How effort hampers improvement

[andrewc]

This was posted by me on another forum recently, discussing with a new member how to approach Bates practice. The person was expressing how hard they were working on everything, and worried that it was so complex they were not on the right track. Just wanted to share it for those here.

[me]
"You're really going about this the wrong way; hard work is for the birds, Bates is very simple, people just make it complex and laborious. Don't ask yourself what do I need to do more of. Instead, you should be asking yourself what do I need to do LESS OF? When you discover that, you will find what brings relief to your poor sight and visual imagination. Time is also not really a variable in the equation either, those with the highest levels can relieve it 'as quick as a thought' as Bates witnessed countless times. It's only a factor inasmuch as it takes to develop the mental awareness of what you're doing wrong, and then the mental discipline to make it stick. And that varies with every individual. Ignore the timetable of anyone else, and walk towards your own path of relief. Otherwise you will just make yourself more anxious, and make the whole process the opposite of what it is meant to be, by infusing more effort and strain into it. "

The person thought the techniques were to 'trick' the mind and eyes into relaxation...

[me]
"I would not call it 'tricking' your mind and eyes, although learning to do some of the techniques can be 'tricky,' in the sense that it's largely counter-intuitive. Yes, you have to intervene and take some action, and those actions (or techniques) are an indirect way to achieve some influence over what is mostly an unconscious effort and strain. We don't have direct access to it, but by providing the right conditions that promote release of abnormal tension (overacting muscles), we can indirectly improve vision, which is directly tied to those overacting muscles. Astigmatism, is just more of the same overacting muscle action, but innervated more asymmetrically. Exercises will not achieve much in helping them to stop overacting, they need to contract less. This is a good magazine regarding astigmatism, and shows how variable it can be from individual to individual:

http://www.central-fixation.com/better-e...930-01.php

The real trick is to learn how to do the techniques without effort, without trying to directly influence vision. Even the slightest amount can prevent it from being effective. So how you approach what you actually 'do,' can make a big difference in what you are able to achieve."

The theme is, it takes no effort to let go, and even things as simple as palming and closing the eyes, or remembering or imagining something can be difficult if we try to make an effort. When we can do these things with the least amount of effort, the greatest amount of benefit will result. Of course everyone is going to make some kind of effort in the beginning, but with practice, and developing awareness and getting feedback from a chart or other objects, we can chisel away at it, and the techniques become more and more effective.