Bates' unique method for restoring vision works at any age. Bates method for restoring vision - exercises and reviews

In the period from the beginning of the 90s. and to this day, in all kinds of courses on vision restoration, it is voiced one way or another Bates method. Moreover, it is presented as a method that allows you to completely get rid of myopia, farsightedness, astigmatism and even strabismus.

This information is sometimes disseminated by people who have little understanding of medicine and ophthalmology in particular. For such “celebrities” as Svetlana Troitskaya, M. Norbekov, V. G. Zhdanov, etc. Bates method became a real gold mine. Fortunately, the time of the dashing 90s and no less dashing “zeros” is coming to an end and more and more people, before taking courses on improving the body, resort to reading reviews on them. This article was written just for such people.

So, before answering the question whether Bates method to restore vision, let's turn to history.

William Horatio Bate With ( William Horatio Bates) is an American ophthalmologist. Years of life 1860-1931. In 1885 he received the degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences from the American College of Physicians and Surgeons. W. Bates's desire for a scientific search for the causes of the development of ametropia and ways to eliminate them cannot but inspire respect. Since 1904, Bates has been in private practice.

However, the desire for profit did not bypass him either. In 1917, he began collaborating with the then-famous publisher of the journal Physical Culture, Bernard McFadden. In this magazine, the authors offered paid courses on the W. Bates system of visual exercises. After the publication of the book “Correcting Poor Vision Without Glasses” in 1920, this cooperation became extremely profitable.
W. Bates claimed a complete cure for myopia, hypermetropia, astigmatism, and presbyopia using his method. For this reason, the US Food, Drug, Cosmetic Administration issued a ruling in 1929 accusing Bates of deliberately false advertising.

Despite the accusations, Bates had many followers. Including in Nazi Germany, for which this method was subjected to even greater criticism. Currently, the most famous center is in London (Bates Academy in Johannesburg).

In our country, the promoter of this method of vision restoration was G.A. Shichko. Currently, V.G. Zhdanov is an ardent supporter of his views.

What is the flaw in the Bates hypothesis?

He believed that extraocular muscles are capable of changing the shape of the eyeball. This gross mistake nullifies all his further conclusions.

Accommodation of the eye is carried out due to the work of the ciliary muscle and changes in the curvature of the lens. Despite the fact that there are still many mysteries in this process, the principle of adaptation of vision at different distances has remained virtually unchanged since the time of Helmholtz.

The inability of the external ocular muscles to “compress” the eye and change its size is confirmed by methods that entered clinical practice after the death of William Bates, for example, ultrasound examinations. Since the cause of visual impairment does not lie in these muscles, exercises to relax them cannot help cope with the disease.

Further, such an exercise of his technique as solarization can cause significant damage to the eyes. Scientists have proven that the sun's rays are not at all good for the eyes, and most often pose a serious threat. A disease such as macular degeneration is associated precisely with exposure to the harmful spectrum of sunlight.

LONGEVITY.RU. Restoring vision. Bates vision restoration

Vision restoration using the Bates method.
Natural method to restore vision
Eyes. Vision. Exercises for the eyes.

If you really want to restore your vision, then read the article to the end. If you don’t have enough patience or time to read and practically apply the advice, wear glasses.

This section is based on transcripts of lectures by Professor V.G. Zhdanov.

In the section on vision restoration using the Bates method, you will learn:how the human eye works; why do people's eyesight deteriorate? why wearing glasses is very harmful; why it is dangerous to have poor eyesight, what it can mean in the future, and most importantly, you will learn a very simple and accessible set of eye exercises that allows any person to improve their eyes and begin to see without glasses the same way as with glasses, and even better.

That is, almost any person who wears glasses can take them off and, with the help of simple exercises, restore their vision and begin to see without glasses. It is possible, it is available, it is tested and we will talk about it.

But first, a little theory, otherwise it is not clear how this could happen in principle and why we know very little about it.

About 180 years ago, a German physicist and physiologist made an assumption about the work of the human eye. He suggested that the human eye has the shape of a ball, in the front part there is a lens and a biconvex lens, and around this lens there is the so-called circular ciliary muscle.

Hermann Helmholtz - Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz was born on August 31, 1821 in Potsdam, near Berlin, where his father Ferdinand Helmholtz was a gymnasium teacher; his mother Caroline, née Penn, came from an English family that moved to Germany. Hermann von Helmholtz received his initial education at the Potsdam Gymnasium, and then at the age of 17 he became a student at the Royal Medical-Surgical Institute, from which he graduated in 1842, writing a doctoral dissertation “De fabrica systematis nervosi evertebratorum”

How a person sees according to Helmholtz

According to Helmholtz, a person sees as follows: when the ciliary muscle is relaxed, the lens of the eye has a flat appearance, and its focus is on the retina, and such a relaxed eye with a flat lens sees perfectly into the distance, because a clear image of distant objects, according to the laws of geometric optics, is located in the area of focus of the optical system. In this case, a clear image of a distant object will be precisely on the retina of the eye.

