Vision Links

We cannot teach people anything,
we can only help them discover it within themselves.
Galileo Galilei

Instead of repeating what has already been written by others, I highly recommend that you investigate some of the many educative websites listed below. There is excellent information to be found among these sites, so 'click away' and find something that resonates with your heart.
Your eyes, body and mind will be grateful for you letting these teachers into your life.

I do suggest that you take private lessons from a local teacher if at all possible.
However, if you do not make progress as expected,
please do not give up on the Bates Method !
Your local teacher may not have enough experience yet or may not have clear vision themselves yet, but you have provided them with an opportunity to grow and learn by taking lessons from them.  Your experience will serve them as teachers, which serves your local community in the long run. So, kindly thank your teacher and then move on to another teacher, until you do achieve your goals.

Inclusion of a link does not imply Vision Of Joy's endorsement, because I am not
personally familiar with the quality of the lessons offered by all of these teachers,
so I cannot vouch for how well they do or do not understand the Bates Method .

This list is not exhaustive, as many teachers do not have websites.
If you are a vision educator and would like to be included in this list, please let me know!

Contents: (Scroll down or click on any underlined text to jump to a specific section)

Vision Educators in
- Western USA,
- Hawaii,
- Eastern USA,
- Canada,
- Europe,
- Australia & New Zealand,
- Rest of the world.

Other vision related websites
- links to more teachers and to other very useful and interesting sites about vision.

E-groups on natural vision
- communicate with others who are going through the process of improving their vision.

Natural Vision Educators

Western USA

Esther Joy van der Werf. Ojai, CA (80 Miles NW of Los Angeles). Also see my travel schedule.
Jeannie 'Viveka' Fitzsimmons, Beverly Hills, CA.
Max Mandolini, Los Angeles, CA.
Sue Choi, Venice, CA
Jerriann Taber, San Diego, CA.
Marie Wilson, Sacramento, CA.
Meir Schneider's School of Self-Healing, San Francisco, CA.
Teresa Bowen, Davis, CA.
Gene Younger, Portland, OR & Vancouver, WA.
Toshiyasu Abe, Seattle, WA. Tel: (206) 898-9988. "Studying vision is studying life."
Carol Gallup, Pt Townsend, WA.
Troy Ballard, Orem, UT.
Alan Winn, UT. A delightful site about myopia (nearsightedness)
Greg Marsh, Fort Collins, CO.
Sam Berne, OD, Santa Fe, NM. Sam specializes in ADD, Vision and Learning

Hawaii

Kate Keilman, Honolulu, HI. Kate sells wonderful software to help your eyes and body relax during computer work, it's really a must-have for regular computer users.
Jacob Liberman, OD, PhD, Maui, HI. Jacob is the author of Light, medicine for the future and Take off your glasses and see.

Eastern USA

Rosemary Gaddum Gordon, Cambridge, MA and Eliot, ME, (Also for teacher training!)
A quote from Rosemary: "Seeing from the core encourages one to be 'home', to see with the mind rather than trying to see with just the eyes, to relax and receive the information entering the eyes."
Martin Sussman, Topsfield, MA. Includes a list of behavioral optometrists by state.
Robert Lichtman, Manhattan, NY. Robert is an excellent Bates teacher, he has many years of personal experience in improving vision.
Rob Cohen, Stone Ridge, NY. Rob made major improvements in his own vision and now combines the Bates Method with his extensive knowledge of Feldenkrais work.
Ray Gottlieb, OD, PhD, Rochester, NY. Ray is a very knowledgeable Bates-loving optometrist. Ray's chart has reversed presbyopia ('over-40-farsightedness') in his patients and himself.
You can download Ray's chart here
Marc Grossman, OD, New Paltz & Rye, NY. Marc is an optometrist with an open mind to the Bates Method and he uses vision training in his practices.  Extensive source of vision supplements.
Charles M Steinberg, OD, Wexford, PA.
Otis Brown, Waynesboro, PA.
Sharon Hicks, Norristown, PA.
Elizabeth Pottenger, Hendersonville, TN
Per Scott, Fairfield, IA

Canada

Elizabeth Abraham, Toronto, Canada.
Roberto Michael Kaplan, OD, Canada / Vienna, Austria
Connie Brander, Calgary, Alberta

Europe

United Kingdom
The Bates Association for Vision Education, England. Includes a list of vision teachers in the UK.
Bates Vision Clinic, One Saturday per month: low cost vision classes in Finchley, London, England
Aileen Whiteford Edinburgh and Gullane, Scotland as well as London, England
Margaret Montgomery, Berkhamsted and London, England.
Kevin Wooding, Oxford, England. Excellent Bates teacher.
Peter Mansfield, Portslade, England. An experienced 'classic' Bates teacher.
Anna Bambridge, Glasgow, Scotland & London, England
Lizzie May, London, England
James Laker, Stroud, England
Ajay Sehgal, London, England
Erica Richardson, England
Alexandra Brenan, London, England

Netherlands (zie ook de NL pagina)
Saskia Naber, Groningen, The Netherlands. Dutch website, by my colleague Saskia, an excellent Bates teacher since 2003.
Peter Ruiter, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Dutch website.
Guido van Mierlo, Gelderland, The Netherlands. Dutch website.
Rijn de Jonge, Harderwijk, The Netherlands. Dutch website.
Pieter Wester, Noord Holland, The Netherlands. Dutch information about the Bates Method.
Tom Quackenbush, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Author of Relearning to See and Better eyesight - the complete magazines of William H Bates.
Christopher Markert, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Website in English.

