Yoga of Perfect Sight

Relax and See

Vision is a process of mental interpretation of retinal images. So in the act of seeing there is a close association between the mind and eyes. The eye without the mind will mechanically photograph the image but will not interpret it. The mind without the eye can imagine the images previously seen but will not tell you what is being photographed now. Correct seeing must be a perfectly co-ordinated action between mind and eye through Relax and See.

Relax and See is a quick effective process. of which most ophthalmologists are unaware. Hence their dogma of the incurability of errors of refraction such as myopia and hypermetropia continues. But now a number of doctors greatly appreciate the system of Relax and See and the time has come when its truth should be accepted by the medical profession for the welfare of humanity. How quickly the improvement in most of the cases of visual defects is achieved in the School for Perfect Eyesight is unimaginable. Here we give a short description to illustrate the subject.

The normal eye has three characteristics:

1. When the sight shifts from side to side of a letter, the letter appears to move in the opposite direction. This is Swinging.

2. The letter regarded appears clearest. This is Central Fixation.

3. The white centre of a letter appears whiter. This is Imagination.

These three characteristics are called normal illusions of the normal eye which are reduced or are absent in the defective eye. So to improve the vision it is necessary to develop the normal illusions.

The defective eye loses the frequency of shifting and becomes more or less immobile. Therefore mobility is essential. This mobility is to be developed by blinking education, long and short swing, game of ball, table-tennis, walking and observing the objects beside one moving in the opposite direction. By the creation of mobility discomforts of the eyes fade away and one feels relaxed.

The defective eye loses the faculty of central fixation. It tries to see a large area at a time. So to develop central fixation adopt the following exercise; take the Snellen eye testing chart and shift the sight from top to bottom and bottom to top of a letter and observe two things:

a. When the sight shifts from top to bottom and bottom to top of the letter, the letter appears to move in the opposite direction.

b. The part of the letter regarded appears clearest.

The faculty of central fixation is also developed by reading fine print several times a day in good light and candlelight. Myopic patients should avoid using glasses in reading and maintain relaxation by frequent palming and gentle blinking. By palming I mean: to close the eyes and cover them with the palms of the hands avoiding any pressure on the eyeballs; and to imagine something familiar and interesting.

To the defective eye the white centre of a letter does not appear whiter than the margin at varying distances. So there is loss of the imaginative faculty and the mind adds many other imperfections to the imperfect image received from the eye. So it is necessary to develop the faculty of interpretation of retinal images. This is achieved by imagination exercises:

a. Take the chart in hand and observe that the white centre of letter 'O' appears whiter at a distance where the sight is best. Gradually increase the distance. Or take two similar charts—one in hand and the other at five feet distance; look at the white centre on the near chart and then at the distant chart. Alternate.

b. Shift the sight on the white lines in between the lines of fine print. When the sight shifts from side to side. the lines of print appear to move in the opposite direction.

c. Take view-cards and develop the art of seeing as described in the book Mind and Vision. The flatness of the picture will disappear and the three dimensional character of the picture will increase in beauty and improve the vision.

If there is pain or discomfort, strain or headache or double vision in reading. it is an indication that the person tries to concentrate the sight on the black part and makes an effort to see consciously or unconsciously. Any sort of complaint in reading indicates a wrong way of reading. All these troubles can fade away by the methods of Relax and See.

Here is a case of a European lady who was on the verge of giving up reading. At the age of forty-three she had difficulty in reading so much so that even with a 200 watt bulb she found it difficult to read. The letters got messed up and she could not read for more than half an hour at a time. To put it in her own words: "After five days of exercises at the School for Perfect Eyesight while looking at the white lines in between the photographic type reduction. I suddenly realised that the letters were very clear and that I was able to read the whole page of the smallest print which was impossible before. From then onward I never got the experience of messed letters again; not even after three hours of reading and more at one time. There is no strain and tension in my head any more and I am practically relieved of all complaints."

A case of glaucoma was suffering from constant eye strain, frequent headache, gradual loss of sight, seeing halos around light, with tension increased in both the eyes. Pilocarpine drops did not give proper relief, he was advised by Bombay doctors to undergo operation.

In such cases operation worsens the trouble. The source of increasing loss of sight and constant eye strain were his glasses. He was using quite high power bifocals at the age of fifty. When he started his treatment, the three main fundamentals of treatment were explained to him. It took some time to train the eyes to blink properly. Glasses were completely discarded from the very beginning of treatment. The result in two months treatment was surprising. He could see well at a distance and could read fine print without glasses. All his discomforts faded away. To continue the improvement he devotes some time to his eye education.