And in order for a person to see an object up close, it is necessary to change the parameters of this optical system. And Helmholtz suggested that in order to see something close, a person strains the ciliary muscle, it compresses the lens from all sides, the lens becomes more convex, changes its curvature, the focal length of the convex lens decreases, the focus goes inside the eye, and such an eye With a convex lens, he sees well up close. That is, a clear image of close objects, according to the laws of the same geometric optics, is located behind the focus of the optical system. As a result, the image of a nearby object will again appear exactly on the retina.

So, a person needs to see something in the distance. He blinked, relaxed the ciliary muscle - the lens became flat and he could see well into the distance. He needs to see it up close - it strains the ciliary muscle, the lens has become convex and he can see up close.

Myopia according to Helmholtz

In some people (Helmholtz himself did not understand why), the ciliary muscle tenses, making the lens convex, but does not relax back. He called such people with a convex lens myopic. They see well near, but cannot see into the distance, because a clear image of a distant object is built in the area of focus of the optical system. In this case, a clear image will be inside the eye. And on the retina there will be some kind of unclear, smeared, blurry spot. And then Helmholtz proposed to compensate for myopia with the help of a biconcave negative negative spectacle lens. With the help of glasses, the focus returns to the retina and short-sighted people wearing sub-zero glasses can see into the distance perfectly.
And since then, more than 180 years, all eye doctors in the world have been selecting negative glasses for myopic people and recommending them for constant wear.

Farsightedness according to Helmholtz

In many people, Helmholtz believed, the work of the ciliary muscle weakens with age. As a result, the lens is flat, the focus of the lens is on the retina, and classic farsighted people see perfectly into the distance. But to see up close, you need to squeeze the lens and make it convex. And the muscle no longer has enough strength to compress the lens. And the person looks at the book, and a clear image of the letters is obtained behind the focus of the optical system, i.e. closer to the back of the head. And on the retina there will be just an unclear, blurry spot. And then Helmholtz proposed to compensate for farsightedness using a biconvex plus spectacle lens. With the help of glasses, the focus is brought inside the eye, and far-sighted people wearing plus glasses see perfectly close.
And since then, more than 180 years, all eye doctors in the world have been selecting plus glasses for farsighted people, recommending them for reading and for near work.

William Horatio Bates

But fortunately for you and me, there lived a wonderful American scientist, professor, ophthalmologist, who developed his own system for restoring vision without the use of glasses and surgical intervention. How does it happen? vision restoration using the Bates method? According to Bates, vision restoration occurs by restoring the work of the six extraocular muscles. But let's take things in order. So, after graduating from medical school, Bates worked as an eye doctor for five years and was horrified and despairing at the results of his work. Every single patient to whom he prescribed glasses had worsened vision. Not a single patient of his had his glasses restored his vision.

William Horatio Bates - Born in Newark (New Jersey). He received his medical education at Cornell in 1881 and his doctorate in medicine from the American College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1885. Bates began his practice in New York, working for some time as a physician assistant at the Manhattan Hospital for the treatment of diseases of the organs of vision and hearing. Between 1886 and 1888, Bates worked as a staff physician at the Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital. From 1886 to 1896, Bates also held the position of staff physician at the New York Eye Hospital and worked in a number of other medical institutions in the United States. From 1886 to 1891 he taught ophthalmology at the New York Hospital and Research Institute for graduate students.
In 1896, Bates decided to leave his work at the hospital for several years due to the need to carry out experimental work. In 1902, Bates went to work at London's Charing Cross Hospital. Two years later he entered private practice in Grand Forks, Dakota, which he continued for six years. In 1910, he took up the post of doctor caring for patients with visual impairments at the Harlem Hospital in New York and worked there until 1922.

And Bates asked the question: “Well, how can this be?” - he is an eye doctor and must treat people’s eyes. And he, instead, prescribes and recommends them to wear glasses. And people’s vision from using glasses not only did not recover, but became worse and worse. As a result, after a year or two or three they return and demand new, stronger glasses.
And the second thing Bates noticed was that some of his patients in the summer, going on vacation to the countryside or to the mountains, accidentally broke or lost their glasses. Since glasses were quite expensive in the nineteenth century, people with poor eyesight were forced to go without glasses for some time. When they returned from vacation and came to him for glasses, then checking their vision using the table, he was surprised to note that for many, due to the fact that they did without glasses, their vision began to improve, that is, a partial restoration of vision occurred.
And so, after thirty years of studying the work of the human eye, Bates came to the conclusion that Hermann Helmholtz’s theory of vision was completely incorrect. The image in the human eye is not built in the same way as Helmholtz suggested - due to the work of the ciliary muscle and changes in the curvature of the lens, but the image in the human eye is constructed in exactly the same way as it is constructed in an ordinary, simplest camera. By changing the length of the eye itself. And here the main work in the process of accommodation, that is, focusing the eye, is played by six extraocular muscles.

