Strained eyes sap the body of 90% of its nerve force. When, by means of
relaxation, this nerve force is restored for normal usage, calm returns with
power long forgotten or perhaps never experienced.

        This fact was vividly demonstrated when my husband experienced
devastating eyestrain. We searched the United States over for some
specialist who could help his failing vision and alleviate the continuous
pain. Glassses were strengthened, prisms increased in power as the vision
went down and the constant headaches became more violent. No diagnosis was
made but all agreed on one thing: that he would be blind, and he was told
so, frankly, firmly, authoritatively. Nothing depresses the soul and taxes
the vitality like failing vision. This went on for fifteen years. As his
pain increased and his wisdom decreased, both at the near and far
points,cwith blindness staring us in the face, we moved to Los Angeles,
thinking it would be the most pleasant place in which to face the catastrophe.

        Quite by accident, we secured Dr. Bates' book from the library,
"Perfect Sight without Glasses". I read it aloud to him. "That makes sense,"
he declared, "I shall try it.

        Being thoroughly orthodox in thought and training, I was terrified.
"Suppose you do some of these things and upset your present glasses that we
travelled so far to get. We were told  that they would hold off blindness
for a little while."

        My husband had listened well to the book, had tried some of the
simpler things: sunning, palming and swinging which the book described. "Dr.
Bates speaks the truth," he said. "This is right. Relaxation can't injure.
I'm going to do it!"

        "Then I will help you," I promised.

        Together we worked, using every suggestion given and wishing for
more. In two weeks' time the pain and headaches ceased.  As his nerves
eased, his digestion and intestinal troubles improved. He began to sleep
nights. Each month the vision grew better and he felt the need of his
glasses less and less. As his sight improved, he passed his driver's test,
then never again put on his glasses. In one year's time, he developed normal
vision, both for reading and for distance.

        We owed worshipful gratitude to Dr. Bates and his book, Perfect
Sight without Glases, not only for freedom from pain and despondency but for
the years of joyous normal vision and normal health that my husband was granted.

        After my husband's death, there was left to me but one interest in
life, to pass on the wonderful work that had done so much for us. I went at
once to Dr. Bates in New York to study his method; then returning to Los
Angeles, I opened my School of Eye Education where countless persons with
eye problems: workers, students, men from our Armed Services during the wars
-- the great and the near-great -- have found help.
        . . .

        The purpose of this book is to give an understanding in a few brief
directions as first aid to anyone suffering from eyestrain. The book can be
slipped into the pocket  and glanced at in train, streetcar, subway or
during a free moment at the office. A few moments of relaxation so obtained
may hold over through  several busy hours and, if persistently practiced,
can become permanent. Those who would like more drills and a fuller
treatment of all the topics covered here will find them in my earlier book,
"Help Yourself to Better Sight."

        Most persons know how their eyes bother them but fail to realize
that the underlying causes of all malfunctionings, if the eyes are
organically healthy, are tensions. There  are physical tensions which
tighten the muscles, mental tensions which tighten the nerves and emotional
tensions which upset the bodily rhythms. All tensions react on the eyes
which are accurate barometers of all conditions, both good and bad. You can
learn how to relax and release these tensions.

        When the healthy eye is relaxed, it will function properly,
flattening to shorten the axis lik e the camera to get the distant view and
lenthening in axis to read as does the camera for the close-up. Only tension
prevents the eyeball from making this change in shape. Glasses do the work
for these eye muscles so that they cease to perform their duties and
steadily grow weaker.

        Spencer says, " Each faculty acquires fitness for its function by
performing its function. If its function is performed for it by a substitute
agency, none of the required adjustment of nature takes place but, instead,
nature becomes deformed to fit the artificail arrangements rather than the
natural arrangements." This indicates the great importance of relaxing the
yes and allowing them to do their own work.
        If you are in need of help for your eyes, try these simple drills in
relaxation. They cannot hurt, and they have been of great aid to many
persons. Get your own consent to do a few of these drills each day -- not
long at a time but frequntly. "A little, often,"  is the motto for forming
good habits. Once good vision habits are formed, they last, like any other
good habits well established, and you will always use your eyes correctly.
        Find the drills that help your particular problem most and do them
conscientiously, regularly, thoughtfully. You will be amazed at the change
that relaxation will bring you in vision, in thought, in body and in your
emotions. Relaxation is the secret of all normal functioning.

