The secret to achieving anything is to work at it consistently. That’s absolutely true when it comes to improving your vision.
You can make big mistakes with vision improvement that result in wasted time, and worse, you getting frustrated and giving up.
Do yourself a favor and follow the instructions of someone who has been there and knows what he’s talking about. I hope you’re liking some of my own videos too (I’ll have 2 more soon!), but another thing I like to do is acknowledge other people who are doing great work to help people with this process.
See Nathan’s top video on Youtube below, the routine he recommends as you wake up in the morning. This will get you started, or it will get you on track if you’ve been floundering around with this.
Try it out!
If you find this helpful, Nathan runs a very good online course, the Holistic Vision Program.
I happen to know exactly what you get in the course, because I spent hours going through almost the whole thing myself to see if I wanted to help him promote it. Some videos I sat and watched. Some I listened to while frying bacon. Some I went to bed listening to, like I’ve done with meditation tracks, and I had to try to find where I left off in the morning so I didn’t miss good stuff (of which there is plenty). Honestly, my attention span is nothing to be desired.
Obviously, you want to sit down and paying more close attention to the material than I did. While I don’t actually need it for myself, I’m guessing you do.
Here are some of my favorite topics that you will learn more about in-depth…
— The aspects of good vision, and how to practice them. Good vision is more than acuity (reading the eye chart). It’s depth perception, color perception, tracking, and more.
— Why “No pain, no gain” is counterproductive with vision. I lift weights regularly and have been in the fitness industry for 11 years. I can tell you that improving your vision requires a totally different mentality and approach.
— The 3 Tenets of Neuroplasticity that will help you improve your vision. Science is on your side.
— How to determine what initially caused your vision problem. With this knowledge you can escape the past and move forward with no mental blocks preventing your progress.
– What to ask yourself about your current state of mind while you practice. A mental or emotional state incongruent with your desire to see will prevent your progress.
– The 3 R’s of Vision Training. You can guess one: relaxation. The others are usually neglected when you’re learning the Bates method.
– The difference between centralization and staring. This is key! You will learn how to pay close attention to details without locking your eyes in place.
Also, you get a valuable 1-hour private session with him at the end of the course to fine-tune a program that’s just right for you, so you can keep progressing.
He has a lot of experience in helping people do this. You are not likely to succeed on your own without personal one-one-one help. The private session accomplishes this.
There’s a reason he does it this way. Getting a private session like that at the end, after the course material, is the best way to get the most out of the whole experience. You are able to ask him educated questions to fill in any gaps in your understanding. It’s maybe 5 times more productive than a single session by itself, where you would be totally unfamiliar with the coach and their teaching methods. Here, you would be already comfortable with the concepts and can fully understand what he’s talking about.
And lastly, for ongoing help, as his student you are entitled to participate indefinitely in his livestream, the Vision Halls (and the archives, if you miss them) even after the course completes. It’s free. It’s his way of providing real ongoing support to all of his students at once who are serious about it and are familiar with his approach.
Go to this page for complete info on the program, and then take the next step by enrolling!
get help on our Facebook Group!
I founded iblindness.org in 2002 as I began reading books on the Bates Method and became interested in vision improvement. I believe that everyone who is motivated can identify the roots of their vision problems and apply behavioral changes to solve them.
Related to this… Nathan just opened enrollment today for his 12-week comprehensive online vision course. See here for my notes on it:
https://www.iblindness.org/4805/nathan-oxenfelds-12-week-course-to-see-clearly-without-glasses-signup-deadline-july-14th-2018/
Hello 8888, no my mum always told me what a good birth I had. But I have always been very sensitive and from a young age I always found it difficult to deal with aggressive behaviour. My right eye is the weaker one and my left one wanders up. The exercises at the orthoptist were especially to bring back convergence.
Daniele, it just occured to me. when you were born… did you have an easy birth?
Thank you so much Christopher for telling us your story. Very very interesting and uplifting. When I lived in Italy I had a wonderful orthoptist who always brought “clarity” back into my vision (I was wearing glasses back then but always for work – used to drive without them, etc. etc.). After I got married and moved to the UK (near London!) my exercises stopped of course and my eyesight got progressively worse! I can’t believe that back in 1972 you found such help and I always knocked on the wrong doors! C’est la vie, I suppose!
I then started attending Bates group classes in London but I never felt like they helped me much… and here I am now.
What I like about your story is the awareness that you have about your eyes/eyesight and the knowledge that you have accrued and gained throughout the years. The fact that you recognize what is going on with your eyes and your immediate/automatic almost innate response to bring them back to their natural state.
Thanks again Christopher for sharing this :0)
Regarding exercises stopped of course! The outcome of Vision fitness routines is that the practices become 2nd nature”? Don’t have to be done deliberately – can become automatic, each activity in your lifestyle requires detail sight seeing tactics. There is a world of difference between driving working behind a computer screen and threading a needle… Central fixing zooming in to detail; Our eyes are designed to see moving objects with a foreground and background blurred. Don’t focus on the problem see beyond [Patch Adams film do you see or focus on 4 or 8 fingers!] connect… see what nobody else sees – memories are combined with emotional content. They are recall able. There is so much to integrate with thumb work and perspective stereoscopic vision which is constantly changing within the rhythm of walking which comes naturally with wide peripheral vision perception. Or we see a series of photographic stills. which are two dimensional usually unconnected with circular thinking processes.
the profession of orthoptics is closest to understanding the Bates method.
