Howdy All

We’ve received some really interesting questions in response our November newsletter ‘How to avoid improving your eyesight – Part 2‘. We think the questions and answers will be very useful to most people interested in natural vision improvement so we have included them below for you:

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Hi Carina,

Can i cover one eye with my hand & do drawing/near-far swings with the uncovered eye as a ‘patching’ exercise? Is cross-crawl using just fingers & toes while sitting effective? Do you have any tips for doing eye exercises discreetly while out publicly/socially? Anne

Hi Anne,
Thanks for your email.
Covering your eye with one hand will have the same effect as patching with an eyepatch.  However ususally this is only a good idea for a few minutes as your arm becomes tired and your attention comes away from what you are doing with your vision to the logistics of keeping your hand over your eye .
Doing fingers and toes cross-crawl is effective as an addition to full body cross-crawl, not as a substitute.
Blink and Breath all the time, everybody is doing it, so it shouldnt be too noticible.  You can do Near-Far Swing, Magic Nose Pencil in public, just do them slowly and gracefully. You can also have a small fusion card and use that in public, just looks like you are reading or looking at a picture.
best regards,
Carina

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Hi Carina and team,
I have just been reading through the part of your email about addressing emotional issues in relation to eyesight and I need to ask your advice.
My 8 yr old son Finlay has hyperopia in his left eye and we went through a bad time with patching at school when he was younger – this was so traumatic for him that I just decided to stop and take up doing the eye improvement exercises. However, my son is completely resistant to doing anything that involves addressing his vision even though I myself do them (palming etc) now and again for ‘over 40′s blur’.
I went through a very tough time when he was a baby having had post natal depression and being very isolated, unsupported and with very little money as a single mother living in a rural location in Devon, England. I’m very bothered that this has damaged him in some way and that the blurred vision in his left eye was his way of dealing with my depression and anxiety.
Now that our lives are very different and include a much happier and rounded way of being, I want to try doing eye exercises with him again but I am met with massive resistance ranging from emotional outbursts to just a firm statement that he will not do it. I try to make things fun too but nothing seems to work and I have lost heart with trying anything but also seeing that he is bothered by his blurred vision in his left eye. He also states from time to time that there is something wrong with his eye and it upsets me a lot hearing this but my help being refused.
Any advice at all would be most welcomed.
Thank you
Tracy

Hi Tracy,
My suggestions would be;
Go back to the beginning of his life and start from there. Talk to him in clear and direct language about the situation, telling him just what you have told me.  Tell him the story of what happened when he was a baby, how you feel about it now and how it had nothing to do with him himself and that its important to you that both of you acknowledge what happened and let go of it.

That its important to you that he is happy and that you want him to have wonderful clear vision and comfort with his eyes.  Ask him how he feels about it all.

That you understand what happened with the patching at school, that nobody is going back there yet you want to help him with his vision, but now in a different way that needs to be fun.
Tell him that it is his decision in the end, but that you do have strong feelings about it becuase of how much you love him.
That you are not going to force him to do anything he doesn’t want to do, but that you are going to be doing things for your vision and you hope that he will join you in ‘playing vision games’.
(Do you have Janet Goodrich’s book on children’s vision improvement?)

Then start from the beginning with the eye stuff:

Work with his emotions.  Hyperopes are suppressing anger.  What can he do to appropriately release his anger? Punching bag, piece of hose and some phone books, smashing old plates in the garage (some of these things may be one off, but a great way to show him you are serious about helping him get his anger out, other things should be available to him whenever he feels his anger overtaking him). WHEN he is doing these activities, encourage him to shout, and if he ends up crying let him get it all out.

Drawing and talking about the things in his life now that make him angry (or other emotions) are also good. Maybe he would like to write stories, including make up a story that starts with your real history and then goes to where you both want it to go, the best outcomes in the end. Tell this story at bed time so he goes to sleep with the positive outcome images in his head. You can go as fantastic as you/he wants.

His resistance to doing the vision activities may shift when his feelings have had a chance to move.