        Relaxation is a sensation. Experience it, and memorize it Make it a
permanent way of life, a habit, both in work and in play.
        Learn to use your eyes with relaxation and avoid future vision
troubles.
-------------
 
First Principles of Relaxation for Everyone:

Before attempting to build vision, it is necessary to become proficient in 4 relaxation drills: sunning, palmin, swinging and mental memory pictures. Do these conscientiously two or three times a day for one week before ateempting the seeing drills. For all drills, remove your glasses.

Sunning

Sun is food and drink to vision. The Bible says, "Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant  thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun."  (Ecc. 11:7)

Recently, at an international convention of ophthalmologists in New York, a German doctor, Dr. G. Meyer-Schwickerath of Bonn, related that his patients  with serious eye troubles were helped by the intense light of the sun to which they were exposed in watching an eclipse with the naked eye. From that time on, he tried to duplicate the power of the sunlight  for their eyes in his office.
For years, the Bates Method has advocated the use of bright sunlight for all eyes, normal or otherwise, and has achieved remarkable results. Eyes which are sensitive to light are like hot-house plants. They are not used to sun and air, especially if they had been reared behind dark glasses. Such eyes must be gently introduced to brightness. When eyes recoil from sudden unaccustomed sunshine, it is the shock of suddenness, nto the brightness, that brings pain. They must be eased into the light.

The right way: The first step is to remove your glasses. Stand at the edge of a heavy shadow--the corner of a house or building or in a sunny doorway. Have one foot in the shadow, the other in the bright sun. With closed eyes and taking a deep breath, swing your closed lids through the sun then back into the shade. lifting the face high enough so that the sun gets between the closed upper lids and brows. Think as you swing, "The sun comes, it goes." Continue this swing until the closed eyes cease to flinch in the sun.

Second step: Boldly facing the bright sunlight, eyes still closed, swing the head and body clear to the right, then to the left, lifting your heel to free your swing and thinking, "The sun passes, to the  left, to the right, back and forth in the opposite direction to the swing." What you think as you sun is very impoortant as it prevents the eye under the lids from fastening on the sun and clinging as you swing away. Let the sun pass.

Third step: When the closed lids are no longer cringing but are really comfortable in the sun swing, cover one eye with your palm so that noi light seeps in. Then adjust the hand so that the covered eye may open under the palm. Now swing and blink the uncovered eye across the ground at your feet. Then, elevating head and elbow, swing, blinking rapidly, right through the sun You will be amazed, no matter how tender the eys, that this does not hurt or seem too bright at all. Repaeat with the other eye. Then swing the two eyes, closed, through the sun again and your sun work is finished. You will notice that your eyes are full of sun spots, "dots and dashes", so go into the shade and palm twice as long as you sunned.

Ano folks, reunion tayo sa UP at gawin ito sa Administration Building?
Sa courtyard ng Quezon City Hall ko ito binabalak subukan. Dati na akong nagbabasa ng Sunday newspaper doon, in the bright sunlight, which I find delightful!

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Talagang guaranteed na relaxing ito, folks! Ang dali lang gawin! Potit, ikaw ang una kong 'convert', subukan mo agad ito.