This black hole thing! perhaps some of these questions may help you review accurately your weak vision perception / condition! There is a world of difference between minus 2, minus 7, and minus 15 conditions of myopia. Equally tunnel vision may describe clarity of vision in only a small section of the full field of vision. Bottle thick glasses whats wrong with me… mindset – people staring – self image. and utter dependency for a working life style on optical correction. Equally the speed of progress getting there, very disconcerting fear of loss of wide angle vision… memory of how it was, my family don’t understand my grandmother had the same condition etc. I have had several workshops at the Helen Keller institute and always have had blind people in my circle of friends. the use of a kindle with ability to shift font sizes can be a very useful to practice reading without glasses. equally one eye may be considerably weaker than the other – chartwork for high numbers of myopia require reading from a chart with white letters on a black background. Get creative in a word document get anything you like on a flash drive off your computer and get the photocopy shop pay for the black ink!!! chart work needs to be done at different distances I use a Roman font K and Arial K to fit on to an A3 size sheet size of letter on a free way for work at 3 to 6 meters . Small case letters are also useful not the optometrist crazy font style. You do the monitoring. Best wishes.
Great input – thanks everyone. Just what I needed. At times I feel stuck in a black tunnel and the posts and comments help me on this path. Thanks again.
It seems to be a recurring thing to be in a black hole for myopic people.
Daniele, it just occured to me. when you were born… did you have an easy birth?
Christopher Lane, what have you achieved yourself?
Daniela, I wore glasses very reluctantly for 9 years – 13 to 22. i was myopic with strong astigmatism. My vision educator Michael Ronan in London 1972, directed my vision restoration in 5 sessions in 5 weeks i can remember the final weeks exercise program vividly and i haven’t worn glasses since. What worked for me was chart work and blinking. Back in 1990 i was introduced to AutoCAD computer Aided design packages and within weeks needed to wear glasses, again. I dug out my old chart and within a week had better than 20/20 vision again. by 1993 most of my colleagues were wearing glasses. I started reading up about the Bates Method realized i had only been introduced to the tip of the iceberg. Then started a part time Better – Vision practice a year later. I again needed to apply vision fitness principles about 2002. Now I am working on old age sight again noting my vision improves dramatically after a good night sleep and i still design furniture and residential upgrades on AutoCAD – palming is wonderful its like a shower and a change of clothes in 3 minutes. The best thing is being energized daily by sunlight… walking the dogs at sunrise and sunset. Clear stereoscopic vision can be activated during that walk to counteract the 2 dimensional computer activity.
So my achievements include working with several thousand individuals. In small groups, adult evening classes Families and weekend workshops. Inspiring listeners in radio interviews. Its possible, U Can do this. Its simple but challenging – requiring a different belief system.
Finally – yes there was a likely cause of my astigmatism – I was dyslexic; that was another journey i had to conquer.
I hope that gives a little insight and spurs you on to put more of the vision habits in place daily and understand the principles of staying focused. Fully appreciating the capacity of eyesight.
8888 – I mistakenly replied to Daniela which has been posted. With a coach / Vision educator 46 years ago empowered me to clear a severe astigmatism and myopia in 5 sessions over 5 weeks. I was recommended to do a lot of chart work . which became fun when i could control blurred vision and double vision. At the time i was being challenged in my architect course work finals doing drafting for 16+ hours a day in 2 x10 hour shifts! Was i stressed – no as i already had meditation on my to do list?
The cause possibly dyslexia. palming and sunning well in London a 200 watt bulb.
Now Daily doses of day light / sunlight where the colour intensity at sunrise and sunset energize me… while walking my dogs. I palm when i have done too much computer work . and if that isn’t enough splashing the eyes with warm and cold water works wonders. As a vision educator i have worked with several thousand individuals.
I do not exclude the possibility that your eyesight would change much faster if you find a good teacher.
I would only say from experience that timing is of the essence. For individuals the time has to be right. Good intentions before a blitz on a relaxing holiday is not necessarily a remedy for success. Practice must be done in stressful times during the day. After a podcast or You tube *** again you may feel this is for me. However action is required sometimes out of your comfort Zone, [taking off your glasses – or leaving them off over a weekend.] Action taken immediately [just] START! often works well. Also when practices are in a flow – and routines in place [without glasses] Stop… for a while – rest ponder what to do next while palming between activities.
*** After a 1 on 1 session with a Vision educator {You Tube etc}- journalise [write down] your emotional memory of the event note expectations ALL within 24 hours. You will be surprised how much can be recalled after 72 hours barely 15% is recall-able. A coach needs feed back – questions arise and easily forgotten. all the practices can be developed according to personal needs. Enjoy your achievements embrace the Method. A good teacher unravels your sense of inquiry and empowers you to experience vision moments. Lets you discover your why – [NOT] start now!
