17. Main Points Related To Eye Health Care

In concluding this book, I would like to sum up the main points related to eye health care for your ready reference.

1. The Bates Method.

Visual re-education is based on the Bates method of correcting vision. Orthodox ophthalmologists declare that, while lenses will correct refractive errors, the eye, unlike every other part of the body, cannot be cured nor can its malfunctioning be prevented.

It is the purpose of this manual to show that it is possible to correct eye defects to recover eye health care, discard glasses, relieve nerve tensions, eyestrain, sick headaches, fatigue and insomnia—above all, to prevent eye troubles, by edu­cating people in the correct use of their eyes and by substituting good habits for bad.

2. The Basic Principle.

Strain is not the result of eye trouble. It is the cause. When the strain is relieved, the eye sees normally. Refractive errors are brought about by strain or tension in the involuntary muscles of the eyeballs. Now these muscles cannot act by themselves. They act only in response to nerve impulses, which are controlled by the visual centers of the mind. Nine-tenths of vision is mental, only one-tenth physical.

When the mind is at rest there is no nerve tension; when there is no nerve tension there is no muscular tension and the eye is at rest; when the eye is at rest it has normal vision.

3. Tension and Relaxation.

Every eye defect has its own particular kind of ten­sion, but for all tensions there is only one treatment with regard to eye health care— physical and mental relaxation that begins in the visual centers of the mind.

Tension is an indication that a human being is out of harmony with himself. The release of tension is a release of power. The body—and all the organs of the body—are efficient only when relaxed.

Frequently the tension that causes the eye trouble is merely a symbol for a psychic difficulty, the key to a frustration, or a subconscious expression of our char­acteristics.

You are not a victim of your eye condition; the eye condition is a victim of your own mind.

Relaxation is the fundamental without which every­thing else is useless. And relaxation itself is a release of pain and tension, a release of energy, and an unfolding of personality. It should, therefore, be approached not in a grim do-or-die manner but with joy.

4. Age Does not Count.

Age is not a factor in this method. You can begin it at any time, from earliest childhood to old age.

5. What about Your Glasses?

Take off your glasses and leave them off as much as possible. You may be able to discard them permanently at the start. If you can do so, you will improve more rapidly than if you must revert to them from time to time, because whenever you put them on you restore the original refractive error which the lenses are de­signed to correct.

If, however, you have long been accustomed to glasses and find that you cannot work comfortably without them until you have practiced the relaxing drills for a few days, arrange to leave them off for as long periods as you can without discomfort. Increase these periods daily. You will be able to discard the glasses entirely much sooner than you expect.

6. How Long Will It Take?

Vision has been corrected in the space of a few minutes and it sometimes requires many weeks. The length of time will depend on the seriousness of your eye condition, on your powers of visualization, and on the manner in which you perform your drills and exercises.

7. What Causes Insomnia?

You do. Insomnia is deliberate wakefulness and the real villain of the piece is within your own mind. Be­hind insomnia there is generally a fear, conscious or unconscious. One is actually struggling to keep awake when he believes most sincerely that he longs for sleep.

Often people are kept awake by the fear that they will not go to sleep! If you are able to prevent your­self from tossing around and getting excited about the fact that you are lying awake, you will actually get almost as much rest as though you were sleeping. It is essential to remind yourself that it does not matter a great deal whether you sleep or not. That realization, once firmly imbedded, is enough to put almost anyone to sleep.

If you suffer from insomnia:

1. Don't talk about it.
   
   
2. Don't worry about it.
   
   
3. Lie quietly without tossing around.
   
   
4. Don't read in bed.
   
   
5. Relax before going to bed. Relaxation precedes sleep. Sleep does not relax tired eyes.
   
6. Do the Long Swing for five minutes before turning out your light.

8. You Have Migraine.

The Long and Short Swings have many merits, one of which is their beneficial effect not only on ordinary headaches but on that plague of mankind, migraine or sick headache. Migraine is a circulatory disturbance but its basis is emotional. It is difficult to deal with the pain until we have first dealt with the emotion.

A sufferer from migraine came to me and poured out her troubles. She had endured terrible attacks of mi­graine for many years. When she felt them coming on she would go to bed for several days while pain and nausea racked her. She had tried medicine without relief and had worn glasses for years in the hope that they would have some effect on the condition.

After a few sessions, in which she learned the relax­ing drills, the nerve centers relaxed, the migraine dis­appeared, and it has never returned.

9. Routine for Relaxation.

1. Sunning.
   
   
2. Palming, ten minutes.
   
   
3. Long Swing, five minutes.
   
   
4. Short Swing, and mental drills, five minutes.
   
   
5. Lexicon Card Drill—as long as you can give to it.
   
   
6. Test Chart Drill—a few minutes.

10. If You Are Near-sighted.

You must devote more attention than others to pos­ture which tends to be poor in myopes. Constantly bear in mind that your posture affects not only your general health but that it has a direct and important bearing on your vision.

11. If You Have Hypermetropia or Astigmatism.

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