PALMING

The position: open the fingers of one hand wide, palm towards your face. Lay the little finger of the other hand across the base of the four open fingers on the palm. This forms an inverted V where your palms meet. That V is the bridge of your glasses and all of you who wear glasses know where the bridge of the glasses belongs. Put it ther, on the bridge of your nose. Automatically, th ehollow of the palms will be correctly placed over the orbits of the eyes. Keep the eyes closed in rest, collapse the tension of the fingers, soften the palms, loosen the wrists and rest your elbows on your knees or on a table, desk or pillow on your lap so that the neck will be on a line with the spine. If you need to bend forward, bend from the waist in order to keep the neck and spine straight. Every person's own palms fit the orbits of his own eyes prefectly, so experiment until you find just the right position. The sun dots and dashes will disappear in palming.
        The reason for palming is that palming rests the eyes. Rest soothes the muscles but recharges the nerves so you loosening the tight muscles that pull your eyes off focus. At the same time you are building power in the optic nerve and the retinal nerves. If you palm after flooding the eyes with sunshine, you imprison the light until the retinal nerves absorb it. That builds their power and health and restores vision to many blind eyes.
        Do not be "eye conscious." In all these drills one should not give attention to the physical eyes, which are involuntary organs, any more than you would to the heart, also an involuntary organ. If you sit and look at the inside of your eyes, you defeat your purpose. Some declare that they see bright colors moving or shadow shapes and lights. Think, instead, of something you enjoy -- a lovely trip, a beautiful scene, a charming experience, a happy social gathering, a book or a movie that entertained you. When you take your  hands down, the world should be brighter.
        When and how long should one palm? Our answer is, "A little, often." Even covering your eyes with the palms for the count of ten will give them a relaxed feeling again during a busy day, the feeling you want them to memorize until it becomes a lifelong work habit.

Next, even more fun, is the drill called SWINGING. Have you ever tried looking at those
MAGIC EYE pictures? Ataboy, remember yung pinagka-dulingan natin when I just came from COMDEX?
------------------

Finally, nasubukan ko na kanina yung first step ng sunning. Hindi muna ako naka-proceed sa second step. (I can feel my retina getter healthier already!)

Here's SWINGING (Nasubukan ko na ito sa bahay, at kanina habang na-traffic ang FX na sinakyan ko.)

The first law of vision is motion: when the eye shifts, it sees. Eyes that stare grow dim. There are definite mental and physical techniques to break the stare habit, in the body and the mental swings.

The Long Swing

        Standing with your feet about one foot apart, face the windows of your room. Then, shifting the weight to the left foot, turn your head and shoulders to the left wall, then, shifting the weight to the right foot, turn the head and shoulders to the right wall. Keep this motion up rhythmically to slow waltz time, loosening the heel as you turn. If you hum a waltz you like, it will insure that you ll breathe deeply as you swing. Notice that when you face the right wall, the windows have passed to the left. When you face the left wall, the windows have passed to the right. You can notice the windows slipping by as you turn, taking your eyes with you. You are not trying to hypnotize yourself in feeling this motion. You are just demonstrating relativity -- you and the windows pass each other. Lett them go by. If you cling to them you will become dizzy or slightly nauseated so you will know you are not, as Dr. Bates said "letting the world go by." Be careful that you do not close your eyes as you pass the windows or you will fail to see them pass. Count each turn as you swing. You will have to count to 60 to to develop the amount of relaxation you need. From 60 to 100 you revel in the relaxation that is bound to aid in developing the vision you are seeking.
        This swing should be done 100 times each morning and again in the evening before retiring.It takes only two or three minutes but  works wonders for you. It loosens the vertebrae up and down the spine, starts the inner organs functioning more normally (digestive tract, heart, lungs, etc) and, best of all, it starts the eyes vibrating their seventy times per second tiny involuntary shifts. You will not feel them shifting. The apparent motion of the windows is your guarantee that they are.
        Remember, this is not a seeing drill and not an exercise. It is a loosener to get eyes and mind in motion and break the stare. Do it gently, rhythmically and do not make an exercise of it.This swing is a relaxation to loosen tensions. Make it that.

Next:  The Finger Swing (ito yung nasubukan ko sa jeepney kanina)

Note: Folks, I thought kanina while in traffic: Tama pala yung laro nating taguan nung bata pa. Di ba palming ang ginagawa nung taya? (Opps, naglaro ba kayo ng taguan noon?)