True but at present I cannot afford it… sadly….
Thanks to everyone for all the feedback and encouragement. The reason people give up quickly is not the current technology. It’s the way we have been brainwashed since birth to expect any change within hours!! This comes with allopathic medicine. We feel unwell, we go to the doctor. The doctor gives us the magic pill and we feel better. The same can be applied to vision. We cannot see too well, we go to the optician. He gives us lenses and it’s all sorted until we realise that it only leads to making things worse!! And when we finally find a solution we want it to work as fast as the lenses did! The issue here is it took our eyes years to learn to adjust to the vast array of lenses we put them through so we cannot possibly expect them to CHANGE back overnight!!! Bates does mention cases in which people regained their vision incredibly quickly, so anything is possible but since we are all different we have to expect different times to recover our eyesight. Sadly, once we open our eyes to new approaches we are still stuck in the I WANT IT TO HAPPEN NOW frame of mind, like when we take a pill and the headache goes. Yet, it doesn’t work like that!
I am still miles away from achieving much. I had stumbled across the above video months ago and I have to admit I didn’t try it out….but I will surely watch it again now and put it into practice. I am not giving up. I know I could see when I was younger and I will see clearly again one day whether it’s tomorrow or in a year’s time or whenever. That I know for sure but at times I get down and wonder if I am missing something! Or if am not getting it at all. Not because I don’t see many results but because I have a feeling that there’s more to it than just doing the exercises. Am I wrong?
Just knowing you have been programmed to want things to happen NOW. Is an excellent starting point, leading your self daily requires daily reviews and a pre-commitment strategy. Journal-ling is an excellent process to reflect on the days achievements. How you rest your head on the pillow before sleep takes over is important for those precious waking moments – being still lets you edit every thought… skip most but all are there to be assessed in due course. Self discovery comes before mastering anything… when did you last do something for the first time? Important things require scheduling – urgent things field fears and sense of being overwhelmed often set up guilt if not done. Life is ever forgiving, on return to balance. Its about the daily journey not the results. We need to become human beings not human doers. Connect and respond to the amazing opportunities presented daily.
Along with expecting instant results, we have learned to expect everything else around us to change without changing ourselves. It’s expecting our vision to change without practicing changes in our daily habits in the way we work, the way we handle stress, the way we hold our body, and the way we look at things. Exercises are necessary to practice, but they are meant to teach you about the small adjustments you can make for the rest of the day. Sometimes a subtle change can have a big effect on your vision in a matter of a minute or an hour.
LIke what subtle change?
Many people are now stumbling across [can Google] Natural Vision Improvement processes. Rationalizing there must be an alternative. Nathans approach is excellent for many and there is something for everyone, Unwrap his You-tube . However individuals vary so [by nature] and have different starting points – for the skeptical or plain curious need to know How? DOES IT WORK!!! For those with hectic lifestyles need to just start! The restorative aspects Palming sunning and [splashing the eyes with water not mentioned] Vision educators remove the emphasis from BAD eyesight to WEAK focusing muscle power and NVI principles and habits guide you back in “easy to do” steps. Some people do want to jump in at the deep end and get started without understanding the relaxing principles underlying the process. Coaches do have a challenge with those who want to do the ‘advanced stuff’ correctly with a TO DO checklist. When you have been introduced to the basics you can do all the necessary things while driving – walking in nature – even up and down the shopping aisles with your specs on! Routines need to be done without glasses. Bates also says see the blur.
Nathan’s introduction get into a position to see [without specs] the horizon is perfect and works so well. Add blinking to the contrasting shapes and colours within the full field of view and watch-witness what happens.
Best wishes to all starting the journey to improving your vision skills – towards a goal of integrated stereoscopic vision. Regain perspective in your life.
Thanks for your comments, Christopher!
I’m curious what you mean about the advanced stuff and the to-do checklist? Do you mean that new people want to do lots of exercises without understanding what they’re doing?
I find that many people give up too quickly, within a couple weeks, instead of asking, “What could I be doing wrong? How can I adjust this?”. I feel like part of it is we have taught people to have short attention spans, with this amount of technology and so many distractions with it, and they aren’t inclined to focus on something for long enough to get results. But of course part of it I’m sure is I’m not always giving them good enough help to see results right away and be encouraged to continue with it.
The best high blood pressure treatment is going vegetarian for at least a month. a drop of 20 points is guaranteed, I even began having low blood pressure since I stayed way way too long on it. If you can’t resist meat, then you’re doomed! your health is in your hands!
I am wearing contact lenses daily,can I do exercises with them during day or will it be just useless?
It’s best to do any of the exercises without your contacts on.
Does it work on Highblood pressure?
This is meant for vision problems.
Indirectly, it may… as eye exercises can reduce tension .. and high tension contributes to high blood pressure.
Does this work for diabetic neuropathy?
*retinopathy
I don’t think diabetic retinopathy is something he focuses on in his programs. Bates found that eye diseases were responsive to his methods.
As a naturopath & Yoga teacher I believe anything that can relax your system can help, even if indirecly. Diabetics is an extremely stress-related disease.