| Visual Training Notes by Renae Cane |
| A great resource: Eyerobics by Marilyn Roy |
| The Art of Seeing by Aldus Huxley Attention is naturally mobile, taking in details rather than trying to take in all by staring. Staring is an effect of "ego" being involved in sensing, due to interference of fears, worries, cravings, griefs, etc. The eyes do not see well throughout the field of vision. They use Central Fixation to see detail and remain flexible. Children naturally use their eyes to see small things at one time, focusing primarily with the center of the eye, not trying to see everything at once. Their eyes move rapidly from one focus point to another. They are also better at using all their senses instead of being visually centered. In fact, they will be able to "see"; things that they are not directly looking at. |
| Basic Tools Palming - Sit comfortably at a desk or table with elbows supporting the weight of your arms. Close eyes and cover with palms for relaxation. Visualize moving objects while palming to prevent staring behind eyelids. See something pleasant, like falling snow, leaves gliding down to the ground, waves at a beach, or trees moving with the wind. Continue for at least 5 minutes. If possible, continue until your eyes are actually seeing only black. Blinking Drill - Begin by fatiguing the facial muscles to promote relaxation. Squeeze your eyes shut and augment by using all your facial muscles to squeeze your eyelids closed. When you open again, you will feel more relaxed and ready. Do 6 light butterfly blinks, then a few seconds of relaxed closure and repeat for about 30 seconds. Massage - Temples and upper nape of neck to relieve tired eyes, instead of rubbing eyes. Light therapy (To improve your eyes' use of natural light and reduce or eliminate use of sunglasses) - In summer, do sunning in early morning or 1 hour before sunset. Cover one eye and rotate head right and left, allowing your eye to travel back and forth across the sun about 6 times while blinking lightly and easily. If your eyes are not relaxed when you do this, try it at a level that is comfortable, then work your way up to the level of the sun slowly, over time. Switch to the other eye, then continue to switch for about a minute. Palm your eyes until the light traces disappear when your eyes are closed. Immediately afterward, if you are doing this with good comfort level, your eyesight will be noticeably improved for a short time. |
| Teaching the Eyes and Focus to Move (This promotes rapidly shifting central fixation) 1. Swinging: Short Swinging� - stand in front of a window or near the back of a room. Choose a near object like a standing lamp or the side of a window frame in your line of sight. Choose a far object such as a car or house or a picture on the far wall to be your far object. Begin swinging side to side, lifting your heel and keeping your body straight. Look straight ahead and notice how the near object seems to move left across the far object as you swing right, and moves right as you swing left. After doing this for a bit, close your eyes as you swing and visualize what you saw with your eyes open. Open your eyes again as you swing, then after a few moments, close them again and visualize. Do this for a total of about 5 minutes. Long Swing - stand where you have room to swing your arms. Swing to your right, turning your head to lead your movement, with knees bent and swinging your arms freely. Your eyes are not focused, just allowing the images to move with your movement. This is a kind of relaxation exercise for the eyes. Pencil Swing - sitting down, hold a pencil comfortably in front of you. Make sure there is no tension in your shoulders or neck. Rotate your head and move your upper body right and left. Focus on the pencil, noticing the distant objects moving behind it. Then focus a distant object and the way the pencil moves in front of it. Close your eyes and visualize what you saw as you continue to swing. Open after about 20 seconds and then close/visualize for about 20 seconds. 2. Solo Catch - Toss a ball up with one hand and catch it with the other, following the ball all the way with your eyes. After you're comfortable with one, add another ball for simple juggling, taking turns on watching one and the other. Then practice outside to increase sunlight tolerance. 3. Dice - use 3 or 4 dice, leave them for about 1 or 2 seconds. You are not checking to make sure you're accurate, you're only practicing to focus quickly and move on. 4. Dominoes: Flashing (quick focus) - Start by palming. Pick up a domino, holding at arm's length. Pass your eyes across and immediately close them. Visualize the top and then the bottom. In a Row - set up 12 dominoes along the edge of a table that is a comfortable height to look at. Running quickly left to right, count them and go back to the first one and close your eyes. Name the number in the upper portion, then the lower. Verify your memory. Count all 12 from the left again, then look at #2 and quickly close your eyes. Repeat until you've done all 12. 5. Calendar Drills: Look in The Art of Seeing |
| Improve your Vision Without Glasses or Contact Lenses By Dr. Steven M. Beresford, et al |
| 7 New Habits 1. Near/far - Look at an object 6 inches away for 2 seconds, then look at an object over 15' away. Repeat, making sure you are breathing and blinking. You are trying to focus on detail in each object. Shift your focus to a different far object each time, using at least 4 or 5 different ones. 2. Tromboning - Hold an object at arm's length. On the inhale, bring the object toward you until it touches the tip of your nose. As it starts to double or move out of focus, slow it down and relax/blink to keep it in focus. On the exhale, move it away from you until your arm is extended. 3. Clock rotations - Looking at a far object directly in front of you, imagine a giant clock. Keeping head and shoulders still, move your eyes to the 9:00 position, at the edge of your field of vision as if you're trying to see your left ear. Hold there for 2 or 3 seconds, then return to the center. Try to move your eyes smoothly and carefully, instead of jumping over to the edge. Remember your breathing and blinking and relaxed seeing! Next move your eyes to 10:00 and so on all the way around. 4. Eye Rolls - Roll in a complete circle, first one way then another. Feel the stretch. Smooth, controlled movement is vital. 5.� Relax - On the inhale, blink slowly and easily with soft eyes. On the exhale, gently close your eyes and relax the eyes and all the muscles around your eyes. Concentrate on one area at a time, noting whether you carry tension there and deliberately breathe into it. 6. Squeeze blink - Close your eyes and squeeze only the muscles of the eyelids, not the muscles surrounding the eyes. 7. Blur Zone - Determine where your clear vision is and where objects begin to blur. If you are farsighted and nearsighted, you may not be able to determine a specific distance at which things blur, so pick the clearest zone and start there. Follow the edge of an object and relax, blink, breathe, and allow the clarity to improve without squinting or moving your head or any other "tricks". Look away, then each time you look back, allow greater detail to come to you. |
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