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Sky
USA
96 Posts |
 Posted - 08/08/2007 : 14:00:48
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Hey everyone,
When Sarno unlocked my immense typing pain two years or so ago, it was the dawning of a new age in terms of how I thought about the body, stress, emotions, fears, etc.
I was amazed at how many things could be disrupted by repressed emotions, and if that term doesn't work for you (though I realize it does on a Sarno message board!), at how many things could be disrupted in your present life by your having gotten stock somewher, on something, in the past.
I've often thought U2's "Stuck in a Moment" applied well to TMS, because when you repress emotions, you do get stuck in that painful moment, and you, your body, and your pain, don't get unstuck until you address the painful emotions and circumstances of that event, or that series of similar difficult, painful experiences.
Anyway, one of the maladies I started to wonder about being a TMS equivalent was the gradual loss of eyesight.
I remember reading Peter Hessler's "River Town" about his experience spending 2 years of his late 20s teaching English in a rural town in China in 1996 or so. In China, Hessler experienced dramatic loss of eyesight in one eye, as well as a host of other maladies that are more typically believed by many of us to be TMS equivalents. (read on if you're interested in China-stuff. otherwise go to next paragraph) Hessler's strong bodily reactions to the difficulties of his adjustment to living in rural China was understandable. China only 10 years ago was a remarkably different place than it is today, much less exposed to and affected by global/Western culture. He arrived with no knowledge of the language, most of the people he met had never seen a non-Chinese person in real life before, and crowds of 50-100 would follow him / watch him / ask him questions as he did routine tasks like eating in a public restaurant or walking through town. As he learned the language, Government officials would demand 20,000 words reports in Chinese about the English literature he'd studied in college. Point is, diving into such a different culture shoved a lot down his throat in a short amount of time.
My girlfriend's eyesight also got dramatically worse during her first exam period of freshman year at college. She went to the doctor after exams, and realized her vision was the same and hadn't actually become permanently worse.
After Sarno's MBP healed my handpain, I put it to the test again with my dry eyes, which had become so perpetually dry that I was no logner able to wear contacts. In days, I was wearing contacts with no pain for entire days at a time, and have continued doing so until this day.
Well, last weekend I came upon a book by William H. Bates called "Better Eyesight Without Glasses," written sometime during the 1st half of the 20th century.
Gates was like Sarno in that he spent decades practicing conventional medicine, but he gradually lost faith in conventional explanations for eye maladies. Finally he came to the conclusion, with as much confidence in his alternative ideas as Sarno has, that worsening of eyesight is caused by ONE thing: getting stuck in a moment, such that you lose your ability to relax and process your experiences in a healthy way, causing you to strain and hurt both your physical and emotional health. By teaching people to relax the muscles around the eyes (which often requried unlocking the emotional moments when they first started to tense those muscles in response to stress) over a period of days to months to a year depending on the person, he returned 1,000s of far-sighted, near-sighted, and astigmatic people to normal vision.
So, has anyone else read his work or had success with his ideas?
I'm interested in hearing any thoughts or feedback that people have on what I wrote. |
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shawnsmith
Czech Republic
2048 Posts |
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Sky
USA
96 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2007 : 14:07:49
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Just found a quote I thought was relevant:
"The health of the eye depends upon the blood, and circulation is very largely influenced by thought. When thought is normal - that is, not attended by any excitement or strain - the circulation in the brain is normal, the supply of blood to the optic nerve and the visiaul centers is normal, and the vision is normal. When thought is distrubed, the supply of blood to the optic nerve and visual centers is altered and the vision is lowered." |
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stanfr
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2007 : 14:58:31
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| I was intrigued by the Bates idea too, and read his old book (its free online, in the public domain). The book is pretty amusing (unintentionally) due to the campy photos of people with eyestrain and various animals (especially fish) being disected etc. Bates method is the basis for many if not most natural eyesight recovery programs, although his ideas are mocked by some groups (see myopia.org, which claims poor eyesight is caused by near-seeing) And virtually every reference ive found unequivocally states that more recent technology has completely rebunked Bates' basic theory. Without going through medical school, im not sure how i can evaluate the claims, but it seems to me pretty clear that his ideas could easily be tested scientifically, and the fact that it hasn't been proven is a good reason to be highly skeptical. I would also be highly skeptical of the claim that "1000s" were "returned to normal vision. That being said, there is overwhelming support for the idea that emotions can affect eyesight, and vision is certainly subjective. I found the idea intriguing since my eyesight first deteriorated when i changed schools and became the target of bullies, and my eyesight is worse on the right side (along with all my other TMS-related problems) suggesting a left brain hemisphere involvement. Ive played with some of Bates' methods, and noticed no improvement. According to the Bates purists, you must completely give up corrective lenses to recover (sort of a TMS like approach to physical crutches) and unfortunately for someone with near legal blindness, that's not much of an option! But it's interesting stuff. |
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Scottydog
United Kingdom
330 Posts |
Posted - 08/08/2007 : 22:16:07
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I'm not sure if it's the Bates book or another which recommends increasing your oxygen intake to improve sight. This works for me, if things are looking a bit blurry close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths, when you look back the words are clearer.
