Yoga of Perfect Sight

Questions and Answers

My eyes are sensitive to light, what should I do?

Every morning for a few minutes face the sun with eyes closed while moving the head and body from side to side.

Why is it bad for the eyes to look at the sign-boards in the market-place or in other busy places?

Usually one looks at the sign-boards while in fast movement and this gives strain to the eyes. Also, the letters of the signboard are quite big, the eye tries to see the big letters all at a time and in such an attempt loses central fixation.

I want to know something about the construction and functioning of the eye. And here how does Dr. Bates' view differ from the orthodox?

Have you seen a photographic camera? There is a diaphragm with an opening, a lens and a film. The eye is like a camera but it is an animate camera; it has the iris with an opening called 'pupil', the lens and retina. You adjust the focus in a camera by a change in the length of the body; the eye also adjusts its focus by a change in the length of the eyeball, and this change is made by the action of the outside muscles called 'oblique muscles'. (According to the orthodox view the eye changes its focus for vision at different distances by altering the curvature of the lens; this theory is not able to stand experimental proof and clinical observation.) The outside muscles function under the control of the mind.

But in one respect there is a great difference between the camera and the eye. The film of the camera is equally sensitive in every part; but the retina has a point of great sensitiveness, called central spot or 'macula lutea'. The eye with normal sight sees best where it fixes itself. That is why the object or part of the object regarded appears best. This quality of the eye is called central fixation.

The images received on the retina are carried through a nerve, called 'optic nerve', to the back part of the brain where the mind interprets these images and vision is the result.

This act of seeing is passive. Things are seen just as they are felt, heard or tasted without effort on the part of the person. The eye with normal sight never tries to see, and the moment it tries to see it ceases to be normal.

What are the discoveries of Dr. Bates regarding the prevention of myopia in schools?

Analysing this problem Dr. Bates made the following discoveries:

1. That when a child tries to see bad handwriting or unfamiliar charts on the blackboard a mental strain was produced.

2. This straining at a distance of 10 to 20 ft. caused a temporary condition of myopia. and if continued over a period of time the strain became an unconscious habit with resultant permanent myopia.

3. When testing children's eyesight with the Snellen test card, some with imperfect sight showed an improvement if allowed to read the chart a second or third time.

4. This temporary improvement of vision led him to discover that if children read the Snellen chart daily, then the vision was usually permanently improved. This is because when reading familiar letters at a distance the mind is relaxed, and this unconscious relaxation is carried over when looking at unfamiliar writing on the blackboard.

5. A teacher who wears glasses has a bad psychological effect on the children, as they imitate the habits and nervousness. This results in a higher percentage of children developing defective vision in his class.