He developed and manufactured a unique device for his time, which he called a “retinoscope”. Using a retinoscope, he could determine the parameters of the eye from a distance of up to two meters.

Every person has six extraocular muscles in each eye.

The superior longitudinal one, which raises the eye upward;

The lower longitudinal, which lowers the eye down;

Internal lateral longitudinal, which brings the eye to the nose;

Outer lateral longitudinal, which leads the eye to the side;

The upper transverse, which fits the eye across the top in a semicircle;

The lower transverse, which fits the eye in a semicircle from below.

How does a person really see?

When all six oculomotor muscles are completely relaxed, the eye, due to excess internal pressure, takes the shape of a ball, the focus of the lens is on the retina, and such a relaxed eye sees perfectly into the distance.
To see up close, you need to change the parameters of this optical system. The person further relaxes the longitudinal muscles and strains the upper and lower transverse muscles, squeezing his eye from above and below. And since a person’s eye is liquid, due to this compression it moves forward, stretches forward, like a camera lens. The focus goes inside the eye, and such an eye extended forward has excellent close-up vision.
A person needs to see into the distance again - he blinks, relaxes the transverse muscles, and tightens the longitudinal eyes, the eye again takes the shape of a ball, and he again sees perfectly into the distance.

Myopia according to Bates

In some people, Bates found a reason. These are, as a rule, physical, mental, visual stress, overexertion and injury. That is, people strain the transverse muscles, squeeze the eye, the eye stretches forward, but does not return back - the muscles do not relax. He called such people, with their eyes stretched forward, myopic.

A typical example of the appearance of myopia in children is when the child is five, six, seven, and it even happens that he has served eight lessons at school, i.e. He sat, looked at a book, at a notebook, his transverse muscles were constantly tense, therefore, his eyes were extended forward. I returned home from school and started studying again. Again the transverse muscles are tense, again the eyes are extended forward. And in a child, from such prolonged visual tension and stress, the transverse muscles of the eyes tense and no longer relax. And the parents suddenly notice that the child sees well up close, but no longer sees into the distance. He begins to squint, squint, not recognizing something. They take this unfortunate child to an eye doctor, who shows him a test chart from five meters away, but he sees only the top letters. Everything is clear, your child is myopic. And the child is prescribed negative glasses for the first time in his life.

But as soon as a myopic person puts on minus glasses, rest assured: the transverse muscles will never relax on their own, the glasses will not allow them to do this. Moreover, with some new visual loads, experiences, stress, these muscles can tighten more and more, the eyes stretch forward more and more, and as a result, problems with glasses begin: minus one and a half, minus two, minus three, minus five , minus eight, etc.

What does Bates offer for nearsighted people?

Bates offers a simple and understandable scheme for naturally restoring vision in case of myopia. Namely: as much as possible, give up glasses, or temporarily replace them with weaker ones and, with the help of simple special exercises, train weakened longitudinal muscles. And the sight of a nearsighted person will be restored

Glasses cause double colossal harm to our eyes

The first damage that glasses cause is- they prevent the transverse eye muscles from working. Glasses work instead. A nearsighted person needs to relax the transverse muscles to see into the distance, and he has glasses minus two. He sees everything in them perfectly and doesn’t even try to relax these muscles.

The second harm that glasses cause- not less, but, unfortunately, much more, is that glasses immobilize a person’s eyes. A person who does not wear glasses constantly moves his eyes - up, down, right, left. His longitudinal muscles are constantly working. These muscles are perfectly developed, in excellent tone and working condition. As soon as a person puts on glasses, he begins to move not with his eyes, but with his head. And his eyes in their sockets become motionless. And since the eyes are motionless in the sockets, the longitudinal muscles of the eyes do not work. And in humans, those muscle groups that do not work very quickly begin to degrade and can even atrophy if unnecessary.

Farsightedness according to Bates

For many people, with age, i.e. By the age of forty or forty-five, due to lack of training, the work of the transverse ocular muscles begins to weaken. And by the age of forty-five to fifty, the longitudinal muscles of the eyes begin to strain quite strongly and become clogged. The eyes are still spherical in shape, the focus of the lens is on the retina, and classic farsighted people see perfectly into the distance.

