Pointing the Way to Better Eyesight
Can you improve your imagination?
The Bates Method recognizes that you can improve your imagination...
And you can use your imagination to improve eyesight.
I think anybody could contemplate that for a moment and say, “Well sure, I can have a better imagination. I can improve my mental faculty of imagination.”
I want to remind you that the act of seeing is largely a mental faculty. It draws upon your memories and your imagination.
So if you can improve your imagination... you can improve your eyesight!
You can harness your innocent... natural... playful and powerful imagination to improve eyesight.
Look up and away. Breathe. Blink. Then come back!
Imagination is most effective, most vivid, and most real when you are relaxed in your mind... and when it is effortless.
Imagine listening to a story that captivates your attention and the mental pictures you form in your mind as you hear the story.
Listening to engaging stories and ALLOWING your imagination to form mental pictures is a wonderful practice for improving your eyesight.
Another practical application of using your imagination to improve eyesight is to imagine the illusions of good eyesight.
The Bates Method places a lot of emphasis on recognizing certain visual illusions that happen when you have good eyesight. You can use your imagination to empower those illusions.
For example, Imagine white spaces whiter than they are in between the spaces of the black letters on the eye chart.
Or imagine objects moving contrary to the direction that your head and eyes are moving. So, imagine oppositional movement.
Simply imagine objects moving All Day Long!
You can imagine colors as bright and vivid and distinct.
Imagine one part of the picture that happens in your mind as being more clear and more distinct than the other parts of the picture.
Oftentimes it is easier to close one’s eyes and to imagine the things you see in the world, the things you see in our minds.
And with enough relaxation...
And with enough practice...
You can imagine things with your eyes opened.
Your eyes are seeing light rays bouncing off of objects.
Then... you form pictures in your mind.
You make sense of those light rays by forming mental pictures in your mind.
Imagination is not dependent upon the things that our physical senses are actually perceiving-- and the things that you physically perceive can be the raw materials from which your imagination builds a picture of the world.
So, allow your imagination to come to you.
Be like a child who unabashedly uses their imagination. Use the sensory perceptions that you gain from your eyes to inform your imagination.
It’s not as much as what is out there in the world... but what you form in your mind - what pictures you form in your mind's eye.
In that case, its not so much what you do with your eyes, but what you do with your mind that determines whether or not you are seeing clearly.
The Bates Method encourages you to forget about your eyes and use your mind to see clearly.
For example, you could look at the eye chart and see what you see.
Then, close your eyes and imagine the letters clearly and black and distinct. Imagine them moving and then open your eyes. If you are able to maintain your relaxation and imagination of the letters, then they will come in clearly.
Sometimes it's easier to approach improving your eyesight by beholding it as simply improving your imagination.
It adds a certain level of fun and engagement rather than creating a strain to try to change your eyesight.
When you succeed with improving your imagination, you can then become successful in improving what you actually see. Light rays from objects "out there" can then come in clear and distinct...
And create beautiful pictures for your mind’s eye!
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