe that when an illusion causes imperfect sight it also causes the stare, strain to see, or an imperfect memory (imagination) with poor vision.
Illusions which are beneficial do not cause pain, dizziness, fatigue, or any discomfort whatever. Beneficial illusions always improve the sight. For example: The thin, white line below the bottom of a line of letters is an illusion because there is no white line there. When it can be imagined, the vision is improved and this illusion is so important, even necessary, that one cannot read small letters or the newspaper unless the thin white line is imagined. The thin white line helps to improve the imagination of the black letters so that they can be read in a dim light. Other beneficial illusions are: white halos, glow around and inside letters, white glow on a blue sky above trees, mountains.., the illusion of oppositional movement ‘the swing’.
The same man described the illusions he had when a headache bothered him in the morning soon after opening his eyes. In one illusion there seemed to be a thin white transparent curtain floating up to the ceiling and then slowly dropping downwards toward the bed. It surprised him very much to observe that when the illusion of the floating curtain was manifestly at its height that the headaches became worse and a severe pain was felt in his eyes, head, and in other parts of the body. The illusion lasted about fifteen minutes and slowly disappeared. In this case also, central fixation was a great help in correcting or preventing the illusion.

A well known surgeon of the city of New York came to me for treatment of illusions. He had so many of them that the available space of this magazine is too small to describe them all. Among his many illusions was the fact that at irregular intervals while walking along the street, he would suddenly become totally blind and unable to see the light of the sun even when he looked straight at it. The blindness would continue for about a minute, usually less. The frequency of these attacks increased.
In the beginning he had three or four in a week, but after some months he had a partial or complete attack of blindness more frequently. The attacks made him very despondent; he was afraid that he might have one in the midst of a surgical operation.

Double Vision – How to Produce and Cure It.
While he was being treated, an illusion of double vision became almost constant and interfered very much with his vision for the Snellen test card. The illusions of double vision were corrected by teaching him how consciously to produce them rapidly and in any form. That is to say, he could imagine two lights, one directly above the other, at an angle of 90 degrees or when he strained sufficiently the two lights would be seen on a horizontal plane. With the help of the stare, strain, or trying to see better, he saw the two images at an angle of 45 degrees, 60 degrees, or 75 degrees. In short, he became able, after some instruction, to produce double images close together or double images farther apart and at any angle he desired. During the many months of treatment he demonstrated without knowing himself that he was able to produce illusions at will. Furthermore, he was able to produce illusions which lowered his vision and illusions which improved his sight. To produce double images, one above the other, he looked at a light about ten feet away and strained to see a small letter just below it at an angle of 90 degrees. To obtain double vision at an angle of 90 degrees required an effort.
I called this doctor’s attention to the fact that in order to produce an illusion of letters of the Snellen test card or to produce double vision required a stare or strain. I asked him this question: “Would you like to learn how to produce double vision of the Snellen test card?” He answered, “I do not see how you can do it, but the matter is so interesting I am willing that you should produce or show me how to produce double vision.” He was taught how to produce double vision consciously and this pleased him very much. Finally the day came when he was getting so restless that I thought I was justified in helping him to get rid of the double vision by teaching him how to produce the blindness consciously. He objected very much at first but more of the nerve specialists tried to convince him that he was incurable and that if he had let the matter go untreated he would have attacks of double vision almost continuously and be compelled to give up his work. The patient was told how to produce all kinds of illusions and that in order to produce illusions of double vision he would have to go to considerable trouble to accomplish it. He was finally persuaded or convinced that if my methods failed there was no help for him and so we began.

Creates and Cures Blindness
I had a very hard time in making this patient blind consciously. The strain was terrible and he did not take it calmly, but he finally made himself totally blind so that he could look straight at the sun without being able to see light. The blindness continued for about five minutes when it suddenly disappeared and the sight was just as good as it ever was. He finally came to me less frequently than every day. Eventually he became able consciously to increase the length of time of the blindness, and while still blind he could, with the help of central fixation and other methods, obtain his previous normal vision. Some of my other patients out of curiosity made themselves totally blind by the same methods practiced by him. When war was declared between Germany and France he enlisted in the medical department of the French Army; he never had a single relapse; he knew the cause of his double vision and how it was produced and was therefore able to avoid it.