But to see something up close, you need to close your eye and stretch it forward. But the longitudinal muscles of the eyes do not allow forward movement, and the transverse ones do not have enough strength to squeeze it and pull it forward. As a result, a farsighted person sees poorly up close or sees nothing at all. But if he puts on plus glasses, then rest assured that the transverse muscles will very soon stop working altogether, because A farsighted person wearing plus glasses does not need the transverse eye muscles in principle. Instead, glass works exactly one hundred percent.

What does Bates offer for farsighted people?

He offers a simple and understandable scheme for the natural restoration of vision in case of farsightedness. Namely: it is possible to give up glasses as much as possible, or temporarily replace them with weaker ones, and with the help of simple special exercises, relax the longitudinal muscles, and with the help of other equally simple exercises, train the weakened transverse muscles. And the human eye will again begin to work like a well-oiled camera. Shrink, stretch forward, see up close, go back, become a round ball and see perfectly into the distance.

In some people, the longitudinal muscles tense, strain, slagging, pull, pull the eye back and, in the end, their eye rests on the back wall of the orbit. And they continue to stress him out. They pull and pull, and the eye becomes flat. And the focus goes behind the retina. And people with flat eyes can no longer see into the distance without plus glasses. They wear glasses plus one and a half for distance, because plus one and a half returns focus to the retina, and they read with plus three, because in order to read, the focus must be driven into the eye. Doctors call this visual disorder hypermetropia. And people with this vision disorder wear bifocal glasses.

Bates strabismus

The third visual disorder that is corrected using the Bates method is called strabismus.

The reason for strabismus is very simple. Typically, this occurs in children as a result of fright or trauma. At the moment of fright, some longitudinal muscle of the eye tenses. Well, for example, the internal longitudinal muscle of the right eye tenses. And the outer one, on the contrary, stretches. As a result, the left eye looks straight, and the right eye squints inward.
What does Orthodox medicine offer? The simple way is surgery.

Bates was a categorical opponent of any operations on the eye muscles. And he proposed a simple and understandable scheme for the natural elimination of strabismus. Namely: with the help of simple exercises, the tense internal longitudinal muscle of the eye must be relaxed, and with the help of other equally simple exercises, the weakened external muscle must be trained. And the muscles themselves will put the eye in place.
By the way, in children, strabismus is restored faster and easier than in adults, because children’s eyes are growing, their muscles are not yet slagged, i.e. elastic.

You all know, we had such a film actor-comedian. He had a very rare type of internal superior strabismus. His upper and internal longitudinal muscles were tense, while his lower and external muscles were weakened. And his eye squinted inward and upward. This gave him a simply indescribable comic appearance. “...he was offered in America to remove strabismus using the Bates method. He agreed, removed his squint and completely lost his comic charm.”

Saveliy Kramarov - Savely Viktorovich Kramarov (born October 13, 1934 in Moscow - died June 6, 1995 in San Francisco) - Soviet and American theater and film actor, Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1974). Kramarov is a bright, original comedian of the late 1960s - early 1970s. His winning appearance (squint, pleasant smile all over his face), powerful comedic temperament, innate acting skills, charm, facial expressions and body mobility allowed Kramarov to create numerous comic negative characters, funny in their absurdity and stupidity. He was characterized by a grotesque manner of performance. Kramarov's heroes have always been charming and, despite all their shortcomings, essentially harmless. Kramarov was a prominent representative of Soviet satire. Kramarov could pronounce and act out any text, including non-humorous ones, in such a way that it caused laughter and applause.

Bates astigmatism

And the fourth visual disorder, which is corrected using the Bates method, by the way, is corrected only using the Bates method, is called astigmatism

Astigmatism translated into Russian is “image distortion.” Astigmatism is a visual disorder that “spectacle” medicine has declared itself powerless.
Bates proved that the cause of astigmatism is the same improper functioning of the six extraocular muscles. With astigmatism, a person's muscles are tense and tense in different ways. That is, pressure on the eye from different sides is carried out with different strength. And due to the fact that pressure on the eye from different sides is applied with different strength, it loses its symmetrical shape. In it, the symmetrical path of optical rays is disrupted, and the image begins to blur, blur, sometimes double, triple, sometimes one image is superimposed on another with a shift. All these phenomena are called in one word - astigmatism.

When a person, using the Bates method, relaxes all the muscles of the eye, the eye, due to excess internal pressure, again restores its symmetrical spherical shape, the symmetrical path of optical rays is restored, the image becomes clearer and the person’s astigmatism disappears.

Children show especially amazing results. If you start studying with children at home, they will be able to develop their eyesight two hundred, three hundred and even five hundred percent.