At saka tama din pala yung pina-a-arawan ang mga infants sa umaga. Sunning iyon, di ba?

The Finger Swing
 
        This swing is the first step in breaking eye strain. Hold your forefinger up in front of your nose. Turn you head gently from side to side, taking care to look past the finger, not at it. You will get the illusion that the finger is moving. If you start this swing  with the  eyes closed and let the fingers brush the tip of the nose in passing, you will get the sense of motion more quickly. If, when you open your eyes, they cling to the finger, you will feel dizzy and fail to get the sense of motion.

        What, no motion? Then try this. Hold your palms,fingers wide apart, before your face. Swing past the open fingers as if they were a picket fence, looking not at them but through them into the distance as you go by. The fingers will pass. Alternate three swings closed, thinking, "They move to one ear, then to the other," three swings open, seeing them go by. Always do this swing 20 or 30 times, remembering to breathe. it is pain-killing in effect. If you have pain or a threatened headache, do it for 10 or 20 minutes, alternating eyes open, then closed. Afterward, palm and you should feel better. But always think the motion. And breathe!
        Another doctor told me that he considered theis head swing one of ourmost valuable developments, because, through the sympathetic nervous system, it releases the tension in every part of the body.

Tomorrow:  Memory or Mental Pictures
-----------------

Memory or Mental Pictures: The secret of all relaxation lies in the mind; pleasant, happy memories bring relaxation. This was vividly demonstrated by one of my pupils. She was in deepest sorrow at the death of her husband to whom she had been most devoted. She told me that the only surcease she could get from devastating grief was when she was reading the diary she had kept for years, reliving, in memory, the happy days together before tragedy struck. These mental pictures of happy events and companionship gave her the nerve ease and relaxation that enabled her to go on. Not only sorrow but any tension or worry is released by interesting, happy memories. A musician would enjoy  reliving a very successful concert or mentally going over the score of his favorite concerto. A typist might enjoy typing in memory a well-known verse or lyric, even a nursery rhyme. A golfer would have fun repeating in memory his most successful round of golf. A seamstress migh enjoy recalling all the different kinds of fabrics and textures she could bring to mind as she passed her fingers across them. She could also think of some she had worked up into beautiful costumes. Memory pictures whenever you are nervous, tired, or bored (all forms of tension), will bring release. Do not  underestimate the discovery that memory brings relaxation. In time of need, try it, and always do it when you palm.

        Suppose you are too tired or miserable to recall a happy memory. Then do something mechanical in your memory instead. Draw some pictures! You are no artist? Pretend you have a  large white sheet of paper and a pencil. Draw in the upper corner of the paper a one inch square. Now, beside that,  draw the square standing on its  corner. Next, draw an oblong, long top and base, short ends. Repeat the oblong but this time standing it on end.  How about a triangle in different positions? Then a circle. Now it would be interesting to combine your pictures. Put a circle inside the square, on the tip of your triangle, on the edge of your oblong, or inside it. Could you imagine the small circle inside your oblong rolling from one short end down to the other  and back? Not too thrilling, all this? But if you will try it, you will get your reaction-- and that is what you want.
        Whenever possible, palm while indulging in memory.
         I once had a despondent, neurotic ex-sheriff come to me for help. I tried to find some mental picyures that would release his tension while he palmed. "You are from the desert, you must have had a horse you loved," I suggested. "Yes," he answered, "but they shot it out from under me!" "You have a family?" I pursued. "They are all dead," he answered miserably.  " Many times  you must have ridden across the desert enjoying the sweep of the horizon and distant mountains."  "No, I was watching every shrub and hillock for an ambush." "But you have slept out under the stars in the clear desert nights," I ventured. "Oh, yes," he answered with enthusiasm, " I love the stars and nowhere are they so beautiful as on the desert." He then told me about his favorite stars and where they could be found at different times.  When he had finished and had taken his hands from his eyes, he was like a different person, eyes bright, face smoothed out and ready for his lesson.
        If you search, you too can find some happy memory that will relax you. Try it!

