Enhanced Ability

During a course of many years a teacher observed that quite a few of her students became short sighted (myopic) towards the end of term, so much that they could hardly see the blackboard. She implemented the bates method of eye exercise using a standard eye exam chart on the wall. By the end of the term, all the children had maintained their vision.

After eight years of implementing these eye exercises for just a few minutes each day with her students, none of them became short sighted. The school board and local opticians however objected and claimed the eye exercises interfered with the teaching, and so it was discontinued.

The bates method of eye treatment was discovered by ophthalmologist William H Bates, M.D. Dr Bates taught in several universities during his career and worked in many hospitals, where he created and refined his techniques. The entire bates method is a series of exercises that relax the eye muscles first, and then works on this to retrain your eyes to focus without strain and efficiently.

Dr Bates discovered that most people get visual defects during school. The education system is one where children are forced to sit for hours each day, memorizing material that they are not interested in. This type of education does not use a lot of the minds faculties or senses, so therefore a “dulling” happens.

Once eyes have become “lazy” the treatments used are glasses or contact lenses. Bates described glasses as “crutches” for the eye. A bad habit of tension and straining is cultivated which persists unnoticed.

You can start to exercising your eyes right now. You do not need expensive equipment – you don’t even need an eye exam chart. For example, try sitting in a chair, nice and relaxed while maintaining good posture. Cover one eye with your palm. Find some reading material such as a book or a magazine and hold it about 6-8 inches away from the eye. Make sure there is something to focus on about 7 feet or so in front of you. Now, focus on the close up material. Once you can see this, look at the object 7 feet in front of you until it becomes as clear, only spending a couple of seconds on this. Now alternate the two for about a minute or two. Then change eyes. Try this each day for a month and notice the difference.