Techniques: Basic Principles

The Bates Method's primary aim is to restore normal, healthy, functional use of the eyes and each technique described on these pages provides a path to that end.

Strain

Under the Bates model, vision impairment is caused initially by a habit of strain: that is, the inclination to make extraneous effort when performing any task. While this strain can be brought about by many different factors its solution is to learn how to obtain relaxation.

The strain is a mental habit, the physical manifestation of strain follows suit and by utilising Bates techniques it becomes possible to gain insight into the nature of the strain - both mental and physical - by carefully observing the feedback received by the eyes as you practise.

There is more to vision than just acuity

In addition to perceiving fine detail, our eyes are constantly active and receptive to the visual world in many other respects. The eyes perceive light, lack of light, colour, movement, form, and depth, and while for most people these things are thought of as easy, they are more or less taken for granted.

In our modern and technological world the eyes have largely become transmitters of abstract information. They are used extensively to read and interpret the written word or process visual media, presenting the mind with abstract ideas with which to make decisions: finish a report, figure out your tax, read that book. If a person has a tendency to strain, these distractions from simply using the eyes to see can take on an addictive quality.

Modern culture takes the eyes and mind out of the present and into a world where what you see is not what your eyes see, but what your mind makes up out of it.

This is not to say that interpretation of the written word or the television screen is inherently at fault for the production of eyesight problems, but more that the subsequent lack of pure visual experience has become an issue of epidemic proportions. The greater the hold of the interpretational mind, the harder it becomes to simply enjoy seeing for what it is; so much so that it becomes clear that even when there is a pure visual scene in front of you, the mind is still far away thinking about other things.

Just stop

All the techniques simply require you to look. There are colours, shapes, depths, textures, shades, movements: all these things are food for the eyes and in every waking moment, this is what the eyes see. Right now, and now, and now. This is what the Bates techniques present to you.

If the mind is closed to it, is busy with other things, all that visual information has nowhere to go, and eventually the eyes begin to suffer. But if you look at what is in front of you right now, you come fully into the present moment. Any avoidance of where and who you are right now begins to crumble.

The techniques that are taught in the Bates Method effectively re-establish the normal, natural interaction between eye and mind. To the visually-impaired person, perceiving movement, or letting the eyes feast on colour can seem odd or contrived, but in fact all that is happening is that the mind is learning slowly how to dismantle all its filters.

When the filters drop, suddenly what you have left is the truth of sight: Colour, movement, depth and all the nuances of the visual experience that is, and as it should be, a joy.

The techniques described in these pages give an introduction to the extraordinary world of re-learning to see. Spend some time every day - as much as you can - letting your eyes have the simple enjoyment of just seeing.