Ana B's note: So there,  folks, all the drills for eye relaxation -- sunning, palming, swinging and memory orr mental pictures. Kahit palming lang muna ang gawin natin, sulit na rin ang pag-type ko ng mga ito.
I intend to scan the rest of the pages (unless may reprints pa pala nitong book  sa National Book Store) so alert me kung ayaw ninyo ng attached pictures that will clog your mailbox.

Happy weekend, everybody!
--------------------

 The use of mental pictures has
expanded into a therapeutic process called visualization that I am sure many
of our classmates may have read about.  It is used a lot in helping cure
cancer patients.

In simple terms the visualization technique aids by helping a patient to
develop positive attitude with the use of drawings.  The patient choses a
visual icon for his/her illness and another for him/her.  Exp:  The cancer
is an evil vampire; the patient is a robo-cop.  The patient draws pictures
of the two characters battling it out.

Doctors and therapists have discovered that when a patient draws his/her
icon winning, indeed there is a significant rise in healthy blood cells and
a decrease in bad ones among... other findings. The full focus,
single-purpose and determination to make one's symbol win over the cancer's
symbol seem to help the mind make the body begin a healing process.

Doctors found that when drawings showed the evil vampire winning, the
patient was getting sicker.  They also discovered that if a strong icon for
one's triumphant self or the state of one's immune system had been selected
(a Viking, mythical hero, legendary character who fights for God and country
or goodness), the patient usually had a good chance of getting well.  If
weak icons like snowflakes or clouds were selected, the patient often had a
poor sense of control over his/her self and thus a poorer chance of getting
well.   Imagine how important the pictures have become in diagnosis of a
patient's mental state!  In visualization no words are used--only visual
symbols.

How do images produce physiological benefits?  Let me quote from Blair
Justice, PhD in his book WHO GETS SICK: How Beliefs, Moods and Thoughts
Affect Your Health (NY: Putnam, 1987  ISBN 0-87477-507-8  [pbk]), pp
319-320:

"Research over the years has suggested that when we mentally picture our
bodies' doing something, internal changes occur accordingly.  (HL Bennett,
Human Aspects of Anesthesia, 1984:1,3)     For example, if we mentally
rehearse running a marathon, we are likely to evoke muscular changes, our
blood pressure will go up, out brain waves will alter and our sweat glands
will become active.  Biofeedback research has shown that if we turn on 'hot
thoughts'--imagine hot scenes, such as the sun, a beach, a desert--we can
increase blood flow and the warmth of our hands and other parts of the body.
(B Lown, The Healing Heart, 1983:11-28)

"Evidence now indicates that people may also be able to alter their immune
systems and disease states by what they imagine and visualize.  In effect,
they may be able to turn on self-healing systems.  But how does a mental
picture or symbol get translated into an impact on white blood cells or
self-repair mechanisms?  The autmoatic nervous system as well as the brain
itself is thought to act on the immune system and our self-healers, but the
steps in the process are still to be determined.

"The process may begin with activation of the right cerebral hemisphere of
the brain.  Whether images are mental pictures or--as some authorities
emphasize--are symbolic representations of various kinds, they seem to
activate our right brains.  One theory holds that if we engage in right
hemisphere activity--that is imagery--we may raise the level of serotonin, a
neurotransmitter associated with a sense of calmness and pain relief.   On
the other hand, when we engage in stressful thinking and carry on
doom-and-gloom internal dialogues with ourselves, our left brains are
activated and may produce depletion of norepinephrine and dopamine.  As we
have noted (see Chapters 4 and 12) depletion of these two neurotransmitters
is implicated in depression and other disorders.  The theory is that by
engaging in positive imagery, we may encourage self-healing processes by
elevating serotonin while protecting the left hemisphere from catecholamine
depletion."

There have been a lot of discoveries since Blair's compiliation of the then
latest in findings on health and nutrition, psychological state, etc. was
made.  But his explanations still hold today and are very easy to
understand.

Affectionately,
Felice