What, after all, is the definition of healing? Healing does not always mean an instantaneous cure, a total reversal of every ailment. Sometimes that happens, but more often, true healing comes in small steps. True healing is simply an improvement, however minor, within the parameters of what is possible given the circumstances of your life. It is important to make comparisons only with yourself. If you can improve, however slightly, from where you are today, give yourself the validation of acknowledging that small success. Build upon it and celebrate it. Celebrate every small accomplishment along the way, and remember where you started.
I cannot stress enough how much faith I have in people’s ability to heal themselves through the diligent practice of these programs. My personal experience of working with myself, with my children, and with thousands of patients and students has taught me that improvement is possible and that the benefits of these exercises are tangible and well within your reach.
Suggestions for Using This Part of the Book
First, make sure you have familiarized yourself with the basic exercises explained in the earlier sections of this book. I will refer back to them again and again. Now turn to the section in this chapter that addresses your particular vision condition. Follow the exercises I recommend for at least the time periods I suggest in each section. Most important, make a commitment to incorporate these exercises into every aspect of your daily routine. I may recommend six minutes of palming or ten minutes of sunning, but this is only a starting point: the bare minimum. Ideally, instead of setting aside one part of your day to do these exercises, you will find moments throughout your day to exercise so that the improvement of your vision is always at the forefront of your mind. Don’t stop being conscious of your eyes and the ways in which they function throughout the day. Never stop looking at details.
Think of this part of the book as a starting point. As with muscular exercise, the best program is not simply to work out thirty minutes a day, three times a week, while being sedentary the rest of the time. The best idea is to incorporate movement and physical exercise into every aspect of your life. Walk throughout the day. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Do push-ups and sit-ups whenever you have a few minutes to spare. Stretch. This way, you are always exercising and always aware of your physical condition.
The same principle is important here. Start with my recommended time periods for these exercises, but learn to always find time throughout your day to palm, to sun, and to look at details. Accordingly, awareness of your vision will become ubiquitous and will be a priority to you no matter what else you are engaged in throughout the days and weeks of your normal life.
Make a long-term commitment to the program and take time out to measure your progress regularly. Do not give up. Do not set unrealistic expectations of instantaneous healing. Take every success, no matter how small, and build upon it. Keep a journal of your progress and your feelings along the way.
If, at any point, you feel as though the exercises are taking you in the wrong direction or are not creating the benefits you desire, it is possible you could benefit from additional therapy. There are classes all the time at my School for Self-Healing in San Francisco (www.self-healing.org), and I also offer off-campus lectures and therapy sessions around the world. I encourage you to research possible opportunities to work with me or with one of my trained practitioners if you believe it could benefit you in your quest for better vision.
Where Do Corrective Lenses Fit into These Exercises?
Ideally, as long as it doesn’t cause you stress or strain, you will practice improving your vision without wearing your lenses, at least part of the time. Once you are a month into doing your exercises, go to a friendly optometrist that does not oppose your working on your eyes, and ask for a pair of glasses that corrects them to 20/40, which is 80 percent of 20/20. When your eyes see better with those new lenses, go back and get a new pair with an even lower prescription. Getting used to the lower prescriptions will build your eyesight.
Some people with very severe myopia (nearsightedness), of 20/500 or lesser vision, should have three different pairs of lenses: 20/20 glasses to drive with safely on foggy nights; 20/40 glasses to walk around with in the daytime; and 20/80 glasses with which to challenge themselves while walking around in a familiar environment. In most cases, after two months of this, you will be able to see 20/20 through the 20/40 glasses. Then you can return to the optometrist and change back to the 20/40 prescription once again, which will be the new 20/40. The idea is to reduce the strength of your current eyeglasses in increments until no glasses are needed at all. We expect you to reduce two diopters a year and to see better all the time. Of course, the rate of progress will vary from person to person.
At a certain point, when you feel comfortable walking outdoors without glasses, we suggest you get a pair of pinhole glasses and put them in your pocket. Look at people’s faces and signs up close without glasses. When you are at a distance at which the signs or faces are not as clear, however, put on the pinhole glasses and use them to read signs or recognize faces.
Figure 4.1. Pinhole glasses.
Also, you can use the pinhole glasses while reading. First, look far into the distance for a few minutes to rest your eyes; just look without trying to see anything in particular. Then read without glasses for fifteen or twenty minutes and look into the distance again. Next, read with pinholes for a half hour and look into the distance again. Finally, read with your regular prescription. This exercise is not perfect for everyone, but it can be adjusted to fit your situation. What should never be compromised is that you should never strain your eyes to read.
Pay attention to your individual abilities; if you can hold on longer with the pinholes, that is fine. What you want is simple: to gradually transition out of the continuous use of your glasses.
If your myopia is not severe (i.e., if you see 20/200 or better), my suggestion is to walk everywhere without glasses, unless you drive or have a specific safety reason that requires you to wear glasses. Meanwhile, keep the pinhole glasses in your pocket. When you see a sign that you can read, but with difficulties, or that you can hardly read but can follow some of the shapes, put on the pinhole glasses and look at the sign again. Often, the pinhole glasses will help a person see the sign better. Pinhole glasses work with two-thirds of people, but not with everyone. Pinhole glasses also work with most of my students, but they do not work with me. They either work for you, or they don’t. Since they are not expensive, however, it is worth your while to try them and find out.
Correcting Myopia and Hyperopia
Imagine that you are using a projector to show a film. If you have placed the screen too far away from the projector, farther than the focal point of the lens, the image will be blurry. To someone with myopia, this is how the world looks. Things nearby are clear, but things faraway are fuzzy. With hyperopia, it is as if the screen has been placed too close to the projector. Things close by are fuzzy, but things farther away are clear. With presbyopia, the lens is too stiff, so nothing can be clear from nearby because light is not being allowed in correctly.
Myopia
Myopia is a vision disorder in which a person can clearly see nearby objects while objects in the distance appear blurry. Also called nearsightedness, myopia occurs when the eyeball has become too elongated, and light entering the eye isn’t focused correctly; this is what causes distant objects to appear blurry.
High myopia is an extreme case of nearsightedness requiring more than eight diopters of correction, and it progresses consistently. Though you see well with correction, the eyeball continues to become longer and longer, which causes the retina to become thin, thus risking detachment. This detachment deprives the photoreceptors of vital nutrients and can lead to blindness. There are many other severe problems besides retinal detachment, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, which can occur if your vision does not improve without glasses. As your vision improves, the eyeball regains its normal round shape.