France
Special Note: The new (2008) French translation of Dr. Bates original book is NOT recommended reading according to the Association of Vision Educators. This book unfortunately has errors and reflects a major misunderstanding on the part of the translator regarding the concept of eccentric fixation. Instead of reading this translation, please contact one of the teachers below.
Art de Voir, Association of vision teachers in France. (Website in French)
Nina Hutchings, Rognes, France
Brigitte Cavadias, Cotignac, France. Combining Bates with Alexander Technique, Brigitte has been teaching and leading workshops in France, UK, Sweden and Finland. (Website in English and French)
Annie Bohen, Mainsat, France.

Rest of Europe
Marie Schils, Belgium (Website in French and German)
Siergiej Litwinow, Poland (Website in Polish, English, Czech, and Russian)
Magda Wawrzycka, Poland
Torill Opsand, Norway (Website in Norwegian). Torill is a Feldenkrais practitioner and physiotherapist in addition to being a Bates teacher.
An Extensive list of more than 80 vision teachers in Germany
Roberto Michael Kaplan, OD, Vienna, Austria / Vancouver, Canada
Martin Brofman. Lausanne, Switzerland. Martin gives Vision Workshops in Europe.
(Site in English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Danish, Italian, Portuguese and Brazilian. Wow...)
Maurizio Cagnoli, Italy. The Art of Vision, the website of Buena Vista.
(Webiste in English, Italian, Portuguese, French, Spanish, German)
Giorgio Ferrario, Milano, Italy. (Also: www.scuolabates.it)
Sylvia Lakeland in Lisboa, Portugal (Website in Portuguese and English)
Peter Vén, Budapest, Hungary. Website in Hungarian, English, Italian, French and German.
Sara Van Herbert, Limassol, Cyprus. Vision on Health. Telephone 00357 25 932716
Nick Focus, Athens, Greece

Australia & New Zealand

Peter Grunwald, NZ. Combines Natural Vision with Alexander Technique.
Carina Goodrich, Maleny, Qld, AU. Carina is continuing her mother's mission.
Barry Auchettl, Smythes Creek, Victoria, AU. "The more clearly we begin to see ourselves, the greater clarity we present to the world."
Geoff Hingerty, Sylvania Waters, NSW, AU. Vision Naturopath

Rest of the world

Leo Angart. Leo combines the Bates Method with NLP and Pranic Healing.
He gives workshops in many places: in Asia, North America, Africa, Australia and Europe.
Website in English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Hungarian, Slovene.
Harry Quek, Singapore. "Sight without glasses-makes a world of difference."
Meir Schneider and Beatriz Nascimento in Brazil (Website in Portuguese and some English)
Sylvia Lakeland in Säo Paulo, Brazil (Website in Portuguese and English)
Prapanna Swain in Pondicherry, India. School of Perfect Eyesight at Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Aruna Yadav. Workshops in Vizag, India. Read an article in The Hindu about her work (in English)

Other vision related websites

The Association of Vision Educators. The AVE website has a practitioners list; it includes many teachers who do not have websites and are not listed above, so do check this if you have not yet found a teacher near you!
David Kiesling has set up an excellent site about the Bates Method, includes many great articles.
David's Bates Method Store offers a good variety of new and second hand books.
Rune Kenneth Meisingset has created an awesome site about the Bates method. Valuable info!
Dr Poesnecker has good information about the Bates Method.
Clark Night More Bates Method information
Alex Eulenberg International Society for the Enhancement of Eyesight
Full spectrum lamps developed by John Ott. For better vision and health.
More information about health and light. They sell John Ott's excellent 'Exploring the Spectrum' video.
Paul E Dennison, Braingym. Very helpful for people with dyslexia and learning disabilities, closely related to better vision.
Frank Navratil B.Sc, N.D. Iridology, Czech Republic. Author of "For your eyes only" and "The Eye for an Eye Diet"
Bill Sardi, author of 'Nutrition and the Eyes'.
Krissy Golub, AZ. Krissy overcame Keratoconus without surgery and shares her story.
Ray Amsterdam, UK. Ray overcame macular degeneration naturally and his site presents a very detailed Case Study of his recovery through Ayurveda - subsequent to being told 'there is no treatment available to restore … vision”. The site includes full clinical data, a discussion section, and treatment contact details.
Alexander Technique, for improved body posture and movement awareness, to improve eyesight.
Milton Trager MD, The Trager Approach of psychophysical integration and Mentastics movement education. This can help loosen up chronic tension in the body.
Moshe Feldenkrais, Somatic education; awareness through movement.
Focusing is a technique for emotional self healing. A great adjunct in vision improvement.
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is an easy to learn, easy to use self help tool for dealing with emotional challenges.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a popular technique which allows you to change, adopt, or eliminate behaviors, as you desire, and gives you the ability to choose your mental, emotional, and physical states of well-being.
Autogenic Training is an effective relaxation technique that originated in Germany. Easy to learn and easy to use!
Center for Empowered Learning, Educational Therapy, Los Angeles