So, American ophthalmologist professor William Bates published a scientific work in 1901 in which he proved that all four visual disorders: myopia, farsightedness, strabismus and astigmatism- are associated in humans with improper functioning of the six extraocular muscles. Some muscles are overly tense, and some are overly weakened. As a result, some people develop myopia, others develop farsightedness, others develop strabismus, and almost everyone develops astigmatism.

Moreover, Bates developed a system of exercises that allows tense muscles to be relaxed, weak ones to be trained, and a person’s vision to be restored.

He borrowed the basis of these exercises from the North American Indians. They developed a millennia-long culture of developing and preserving vision in boys, young men, men, and warriors. And Bates noticed that the Indians were constantly doing some kind of exercise with their eyes. He delved into the essence of these exercises, how an ophthalmologist professor understood their purpose and developed his own method.

The Bates Method is over a hundred years old

And, of course, a completely legitimate question arises: “Why do you and I know almost nothing about this?” There are three very good reasons for this.

The first reason is monetary. The annual net profit from the sale of glasses, contact lenses and eye surgeries in the world exceeds tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars. What is the relationship? Attention, answer!

The law of economics is:the consumer must not disappear!

The second reason is the inertia of our medicine. For more than a hundred years, Bates' theory has been known, according to which people's vision is restored, but in all medical institutes, for some reason, students study only Hermann Helmholtz's theory of vision, according to which, if vision deteriorates, glasses must be prescribed.

And the third reason is also banal. In order for a person to restore his vision, he needs to work on himself. And for many, as it turns out, this is simply unacceptable. It turns out that it’s easier to go to the doctor and get new glasses, just not have to do anything yourself.

These three reasons seriously hinder the introduction of the Bates method into our lives.

A few words about eye diseases

The cause of glaucoma and cataracts, strange as it may seem, is very simple. These are congestion in the eyes.

The fact is that a person’s eyes are supplied with blood, including through the extraocular muscles. If these muscles are well developed, then supplying the eye with blood, they constantly massage it, squeezing and unclenching. Normal metabolism occurs in the eyes and a person’s eyes are healthy. As soon as the work of the oculomotor muscles is disrupted, primarily due to glasses, the blood supply to the eye immediately deteriorates sharply, metabolism is disrupted and stagnation begins in the eyes - the excretory canaliculi become clogged, intraocular pressure increases, and here you have glaucoma. Toxins begin to deposit on the lens, inside the vitreous body, and here you have a cataract.

Ninety percent of people with early glaucoma and cataracts benefit greatly from Professor William Bates' eye exercises. As soon as a person begins to do eye exercises, he restores muscle performance, therefore, the blood supply to the eye is restored, and congestion in the eyes resolves itself.

By the way, the human body is capable of regeneration. That is, our body, when creating favorable conditions, is capable of restoring its organs and their normal functioning. This is, in fact, what the Bates method is based on. We create conditions for normal blood supply, and diseases begin to recede.

In our country, as it turned out, no one knows or even promotes the initial stage of cataracts. When you wake up in the morning, open your eyes, look at the ceiling, and some flies, some garbage are floating in front of your eyes - this is the initial stage of cataracts. This can happen for five or ten years. And then, at one fine moment, a veil suddenly appears, a fog appears in the eyes, and, as they say, wait until it’s ripe, prepare money for the operation.

A few words about medicine

The Bates method is a non-medical method. This is a psychological and pedagogical method. And all over the world, the Bates method is practiced not by ophthalmologists, but by teachers and psychologists.

But the most curious thing is that when a person restores his vision over the course of several weeks using the shock method, then in order to maintain excellent vision, he does not have to devote special time to this.

Well, now a few exercises to relax and train the extraocular muscles. From today you can include these exercises in your arsenal of exercises to restore your vision.

First exercise, which we will learn with you, is called “palming”, from the English palm - “palm”. You all know that our palms have some kind of radiation unknown to science, but very healing.

Palming is a term coined by William Bates for an eye exercise that involves closing your eyes and covering them tightly with your palms for a few minutes. As a result, the eyes will relax, and relaxation will give good vision.

How to do palming

You need to put your palms together, as if you want to give water to the birds. Keep your fingers together so that the water doesn't spill. Palms are almost straight. Then we cover the fingers of the other hand with the fingers of the palm of one hand at a right angle - “house”. Next, put this design of folded palms on your eyes instead of glasses so that the crossed fingers are in the center of the forehead, the nose sticks out between the little fingers, and the eyes fall exactly into the centers of the dimples of the palms. Pay attention to the fact that your nose definitely sticks out between the little fingers. To do this, you need to move your palms slightly up or down towards the bridge of your nose, but so that your nose is sure to breathe.

Now open your eyes under your palms and make sure that the light does not penetrate through the cracks, i.e. so that the palms tightly cover the eyes, and they, in turn, falling into the dimples of the palms, calmly open and close.

