Fixing eyesight naturally

[vMike]

I've been reading lately about various ways to improve eyesight and get rid of glasses naturally. Through various exercises.

Anyone has any experience with it, do you think it's possible?

[Daffy Duck]

My eyesight is good so I haven't needed to try any techniques, but fellow forum member Rebecca has a great site here: Improve Vision Naturally: Improve Your Vision with Daily Eye Exercises

She says it's possible. I believe her.

[vMike]

thanks Ducky! I see she recommends the rebuildyourvision.com program on her site.

This seems to be a rather controversal topic: most specialists, optometrists say this stuff is useless and bogus, while those who tried mostly praise the system. So hope I can see some more first hand experiences here

[Aleksander Krstic]

Definitely think it's possible, my brother has done it.

[vMike]

Originally Posted by Aleksander Krstic

Definitely think it's possible, my brother has done it.

Do you know how long he did this for, what system he used and how exactly his vision changed? thanks Alex

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by vMike

I've been reading lately about various ways to improve eyesight and get rid of glasses naturally. Through various exercises.

Anyone has any experience with it, do you think it's possible?

I don't have any first hand experience in this area, but I can point you in the direction of some.

Here are some videos of popular raw foodist Angela Stokes talking about the strategy she's using to improve her eyesight:

YouTube - Will enzymes help me lose weight?, Episode #262 (don't worry, I linked to the relevant section of the video)

YouTube - How to improve your vision, Episode #264 (this video has more info, but you'll get more background info if you watch the first one as well)

I also recall a story [that probably won't mean much to you, or make much sense, unless you know who Abraham-Hicks is and are familiar with their teachings; if you don't, feel free to skip this paragraph] I heard from an Abraham-Hicks video, where Abraham mentioned that when Esther was getting her eyes tested (I think) to renew her drivers license, she couldn't see the chart all that well (while, I assume, she usually could) but Abraham could see the chart just fine. Abraham later said that Esther was "blind with rage" (Abe said that, jokingly, but was making a point) because before getting the test, she had to line up in one line and wait for a long time, only to get told that she had to line up in another line. Abraham was making the point that our bodily functioning largely in response to vibration (i.e. our dominant thoughts). In other words, the fact that Esther was "blind with rage" was somehow affecting the functioning of her body. (Abraham tells this story better than I do.) This makes sense to me, and I've also heard some reports about people having better eyesight after releasing emotional "blocks" (perhaps the most memorable mention of this was from an EFT—i.e. Emotional Freedom Technique—practitioner. EFT is all about releasing emotional "blocks").

This is an interesting subject, because, like any sort of healing that is considered to be "impossible" by most people, it shows us a lot about the nature of reality (I've always made interesting discoveries by looking into why some people can do or experience some things, but other people apparently "can't"). I don't think it's important how "miraculous healings" take place in that I feel there might be many ways to "reach the goal" (I feel that exploring how they're possible is definitely important); I think what's important is embracing that they're possible (That's practically what I do with most of my time--explore things that are are sort of "hidden from plain sight"... it's great fun. )

[Brutha]

A fellow toastmaster improved his vision via the Bates method and gave afterwards a speech about it.

[modernthing]

mmm, thank you guys, very interesting topic ! Going to dig into it, because the more I wear my glasses, the poorer my sight is getting

Something funny you can try for yourself is you get two-3 fingers together real close, and leave a tiny space of 2-3 mm between your fingers, then you get one of your eyes close to it (the "hole" made by your fingers, in the middle) and look through it. I am short-sighted but when I do this, my eye sees correctly every tiny detail, that's a quick one of how to "wear glasses" without physically having them closeby

[Aleksander Krstic]

Originally Posted by vMike

Do you know how long he did this for, what system he used and how exactly his vision changed? thanks Alex

He's read about free exercises on the net, like look into the light, don't wear glasses unless you need them(only for those with small dioptre), cover your eyes and imagine a black image until all you can see is a black image when you close your eyes... Just use the net.

I don't know for sure if his eyesight has really improved because of that, but he plays the computer more than me, while I have two times bigger dioptre than him.

Hope this helps.

[Freedom Lies Within]

Haven't really had experience with this but I've heard a lot of people suggest Goji Berries to be the best thing for eyesight. David Wolfe has gone into detail about one of the components of it being incredible for improving vision.

[gord]

I do have a datapoint to add...