Educational therapy goes beyond tutoring…it changes lives! We specialize in helping students of all ages who are struggling with one or more school subjects and have lost faith in their capacity to succeed. We open the student’s belief system to success and provide all the effective, research-validated educational programs and tools available to quickly propel a student to academic achievement.
Edward Kondrot, MD, Phoenix, AZ, USA. An ophthalmologist with a more alternative approach, specializing in Macular Degeneration
Peter K. Kaiser, The Joy of Visual Perception, an e-book about vision.
William Carter's story of improving his vision. Worth reading!
John Bryan's vision improvement story from -5 to better than 20/20 vision.
Tutis Vilis' Undergraduate level course in Sensory Physiology which includes an "Introduction to Eye Movements".
Christopher McPeck
Children's Vision Information Network, Wichita, KS, USA.
PAVE (Parents Active for Vision Education) is an organization whose mission is to raise public awareness of the crucial relationship between vision and achievement.
Success stories of people who used vision therapy (different from Bates Method) to help their vision. Vision therapy can be a useful adjunct with the Bates Method. If you can't find a Bates Teacher near you, you may find a Vision Therapist instead.
Eye2Eye, Solutions In Sight - Computer Eyestrain Treatment System
A page explaining the effect of sunlight on eyes, and doing away with the myth of Galileo going blind from observing the sun.
A website in Hebrew about the Bates Method. This Israeli website has much information about Bates.

Affordable Prescription Glasses!
Are you nearsighted and jealous of those farsighted people who can cheaply buy their glasses at any dollar store? Or are you farsighted beyond the +3.50 level? I have good news! The websites below sell glasses at very affordable rates, sometimes for less than US$30 per pair. You type in the (reduced) prescription you want, you chose a frame, pay, and you'll get your glasses in the mail. It's Easy!
zennioptical.com (based in California)
lbweyewear.com (based in California)
bestpriceglasses.com (based in California)
eyebuydirect.com (based in California
eyeglassesdirect.com (based in New York)
39dollarglasses.com (based in New York)
glassesshop.com (based in New York)
globaleyeglasses.com (based in Georgia)
goggles4u.com (based ?, free shipping)
daisyeyewear.com (based in England)
glassescrafter.com (based in England)
selectspecs.com (based in England)
onestopglasses.co.uk (based in England)
specsuperstore.com (based in England)
speckyfoureyes.com (based in England)
glasses4less.net (based in Scotland)
brilerbij.nl (based in the Netherlands)
This list is not complete. To find more sites like these, do an internet search for 'affordable prescription glasses' or something similar.

E-Groups on Natural Vision Improvement

You can join these groups for free, ask questions, or just read about other people's experiences.
Educational and informational, but not always 100% accurate.
Keep your common sense and decide for yourself.
To avoid a deluge of e-mails from yahoo groups, read the messages on-line
or sign up for daily digests only.

Effortless Vision forum. Ask your questions on natural vision improvement / the Bates Method.
IBlindness forum. A discussion forum about the Bates method, set up by David Kiesling.
Facebook members can search for the 'Bates Method' group. Set up by Deb Bokhorst, April 2008.
Bates Method group. Since February 2002
Natural Vision Improvement group. Since December 1998
International Society for Enhancement of Eyesight Since October 1999
Robin Parsons' group about Myopia (nearsightedness) Since January 2002
Focus On Vision Training Since March 2003, set up by Francine Eisner, USA
Support group for Amblyopia, Strabismus and Lazy Eye Since January 1999
Italian discussion forum on Natural Vision Improvement. Since November 2001
Hungarian discussion forum on Natural Vision Improvement.

Are you ready to learn the truth about blurry vision?
Do you want to learn how eyesight can be improved naturally?
Check out the classes offered here!

You can have clear vision naturally! Learn to overcome the need for glasses and contact lenses while avoiding laser surgery.

Vision Links

Natural Vision Educators

Other vision related websites

E-Groups on Natural Vision Improvement

You can have clear vision naturally!
Learn to overcome the need for glasses and contact lenses while avoiding laser surgery.