Relearning to See: Improve Your Eyesight -- Naturally!

This book is a wonderful tribute to the genius of Dr. Bates, who was a pioneer in discovering how vision becomes blurred and how it restores itself naturally to clarity and acuity. Now 80 years later, his findings and teachings remain light years ahead of our contemporaries. There is at least one current book which gives you the impression that improving your vision naturally is "newly" discovered. Hardly. Tom is to be commended for his dedication in getting the truth out and keeping the torch burning in this "bible" on vision improvement.

As an ophthalmologist, Dr. Bates distinguished himself from the pack as a truly critical thinker. His colleagues were content to ignore or rationalize away the numerous cases of patients whose vision improved yet shouldn't have according to the orthodox theories. Dr. Bates was troubled enough to undertake his own extensive experiments and thorough analysis to debunk the myths. His approach to treating vision problems was truly holistic and the theme throughout this book is very much an extension of that holistic approach.

My vision improvement using the Bates method has been nothing short of spectacular. When I began, my near-sightedness was roughly 20/600. Now on a clear and sunny day outside, my vision settles in to about 20/30 on average, with many periods of 20/20. Under indoor artificial light, my vision averages about 20/40, with periods of 20/30. (Why does it vary, you ask? Read this book and you'll understand why eyesight isn't a fixed and rigid condition under all lighting conditions.) My vision continues to improve subtly each day (it's amazing how one can sense the differences that I'm sure no instrument could detect) and at this rate, I know that the perfect vision I fondly recall as a child will soon be restored.

Being formally educated and employed in the sciences, there was a time when I would have been extremely skeptical about holistic healing. I'm a firm believer now, because I have had reversals of other types of conditions that I never in a million years would have related to poor vision. This book describes many negative cognitive, emotional and physical symptoms that result from blurred vision.

Before getting this book, I had already been using the Bates method of improvement for several months. I was making good progress based on an obscure paperback first published in 1929, Better Sight Without Glasses, by Harry Benjamin. Tom's in-depth and comprehensive book gave me a much fuller understanding and appreciation for some of the finer points of Dr. Bates' work. The book also describes phenomena that I had experienced very early in my vision improvement that startled me at the time, such as brief "flashes" of 20/20 vision and incredible depth perception.

"Blinded by science" takes on a literal meaning when it comes to orthodox methods of "correcting" vision. There's no doubt that the eye care profession in its infancy was developed on good intentions. But it's a science that has gone terribly astray, with countless numbers of people needlessly suffering the consequences. This book discusses one of the founding principles of the profession based on experiments conducted in the mid-1800's where the reflection of a candle on a subject's eyes was checked under different focusing conditions. This experiment and its erroneous conclusions wouldn't likely meet the grade for a current school science fair.

I assume that many have chosen a career in the orthodox eye care industry for noble reasons beyond the almighty dollar. Yet they've been duped in their education to faithfully believe the mythical genetic condition of progressive myopia and they are unwittingly selling us snake oil (prescription lenses and contacts). To add insult to injury, a new brand of snake oil (laser surgery) is being offered. It's utterly preposterous the harm that has been inflicted to our most valuable sense organs in the guise of "treatment".

A philosopher once stated that truth goes through three steps. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. And thirdly, it is accepted as self-evident. Buy this book and go immediately to step 3. Learn the proper vision habits (not exercises) and you will be rewarded with marvelous clarity, incredibly healthy eyes and a whole new outlook on life.


Highly recommended   November 12, 1999
143 out of 145 found this review helpful

This is the best book I've seen on the Bates method of how to improve your vision naturally. It's extremely well researched, thorough, and very readable. At $25, it's a real bargain, as the quality of the publishing (including many color plates) is much closer to that of a $60 college textbook.

My personal story: I went from -9.5 in each eye to -6.0 (+0.25 astigmatism) in the left and -6.75 in the right in just a week after getting this book and committing the natural vision habits to heart. Factoring in the cost of the book, a new eye exam, and new glasses, that's well under $400 for a 30% improvement in my natural vision. My girlfriend is also steadily improving her vision and has already moved to her next oldest prescription as a result of this method. Now everyone I've talked to who wears glasses has been extremely interested in this technique, and I recommend this book to them.

It's a real shame that the medical establishment is so resistant to promoting these ideas. Maybe it's because not everyone can master them. Like meditation, it's a skill that can't be mastered by struggling and stressing out (especially since, according to Bates, stressing out and squinting to see is what got us myopes in this mess in the first place!). So it's definitely not a sure thing, *but* there's certainly no risk to trying it (unlike, say, the inevitable risks of surgery, or even the slight risk of eye damage from contact lenses).

If you are thinking about getting laser eye surgery (LASIK), do yourself a favor and buy this book now. Surgery is expensive and even if the risk of side effects seems small, ask yourself, is your vision worth risking?

Before reading this book, I was already a bit uncomfortable with the idea of laser surgery. After reading this book, I believe that the idea of surgery, which is basically having your current prescription etched onto your cornea permanently, rather than solving the true problem that your eye has lost the ability to focus properly (due, in most cases, to years of our eye doctors' prescription of stronger and stronger glasses as "eye crutches") is fundamentally the wrong approach.


Encyclopedia of vision improvement   February 6, 2001
David
156 out of 159 found this review helpful

Far and away the most comprehensive book on vision improvement I've come across, this is more of an encyclopedia than a book you read straight through. Mr. Quackenbush - not an eye doctor, but a long-time teacher of the Bates method - goes through the mechanics and physiology of the eye and the eye's natural vision habits in exhaustive detail. He also gives pointers on reducing one's prescription, movement exercises, acupressure, relaxation games, left-brain/right-brain physiology, and holistic health, all geared toward improving your eyesight. Central to his teaching of the Bates method is that there are NO exercises. These are habits which are to be practiced 24 hours a day! And they are so simple, so easy to do, and afterwards you'll wonder why people are still stuck in poor vision.

Tom, who founded the Natural Vision Center, used to teach his courses in the San Francisco Bay Area but is now in Ashland, Oregon. I've taken his natural vision course and I found it to be profound. It's been a year and a half; my prescription used to be 20/400, but now I can occasionally see 20/50 or better. Progress is expected to be slow but steady, and I saw jumps in my vision after only a few weeks in the course.


So simple, logical....why isn't this common knowledge !?   August 6, 2001
65 out of 66 found this review helpful

As a child I was given glasses, luckily I hid them and refused to wear them, 20 years later and my eyes are a little blurry, mainly noticed whilst driving. I bought this book because I really don't want to wear glasses or contacts. At the back of the book are some standard Snellen eye charts, I pinned them up and noted my 20/30 vision, not too bad really. So I read a little of the book, enough to recognize some of the bad habits I've been adopting for years, why I sometimes get physical pain in my eyes, the vacant stare I adopt, why I went through phases of being cars sick etc etc. After spending a half a day practising the correct way to use my eyes again, I read the same chart in the same lighting conditions with 20/20 clarity. I've read a lot more of the book now, it is fantastic! The main challenge ahead it seems is to make these habits come naturally again.


Hallelujah!   December 10, 2002
Scott Knudsen (Air Ronge, Saskatchewan Canada)
59 out of 60 found this review helpful

Hallelujah I can see... well actually I already could, but having Keratoconus made wearing glasses mostly a waste of time. So I did like the book said and quite wearing them. I can now go out on a bright day without dark sunglasses. After reading all 521 pages in the book the techniques become second nature. I bought a pile of them to give out as Christmas gifts to all my four eyed friends, and family members. If you cherish sight then this is a must buy.