[ClarkNight]

IMAGINATION IN RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA

By MARY BLAKE

This patient came for examination on February 9, 1921, and for treatment on March 11. Her distant vision with glasses (concave 6.00 D.S., both eyes) was 20/40 in the right eye and 20/50 in the left, and her field had been reduced to ten degrees, so that she could see nothing above, below, or to one side of her line of vision. She was treated almost entirely by means of her imagination and has thus become able, temporarily, to read the bottom line of an unfamiliar card at ten feet. By the same means her field and color perception have at times become normal. When her imagination fails, her vision fails also. Sun-gazing (Sunning) and the focusing of the rays of the sun with a burning glass/sunglass upon the upper part of the sclera (white of the eye) proved very effective in overcoming her extreme sensitiveness to light.
I began to wear glasses for shortsight when I was fifteen, and from that time I wore them constantly until I came to Dr. Bates five weeks ago, For the last two or three years I never took them off, except for close work, until I got into bed at night, and before I got out of bed in the morning I put them on again.
In spite of these precautions my sight became steadily worse, and for the last ten years I have spent my time and money going from one specialist to another both in this country and in Europe. Three of the most famous specialists in Switzerland told me that I had retinitis pigmentosa, a condition in which pigment is deposited in the retina, and which, I was told, always ended in complete blindness if the patient lived long enough. Nothing could be done to prevent this outcome, they said, but they advised me to wear dark glasses when I went out of doors on bright days, because by exposing my eyes to strong light I was spending my capital. For the last three years (up to five weeks ago) I did this, and for the last year, on very sunny days, I often wore dark glasses in the house also, because my eyes had become so sensitive to the light that I could sometimes find relief only by going into a darkened room. Even with dark glasses and drawn blinds, there was a kind of razzle-dazzle before my eyes which was so maddening that I almost longed for the blindness with which I had been threatened, so that I might be free from such distresses. When I looked out of a window onto a sunny street and then back into the room again, everything became perfectly black for a minute. For the last two years and a half I have not been able to go out alone in the city.
In this state of utter hopelessness, with my sight rapidly getting worse, I heard of Dr. Bates through a patient whom he was treating and, in spite of what I felt to be the incredulity of my friends, although they were considerate enough not to express it, I lost no time in consulting him. The unusualness of his methods, while it excited the suspicion of others, was a recommendation to me. I knew what the old methods accomplished, or rather what they did not accomplish, and I wanted something different. It seemed to me that Dr. Bates was the very man I had been looking for.
My friends have now been converted, but, in spite of the fact that I am able to report substantial improvement in my vision, I still meet with much skepticism in other quarters. A doctor to whom my progress was reported by a friend wrote to her that if my trouble were imaginary Dr. Bates might help me through hypnotism or mind cure, but that if there were anything really the matter with my eyes he could do nothing by his methods. Having a relative in New York who is an eye specialist, this doctor took the trouble to write to him and ask what he knew about Dr. Bates. The reply was that Dr. Bates was the laughing stock of all the oculists in New York. This report, when it was communicated to me, disturbed me not at all. It did not matter to me how much the other eye specialists laughed at Dr. Bates so long as he was helping me, as none of them had been able to do. Other doctors were more open-minded, but were not prepared to believe that such diseases as retinitis pigmentosa could be cured by this or any other method. One who had met some of Dr. Bates' cured patients and was inclined to believe in him, said, when told that I was being treated for this condition:
"Good gracious, he surely doesn't pretend to cure retinitis pigmentosa! That is an organic disease."
I said that he not only pretended to cure it, but had made substantial progress in my case. The doctor said:
"I think he'll help you, but I don't believe you are ever going to see without limitations."
The improvement in my vision since I have been under treatment has been indisputable. After two weeks the intangible suffering caused by light (eyes sensitive to light) left me, and it has never returned. I can go out in the brightest sunlight without glasses of any kind, and, although my eyes feel weak and I squint a little, there is no real distress. I can look out of a window onto a sunny street, and when I turn back again into the room there is no blindness. When I first took off my glasses I had to bend over close to my plate when I was eating in order to see what was on it. Now I sit in an almost normal position with such a slight bend that I don't think anyone would notice it. I also operate a typewriter while sitting in a normal position. For three years, it has been very difficult for me to read or sew, with or without glasses. Now I do both without glasses, and instead of the distress which these activities formerly caused me, I experience a delightful feeling of freedom. And not only can I read ordinary print, but I can read diamond type and photographic reductions. About a year ago I began to lose my color perception, and up to two weeks ago I was unable to distinguish the rug from the floor in the Doctor's office. Now I can see that the floor is red and the rug blue, tan and black. At the present writing I have just become able to observe that a couch cover in my apartment, which had always appeared blue to me, is green. I am still unable to see very much at the distance. But I am beginning to make out the features of the people around me and to read signs in the streets and street-cars, and when I look out of the windows on the Subway I see the people on the platforms. My field is still very limited, but I am conscious that it is slowly enlarging. The other day I pinned a piece of paper three inches from the test card, and was able to see it while looking at the card. After such improvement, in the brief period of five weeks, I do not feel inclined to credit the prediction of my medical friend that I am going to regain my sight only with limitations. I hope I am going to get normal vision.
Along with the improvement in my sight there has come also a remarkable improvement in my physical condition, the natural result of freedom from suffering. I used to be a very restless sleeper, and when I woke in the morning I was greatly fatigued. Now the bed is as smooth in the morning as if I had never stirred all night, and I am much more refreshed than I used to be, although not so much so as I hope to be later. Formerly I had to force myself to write a letter. Now it is a pleasure to do so, and I am clearing off all my correspondence. Previously I could not attend to my accounts. Now I have them all straightened out. If I get nothing more from the treatment than this physical comfort and increased ability to do things, it will be worthwhile.
In early issues of Better Eyesight, Dr. Bates allowed open eyed sunning.
In later years/issues he advised only closed eyes sunning.
Combine/alternate sunning with palming to increase vision improvement and other benefits derived from these activities.


QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

All readers of this magazine are invited to send questions to the editor regarding any difficulties they may experience in using the various methods of treatment which it recommends. These will be answered as promptly as possible, in the magazine, if space permits, otherwise by mail. Kindly enclose a stamped, addressed envelope.
Q - I began to wear glasses for farsight when I was twenty-six. I began with convex 1.00 D. S. and now at forty-two I am wearing convex 2.50 D. S., or was until a few weeks ago when I decided to try the methods presented in this magazine. I can read and sew with ease in the daylight, but cannot read fine print even in a strong electric light for more than a few minutes without getting a dull ache at the back of my eyeballs. What I want to do is this:
1. Do you advise the use of the test card in my case, or is it only for children?
2. Would the swing help me, and if so will you explain it a little more clearly?
3. Is it best to go without the glasses as much as I can, or am I injuring my eyes by so doing?
4. Would it retard the cure to use the glasses just for evening reading?
5. How long will it take for my eyes to become young again, if that is possible? G. H.
A - 1. The test card is for everybody.
2. Yes, the swing would help you. The normal eye is constantly shifting, and thus an apparent movement of objects regarded is produced. By consciously imitating this unconscious shifting of the normal eye and realizing the apparent movement which it produces, imperfect sight is always improved.
3. You should discard your glasses permanently. They are never a benefit and always an injury to the eyes.
4. Yes.
5. It is entirely possible for your eyes to become young again, but it is impossible to guess how long this will take because it is impossible to tell how well or intelligently you will practice central fixation.
Q - Why is it that when I look at an electric light half a mile away it looks as if there were ten or a dozen rays of light going in all directions? R. R. T.
A - Because when you look at an object half a mile away you strain to see it, and under the influence of the strain you imagine rays of light going in all directions so vividly that you seem to see them. It is for the same reason that the stars twinkle. If you could look at the light, or at the stars, without effort, there would be no twinkling.