Palming from a scientific point of view- this is “bio-pharesis of the eyes”, this is warming the eyes with the warmth of your own palms. This means that before palming you need to rub your palms together until the heat appears.

So, we rubbed our palms together until warmth appeared. They stacked them in a “house”. They put it on the eyes instead of glasses. Naturally, the eyes were closed. The elbows were placed on the table or pressed to the chest, but only so that they were not suspended.

Make sure that your head is not thrown back or tilted too far forward. The eyes, I repeat, are closed.

From this moment on, every time you read, write, watch TV, work on the computer, as soon as you feel tired, your eyes are tired - put everything aside, rub your hands until warm and palm for three to five minutes.
In five minutes, when you open your eyes, you yourself will gasp - how well they will rest and be ready for further visual work.

And now a few exercises to train weakened oculomotor muscles.

Attention attention!

Palming is useful for everyone. You can sit under the palm tree for a whole day - it’s not dangerous, it’s useful. The bigger, the better.

But you can’t do exercises too often or too much. If you do too many of them, your eyes will hurt and you will never do it again. Therefore, exercises can be done only three times a day - before breakfast, before lunch and before dinner.

In addition, there are contraindications for exercise.

First contraindication- if a person had an operation six months ago, that is, less than six months have passed since the operation.

Second contraindication- if a person has a detached retina. You cannot do exercises with a detached retina. You can provoke further detachment. Therefore, if you have a retinal detachment, you need to go to the doctors; now there are techniques - they weld the retina of the eye. After welding, you need to wait six months for it to take root well, and only then carefully begin doing eye exercises.

How to do eye exercises

Eye exercises are done without glasses. At the same time, the face is motionless. Only one eye works. You should not make sudden eye movements. Before starting the exercises, you need to blink intensely to get in the mood for the exercises.

First exercise

They looked up. They lowered it down. Up. Down. Blinked - blinked - blinked.

Second exercise

They squinted their eyes to the right. Left. Right. Left. Blinked - blinked - blinked.

Third exercise “Diagonals”

They raised their eyes to the right and up. Then left and down. Right is up, left is down. Blinked - blinked - blinked.
Reverse diagonal. Left-up, right-down. Left is up, right is down. Blinked - blinked - blinked.

Fourth exercise “Rectangle”

We draw a rectangle with our eyes: raise the eyes up (to the upper left corner), then to the right to the side (to the upper right corner), lower them down (to the lower right corner), then to the left to the side (to the lower left corner) and up again (to the left top corner). Blinked - blinked - blinked.
Reverse rectangle. Done. Blinked - blinked - blinked.

Fifth exercise “Dial”

Imagine a huge clock. Where the bridge of the nose is, the base of the arrows. And we look around at the numbers on the dial. They looked up at twelve o’clock and “went” in a circle. Three o'clock, six, nine, twelve. Three, six, nine, twelve. Blinked - blinked - blinked.
Counterclock-wise. Twelve, nine, six, three, twelve - nine, six, three, twelve. Blinked - blinked - blinked.

Sixth exercise “Snake”

Eyes to the side and start drawing the snake with the eyes from the tail. First from right to left, then from left to right. And up-down, up-down, up-down, up-down, that is, we draw a sinusoid curve with our eyes. Blinked - blinked - blinked. And in the opposite direction: up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down. Blinked, blinked, blinked.

Exercise “Solarization of eyes on a candle”

There is also one very important exercise called “Solarization of eyes on a candle”

This exercise is described in books; it can be done in the sun, with a lamp, with any light source. To imagine what the “Eye Solarization on a Candle” exercise is like, imagine that there is a lit candle in front of you at arm’s length, your eyes are always looking along your nose and, of course, without glasses. We quickly turn our head to the left and look to the left side along the nose. And then, just as quickly, we turn our head to the right, and look to the right side and also along the nose. Turned left, turned right, turned left, right.
We don’t pay any attention to the candle at all. When we look to the left, we will feel in the dark that the candle is somewhere on the right. Then a turn - a candle flashed before my eyes. And here we are along the nose, with our eyes we are already looking to the right, and we will feel the light from the candle to the left. Then another turn - again the candle flashed before my eyes. Like this, back and forth, back and forth. We don't pay attention to the candle.

So, we solarize the eyes on a candle:
They turned their heads left, right, left, right. Left, right, left, right, left, right, left and right. Blinked - blinked - blinked.

And now they rubbed their hands and did palming. That is, they rubbed their hands until they were warm, folded their palms into a “house”, put them on their eyes instead of glasses, put their elbows on the table or pressed them to their chest. Calm down, relax, take a comfortable position. We begin to relax the muscles of our eyes. Our eyes are good, our eyes are resting, we will study - every day they will see better and better. Our eye muscles relax.