When I was around 26 and busy reading all the time for a difficult math paper.. I had a quite worrying onset of double vision. At first it was just in the morning, and corrected after some time. But then progressed until was quite debilitating.

I went to the doc, got a brainscan which was fine, as they were worried too, but they couldnt really diagnose it.

After 5 weeks I decided, ♥♥♥♥♥ this, Ill fix the damn thing myself, so every 15 minutes Id do this barrage of exercises. I figured from comments the doc said it was some muscles working weakly.. hence exercise might have an impact.

I think the combination of absolute determination to fix it, and the exercises to strengthen the eye muscles [up down, X and O patterns, rapid slow, extremities..etc etc] over time did the trick.

I think I had a kind of birth defect [I certainly had quite strong and unsymmetric glasses] plus eye laziness brought the issue about. So once I got eye strength / flexibility back, I was able to compensate again and not notice the imperfection.

It felt incredible to actually have solved this. It was quite empowering.

It may or may not work in your specific case.. but don't underestimate how lazy your eyes can get if your in a routine of just reading - so it could well help.

One other thing I noticed in general, is going for a run really helps the perception of improved vision..maybe its just bloodflow plus having to look further ahead and around as your running?

Anyway, YMMV [your mileage may vary] but its worth a crack, and cheaper than an MRI/CAT scan!!

peace and kickaaasss,

gord.

[vMike]

thanks gord, Aleksandr and others, that's quite helpful. I've read about similar excersises and tried some.
I'm nearsighted, I wear glasses with -2.5, but what worries me most is that my vision is slowly deteriorating..

It looks that most of these exercise systems are quite similar, however I heard various claims at how effective it can be, some say they managed to restore the vision and get rid of glasses in just a week, other boast more reasonable achievements, like being able to use weaker glasses after a couple weeks. Either way I guess it's worth a try

[Karanime]

I'm curious about contacts and astigmatism and such. Since I wear contacts instead of glasses, is that any different? Like, is it screwing with my eye moreso than glasses or what?

And my eyes apparently aren't round, so eye exercises don't seem as practical as in, say, gord's case.

I was going to go searching, but I thought it'd probably be better to ask directly first.

/<3

[modernthing]

I googled the upper link and some other people on Yahoo answers talk about natural perfect eyesight books... Apparently they can be found on Amazon, will take a look and give feedback on what I find...

Which program is better: the Rebuild Your Vision Program or The Program for Better Vision? - Yahoo! Answers

I've found this which seems to have very good ratings, best ones I've seen so far. I'll guess I'll look at the book first and if no improvement then I'll look at the above method. (I've seen controversed feedback on that one so I'd like to find something worth looking at first, before making a bigger investment)

[vMike]

Originally Posted by modernthing

[color=teal]I googled the upper link and some other people on Yahoo answers talk about natural perfect eyesight books... Apparently they can be found on Amazon, will take a look and give feedback on what I find...

yeah, I did the googling too and read through a bunch of material, problem is it's hard to actually find any real first hand evidence - which is not used specifically to promote the products. Somehow it's rather to find people writing about how they did the exercises and their eyesight improved without them wanting to sell you some ebook

[Aleksander Krstic]

Originally Posted by vMike

thanks gord, Aleksandr and others, that's quite helpful. I've read about similar excersises and tried some.
I'm nearsighted, I wear glasses with -2.5, but what worries me most is that my vision is slowly deteriorating..

It looks that most of these exercise systems are quite similar, however I heard various claims at how effective it can be, some say they managed to restore the vision and get rid of glasses in just a week, other boast more reasonable achievements, like being able to use weaker glasses after a couple weeks. Either way I guess it's worth a try

Don't worry, son, in most cases deterioration stops at ages 30.

[Bing Wu]

I became myopic at age 14, but I've managed to "arrest" progression to about -0.75 by using reading glasses (+1 strength) at the computer, reading books or other sorts of concentrated near work.

From my understanding, it is the stress of your eyes accommodating (that is, making the lens in your eye more convex), that causes nearsightedness to progress. Reading glasses take some/most/all (depending on the strength) of the load off your ciliary (accommodating) muscles.

Going outside for long periods of time for walks/outdoor activities is also good because your eyes are focused for distance vision, and therefore your ciliary muscles are relaxed. It's always a good idea to take breaks from near work and to get outside regularly.