When he is willing to let the door open a little, start with things that are fun and not obviously focused on his one eye; start playing together.

Start with whole body vision games.  Playing ball, walking a balance beam, crawling through tunnels of pillows or boxes, create an obstacle course for him.   When it’s too easy and he says he is ready to play with his hyperopic eye, then these things can be done with a patch on.  BUT you need a comfortable fabric eyepatch that he has decorated with his favourite images.  We use sequins, buttons, feathers, dinosoars, a crossbones perhaps, whatever he likes. (I do have these eyepatches for sale offline).

It’s most likely he is right brained and needs lots of whole body physical activity.  What about badminton in the back yard or anything?

INVITE him to do vision games with you.  Palm together and tell each other stories, play ball and follow it with your Magic Nose Pencil. Do Near Far swing, each taking turns to choose the objects.  I am sure once you get started, you and he can come up with ways to make it fun.  Let him lead the games.

I hope this has been helpful.

best regards,
Carina

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Hi Carina,

Please advise whether an item such as in link below would assist when using NVI system. (Anti-glare computer glasses with prism.)

Hi Julie,
It’s an interesting idea to use a prism in the way they suggest.  However, prisms are usually used to correct turning eyes.  I wonder what the effect is on the eyes when the glasses are not being worn, as the eyes will adjust to the effect of them.

In any case, basically our system is based on using the eyes in as natural a state as possible, and coming away from using glasses to compensate for the stress we are putting on our eyes.  If we were to use these glasses then we come away from the idea that we need to nurture our eyes in their daily activities by doing things to inherently relieve the stress.  Using lenses actually adds another form of stress.

When using the computer all day, we recommend: taking breaks in each hour to Palm and Near Far Swing for just a few minutes, get out in the natural light and do brief periods of sunning. Stretch and move the body at regular intervals.  Where convergence is an issue, or just to keep the eyes in balance, do fusion activities. Make sure you are drinking enough water.

I hope this has been helpful.

best regards,
Carina

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Hello Carina,

The part about the Plateau is where I am now but then again it seems that when I am under stress my vision goes haywire. I sometimes feel like I am making some progress and then when I get really uptight about something and that something

could be minor to somebody else it goes backwards. I am one of those really sensitive people that tend to keep everything

bottled up but I did not think being sensitive could affect vision to any extent. I am not as backward as I used to be but everything seems like an effort to me, it always did. At times I am very anxious and that seems to effect my vision sometimes. It can either be physical or emotional stress. or even low blood sugar.

Take for example yesterday, I had to meet someone for a possible job and I knew deep down it would be nothing but I was very

anxious and I could tell it was affecting my vision.

I can do all the palming and vision activities  I want but I am beginning to believe that my real problem is with my feelings and

emotions but how does one desensitize themselves?

Has any of your students ever mentioned any of these problems?

Thanks,

Bill

Hi Bill,
Yes, you sound like a great many of my students.  Your emotions DO affect your vision, in fact they are the biggest factor in life that affects your eyesight. General health does play a role, and how you use your eyes every day, but for someone who has had visual blur since a young age emotions is the most important thing to address in terms of cause.

As mentioned in my most recent newsletter, doing vision games is necessary to change the symptoms, the physical state of your eyes now, but they will return to the state – or hit the plateau – unless the underlying emotional stress is dealt with.  Your eyes developed the blur to protect your emotions. So when you are under stress or feeling very anxious, your eyes respond with more of this protective mechanism.

I don’t think the solution is so much desensitizing yourself as it is about firstly finding ways to release the emotions you have been holding onto for many years that are still with you and affecting you; then learning how your feelings can be a help rather than a hindrance, how to deal with your current feelings on a daily basis.  This second part will be MUCH easier once you have started to do the first part.

Bill, the Personal Eyesight Training Kit offers a great deal of information about this topic, and some activities you can do to start working with your emotions.  Please re-read the suggestions in the November newsletter about how to deal with your emotions and if you are considering getting the PET Kit remember we are offering it for $50 off this month only.

Please let me know if I can help you further.

best regards,
Carina