Myopic people now imagine how their transverse eye muscles relax, how their eyes become round and balls again, how they will see perfectly into the distance. Without any glasses.

And the farsighted imagined how their longitudinal eye muscles would relax, how they would allow their eyes to easily stretch forward like cucumbers and see perfectly close up. Without any glasses.

The retina of our eyes relaxes, light-sensitive cells, cones, and rods relax. The blood vessels that supply blood to the retina relax. The cells of the optic nerve relax, and the cells of the visual analyzer in the brain relax. Our entire visual tract is relaxed.

Your eyes are closed, your palms are on your nose, you are sitting in a comfortable position. Elbows are either on the table or pressed to the chest. We continue palming.
Now let’s do eye exercises under palming.

So, under palming, i.e. They opened their eyes under their palms, blinked - blinked - blinked. They looked up, down, up, down, up, down. Blinked, blinked, blinked. They squinted their eyes right, left, right, left, right, left. Blinked, blinked, blinked.
Diagonals. They raised their eyes to the right-up, then left-down, right-up, left-down, right-up, left-down. They blinked, blinked, blinked.
Reverse diagonal. Left-up, right-down, left-up, right-down, left-up, right-down. Blinked, blinked, blinked.
Rectangle. They raised their eyes up (to the upper left corner), then to the right to the side (to the upper right corner), lowered them down (to the lower right corner), then to the left to the side (to the lower left corner) and up again (to the upper left corner). Blinked, blinked, blinked.

Reverse rectangle. We looked up, left, down, right, up, left, down, right. Up, left, down, right, up, left, down and right. Blinked, blinked, blinked.
"Clock face". They raised their eyes to twelve o'clock and walked in a circle. Three o'clock, six, nine, twelve. Three, six, nine, twelve. Three, six, nine, twelve. Blinked, blinked, blinked. Counterclock-wise. Twelve, nine, six, three, twelve, nine, six, three, twelve. Nine, six, three, twelve. Blinked, blinked, blinked.
And finally, the “snake”. Eyes to the side and draw a snake with your eyes. Up-down-up-down-up-down-up and down. Reversed. Up-down-up-down-up-down-up and down. Blinked, blinked, blinked.
The eyes were closed. We continue to relax the eye muscles.
In order to better and faster relax the eye muscles under palming, Bates came up with one very important exercise, which he called “A pleasant memory”.
And every time you do palming, you need to think about something good, good, pleasant. Remember a pleasant meeting, a pleasant trip, a pleasant vacation. A pleasant memory, it greatly relaxes a person’s psyche, muscles, facial muscles and eye muscles.
And relaxation is the basis of the Bates method. Relaxation, and then training of weakened oculomotor muscles.

Exit from palming

Eyes closed. Under the palms, the eyes slightly closed, weakened, closed, weakened, closed, weakened. Eyes closed. They removed their palms from their faces and shook their heads with their eyes closed. Up and down, up and down, up and down and up and down. Right-left, right-left, right-left and right-left. And now they rubbed their eyes slightly with their fists, but not too much. We took a deep breath, exhaled and opened our eyes, blinking quickly. Blinked - blinked - blinked. They blinked - they blinked - they blinked and looked at some object.

Notice how your vision sharpens after exercise.

The fact is that with the help of exercises we saturated the visual rods of the retina with oxygen and nutrients. And the optic rods are precisely responsible for twilight vision.

Now rub your hands again until warm, fold your palms into a “house” and palm. The eyes were closed, the elbows were placed on the table or pressed to the chest. We took a comfortable position, calmed down, relaxed, and continued palming. We continue to relax the muscles of our eyes.

Whenever you palm, pay attention - at the first moment, afterimages of light will loom before your eyes. For about a minute and a half a TV, a candle, a light bulb, a piece of window, some kind of fog, a cloud looms. This indicates that your optic tract is overstimulated. The light doesn't reach the eyes. And it seems to us that we see something. And here, in order to remove these residual light images, Bates, under palming, came up with another very important exercise, which he called "Performing Black".

And every time you close your eyes and palm, you have to imagine, say, a black velvet curtain in a theater, it’s so black, black, big, big. And then the light goes out, and it gets blacker and blacker. Or imagine the black mascara that you spilled in front of you and are covering up these luminous places.

And the second exercise under palming, even more important, is pleasant memory.
Every time you palm, you need to think about something good, good, and pleasant.
We turn on the light. Ask someone to turn on the light in the room or area where you are. And again we leave palming:

Under the palms, the eyes slightly closed, weakened, closed, weakened, closed, weakened. Eyes closed. They removed their palms from their faces and shook their heads with their eyes closed. Up and down, up and down, up and down and up and down. Right-left, right-left, right-left and right-left. We moved our head and restored blood supply to the brain.