[modernthing]

The book finally arrived ("relearning to see naturally") and reading the intro, it looks quite good, it follows Bate's teachings : not following eye exercises but rather learning to relax and fix your eyesight by looking properly at things, can't wait to give you feedback about the book will keep you updated !

[vMike]

Originally Posted by modernthing

The book finally arrived ("relearning to see naturally") and reading the intro, it looks quite good, it follows Bate's teachings : not following eye exercises but rather learning to relax and fix your eyesight by looking properly at things, can't wait to give you feedback about the book will keep you updated !

sounds good, looking forward to your feedback

[billionairekid]

Originally Posted by Aleksander Krstic

He's read about free exercises on the net, like look into the light, don't wear glasses unless you need them(only for those with small dioptre), cover your eyes and imagine a black image until all you can see is a black image when you close your eyes... Just use the net.

I don't know for sure if his eyesight has really improved because of that, but he plays the computer more than me, while I have two times bigger dioptre than him.

Hope this helps.

Covering your eyes and seeing black is a very good exercise because it relaxes the eye muscles. Any time you relax your eye muscles you will receive a temporary boost in your ability to see. This is caused because most vision problems are stress related. When you look at something up close for a long period of time, you strain your eyes. Your eye has to strain to see up close but when held for a long period of time with no relaxation (i.e. looking at a distant object or a relaxation technique) it causes damage. The muscles in the eye will stay strained even when trying to see far away. And to see far distances, your eye muscles have to relax and flatten out.

Basically by relaxing muscles in your eyes you begin to restore some vision. And then by doing exercises with your eyes (if they are good exercises) you will begin to strengthen the eye muscles and they will work better and better until you've restored your vision. The problem becomes when you strain your eye muscles doing the exercises. That is when the exercises will have no effect and can actually become dangerous to your eye health. It's very important for your eyes to rest between exercises and to be relaxed during the exercises. If you follow those rules, you'll be in great shape to heal your eyes.

I’ve been studying how to heal my vision naturally for the last few weeks and am beginning a program I researched, in depth, today after work. I work with a computer so I periodically use a relaxation technique and that alone seems to have positively affected my vision over the course of today. Your "map of the world" will determine how affective any program is for you. Also your comprehension of what you're doing will affect your results. The information is out there if you know where to look.

[coolbgdog]

I actually improved my eyesight about a year ago. I used to wear glasses back in HS in 2006 and during college in 2008 I was going towards a more healthy lifestyle. The main thing that improved my vision were: Nutrition, eye exercises and pinhole readers. I read about bilberry, eyebright and calendula being great for ocular health and that along with my determination to stop wearing glasses I succeeded.

I haven't been taking much stuff for a while now due to my financial situation but my vision is mostly better when I'm outside because of the natural sunlight which also brings to mind full spectrum lightbulbs, they are good to use indoors.

[JamesKnochel]

Originally Posted by coolbgdog

...

... but my vision is mostly better when I'm outside because of the natural sunlight which also brings to mind full spectrum lightbulbs, they are good to use indoors.

Seeing better during daylight has to do with the amount of light that enters the eye... When it's bright out, the pupil shrinks down. This focuses the incoming light better, allowing you to see more clearly. I don't understand optics well enough to explain it...

I can drive without glasses during the day, but I'm dangerous at night (all the red lights merge together).

Anyone who has significant visual disturbances probably needs to work with a doctor of some sort - developmental optometry is a good field to start with. At least this type of O.D. believes that eyes can change. There are other (better) options, but this is a good place to start.

You're more likely to improve your vision a little at a time than all at once.

-James Knochel

[HealingMaven]

I have a book of eye exercises... someplace. Ah, here it is - "Improve your vision without glasses or contact lenses." It was very clear and straight forward and suggests a program of exercises or about 30 minutes a day (and changing a few visual habits, such as how you read & use the computer) that's supposed to drastically improve your vision over time. I never got around to doing the full thing, but every so often, 'll spend a few minutes doing a few of the exercises, and will generally notice some sharpening pretty quickly. (the theory being a) increased circulation brings more blood/oxygen to your eyes, and b) stretching out cramped ocular muscles.)

I suspect if I actually did it correctly & consistantly, it'd have more dramatic & lasting effects. It's not an expensive book, mine says $11. It's not particularly long either, not full of fluff. (Not much over 100 pages.) Based on experience playing with the exercises, I'd say it's worth a 30 day trial. (Which I may do someday, right now I'm working on other 30-day trials involving forming daily qi gong habits.)

Good luck.