Yoga of Perfect Sight

Discoveries of Dr. Bates

1. Myopia and hypermetropia could be produced at will.

2. Myopia was not caused by reading but by a strain to see distant objects.

3. Strain at the near point caused hypermetropia.

4. No error of refraction was ever a constant condition.

5. Lower degrees of errors of refraction were curable while higher degrees could be improved.

6. Reading fine print when it can be done without any discomfort proves extremely beneficial.

7. Preservation of good eyesight is almost impossible without eye education and mental relaxation.

The most remarkable discovery of Dr. Bates is:

Fine print is a benefit to the eyes while large print is a menace. The reason is that while reading fine print one sees a tiny area at a time, while in reading large print one has to see a large area at a time and the eye feels strain in such an attempt. Reading of fine print when it can be done without discomfort has invariably proved to be beneficial—and all the more if good light and candlelight are used alternately.

Often it is surprising how quickly the vision begins to improve by Dr. Bates’ simple methods of eye education. For example, a girl student of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, whose eyesight had failed both for far and near, recovered normal eyesight in about a week's time. And a teacher at the Centre, whose left eye had been blind since childhood, regained normal sight within two months with regular eye exercises for about two hours a day. Almost all semi-blind patients respond well to this treatment and they can be saved from total blindness.

Cases of high myopia. detachment of retina, muscular degeneration, optic atrophy, retinitis, early glaucoma, early cataract, amblyopia, squint, retinitis pigmentosa etc., have derived great benefit by the system of eye education and mental relaxation. Most of the cases suffering from severe headache are quickly relieved by resting the eyes and mind through relaxation exercises. Inflammation of the eyes gets much relief by sun treatment.

Strange as it may seem, Dr. Bates' system of eye education is almost dead in the land of its origin—America—but it lives and grows in India. Dr. Agarwal's Eye Institutes in Delhi and Madras, and the School For Perfect Eyesight at Pondicherry are working on Dr. Bates' lines.

We believe that all systems of medicine and methods of treatment have their utility. Hence for practical working we have developed a synthesis so as to give most benefit to eye patients. Such a synthesis has been explained in my books Mind and Vision and Secrets of Indian Medicine.

As there has been a considerable demand for a practical book on eye education and perfect eyesight, an attempt has been made to present the subject in a simple and interesting way.