Dr.
Bates never used the term Eye Exercises the way it is used these
days, meaning a set of physical eye movements in order to ‘strengthen’
the eyes.
Bates
preferred to not even let his patient know (especially if it was
a child) that something was done with the aim of improving the
sight. If something else could be thought about, so much the better.
In the case of a child with strabismus, the child was told that
swinging was "not for the eyes at all but just to see if
it gave them a better color in their cheeks." This way the
attention was diverted from the eyes and visual relaxation was
achieved sooner. (Better Eyesight magazine, August
1924)
Dr.
Bates' assistant Emily gave an example of a patient who had gone
elsewhere for a course of “eye muscle exercises.”
She mentioned that this person was not helped at all, and he later
found out that the methods used were not the Bates Method. (Better
Eyesight magazine, February 1928)
In
general, Dr. Bates tended to use the term ‘relaxation exercise’
instead of ‘eye exercise’. In the few instances where
he did refer to ‘muscular exercises’ he was talking
about physical exercise of muscles other than the eyes.
Another
term Dr. Bates used several times was ‘exercises in distant
vision.’ This encompassed looking at the smallest letters
that could be read easily on a familiar eye chart for half a minute
daily with each eye separately. Developing the skill of staying
relaxed with an eye chart at distance, by only looking at letters
that can be read easily, was an important part of his method.
I
think that, overall, the term ‘eye exercises’ in and
of itself tends to create mental strain and therefore eye strain,
and it is best avoided when you learn or teach how eyesight can
be improved.
The Bates Method is simply a set of relaxation practices, or, if you like, call it "relaxercises" then you show that you understand Dr. Bates' original intent.
(Relaxercise is a term used by a team of Feldenkrais teachers who made it the title of their book).
Three video clips
on the topic of the Bates Method versus Eye exercises:
-
The
Bates method versus eye exercises, part 1
- The
Bates method versus eye exercises, part 2
- The
Bates method is better than eye exercises
Each clip is less than 3 minutes long.
Bates
was never tired of insisting on a fact which is now a commonplace
of psychology, namely that vision is at least fifty per cent a
mental process and that improvement in the mental state of patients
suffering from defective vision was apt to result in improvement
in their seeing and ultimately, through the effect of good functioning
upon organic defect, in their eyes. In this respect Bates
Method differed radically from the methods of orthoptics, which
ignore the mental side of seeing and seek to improve vision by
the repetition of fatiguing exercises. Being based on unsound
principles, orthoptics do little or no good. Being based
on essentially sound principles, Bates Method is often very effective.
Aldous Huxley |