I was prescribed with glasses when I reached middle age, like the rest of my family, but have so far resisted any stronger lenses (after 3 years) since reading the Bates book. Still needing them for reading in poor light though. |
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LuvtoSew
USA
327 Posts |
Posted - 08/09/2007 : 05:38:56
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| Tera Tears vitamins work great for dry eyes. I got them at CVS. |
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altherunner
Canada
511 Posts |
Posted - 08/10/2007 : 10:26:55
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| I read"Take Off Your Glasses and See" by Jacob Liberman, a couple of years ago, and wear my glasses for nearsightedness much less now, more or less like binoculars, to read an address or street sign. |
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jmulcahy
10 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 19:48:25
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hi everyone! I just wanted to comment that since Bates' research, others have determined that you do not need to discard your glasses entirely to benefit. I think the idea is to wear them as little as possible and to wear an undercorrected prescription (20/40, legal for driving) when you need to. That way, your body and mind have room to work and heal.
I am a firm believer in Dr. Sarno's work - he saved my life about years ago. I'm also highly myopic and just discovered Bates' (and similar). I think we're on to something very similar here!
Here are some recommended books and websites:
websites:
http://iblindness.org/
books:
Relearning to See by Thomas R. Quackenbush
The Program for Better Vision by Martin A Sussman
free books online:
http://iblindness.org/books/ |
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Wavy Soul
USA
779 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2008 : 01:00:54
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I developed double vision in the last 2-3 years - to the point that when tired I needed glasses to drive, because there were twice as many cars on the road. It was "real" in the sense that it was testable as Strabismus.
Was considering doing the Vision Training that is shown to retrain the eyes over time. But basically I took my attention off it, because I had the glasses in the car if necessary.
Ta dah! Just realized recently I haven't needed them for weeks (because I needed them suddenly). I'm SURE that this was another symptom imperative thing for me, and perhaps it went away because I had so many other symptoms working for me (for whatever purpose - is it distraction, is it stress?).
xx
Love is the answer, whatever the question |
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jmulcahy
10 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2008 : 19:02:55
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| Wow! That's fantastic. |
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mizlorinj
USA
490 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2008 : 14:07:52
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Yes, "Take off your Glasses and See" by Jacob Liberman was great. He references Bates but I haven't gotten to that book yet.
After all the journal/self-therapy work I have done this past year, I am proud my eyesight has improved two prescriptions!
The eye doc said he thought when we were stressed the higher prescription was probably needed. I absolutely agreed!
Jacob Liberman talks about fear of seeing things as a reason for needing glasses. He asks you to remember when you first needed them, and many fortunate patients can actually remember the situation in life surrounding their new need to see clearly. I needed them in high school, that's about all I remember. Louise Hay also has interesting comments on near or far sightedness. All makes sense.
I'm so happy my eyesight has improved. Jacob Liberman recommends working through your emotions. It was a great book. I want to smack myself for not realizing that eyesight and emotions were tied together, but I'm into self-love and not self-criticism now! LOL
-Lori |
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altherunner
Canada
511 Posts |
Posted - 02/22/2008 : 06:40:43
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| Have you read Louise Hay's small book "Heal Your Body" the mental causes of physical illness? The causes for a lot of the symptoms I have had made sense. They resonated for some of my friends, as well. |
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Yo eyes! Bates' "Better Eyesight Without Glasses"