And now they rubbed their eyes with their fists. We took a deep breath, exhaled and opened our eyes, blinking quickly. Blinked - blinked - blinked. They blinked - they blinked - they blinked and looked at some object.

Please note - the colors have become more vibrant. The fact is that with the help of exercises we have saturated the visual cones of the retina with oxygen and nutrients. And the visual cones are responsible for color perception.

So, now I have to tell you what know, but, unfortunately, eye doctors hide it from patients. Why is it harmful for people to wear glasses and why is it dangerous to have poor vision?
The fact is that myopic people have their eyes stretched forward, and due to the fact that their eyes are stretched forward, their retina is very stretched and strained. It is precisely for this reason that many professions are prohibited for myopic people. They are prohibited from many sports. Because under some sudden stress the retina of the eye can detach or rupture. And this leads to partial and sometimes complete loss of vision in the eyes.
It is especially dangerous for girls, young women and young women to have severe myopia. Those who are going to have children. Because at the moment of childbirth they can go blind from stress.
Scientists have determined that during the twentieth century, from 1900 to 2000, the visual load of civilized humanity increased approximately twenty-fold. Our ancestors mostly looked into the distance as the fields bloomed and herds grazed. Their eye muscles were relaxed all the time. And our children are now forced to watch up close ninety percent of the time - studying, books, computer, TV, small games. And the eyes turned out to be unadapted to long-term looking close up; the eyes need to look into the distance. And if you don’t help your eyes, then the matter can end very quickly and very sadly.

“...you don’t have to do morning exercises. You can live happily ever after without gymnastics. You don’t have to brush your teeth in the morning, and you can live happily ever after without teeth. But if a person loses his sight, then suddenly he loses almost everything in life..."

Contact lenses are an even bigger dead end than glasses. These are glasses glued to the eyes. Among other things, they also provoke early cataracts.
Many eye surgeries are not a panacea, but a way to delay the onset of vision loss and blindness. If you find a site Vdolgoletie.ru
If you find it useful, you might want to recommend it to your friends and family.

Don't forget about them!

Many people begin to experience vision problems over time: these can be various disorders, such as,. Any person with eye pathology strives to get rid of it. Restoring vision is a completely doable task, and there is plenty of evidence of this. Those who have succeeded say with confidence: if you do eye exercises regularly, there really is an effect. Regular eye gymnastics significantly improves blood circulation in the tissues of the eyes, restores tone, which, as a result, improves vision so much that the patient gets rid of the need to wear glasses or glasses.

When performing eye exercises, you should adhere to certain rules. First of all, there is no need to immediately apply excessive loads - this will not only not improve vision, but will also cause severe overstrain of the eye muscles and pain. At the beginning of classes, it is advisable to perform light exercises, increasing the load over time.

The essence of the Bates method

The Bates method for improving vision is based on the fact that vision is directly related to mental stress. And it is the mental state that leads to eye and nervous system strain. Bates's theory is to restore vision by regularly performing special exercises to train and relax the eye muscles.

How eye muscles affect vision

William Bates worked at the junction of 19 and 20, and in the process he became disillusioned with the methods of restoring vision that existed at that time. After all, even those glasses that were correctly selected had to be replaced with stronger ones over time. At the same time, patients who did not use optical correction for some time noted an improvement in vision over time.

The discovery of W. Bates was to clarify the essence of the influence on vision of the six extraocular muscles, which change the shape of the eyeball. By influencing these muscles, it is possible to change the focus. With normal vision, all six muscles are relaxed, and the eye has a nearly spherical shape. Only in this case the image is focused clearly on.

When a person needs to look at a nearby object, the transverse muscles tense and the longitudinal muscles relax. The shape of the eye becomes more elongated, similar to a horizontal oval. When viewing distant objects, the transverse muscles relax, and the longitudinal muscles tense, and the eye becomes spherical. Thanks to this discovery, Bates established that myopia is a consequence of overstrain of the transverse muscles, and farsightedness develops with prolonged tension of the transverse extraocular muscles. Therefore, to correct myopia, a person should strengthen the longitudinal muscles, and in case of farsightedness, the transverse muscles.

After this discovery, W. Bates developed a system of eye exercises that allowed him to train certain eye muscles. He took as a basis the system of the North American Indians, the main principle of which was to train some muscles and relax others.

Author of the method W. Bates

William Horatio Bates was born in New Jersey, New Jersey. He devoted his entire life to ophthalmology, and his discovery was a real revolution. There is little reliable information about Bates' biography. He received his medical education at Cornell and then graduated from the American College of Physicians and Surgeons. Then in 1885 he received an academic degree and began practical work. For a long time, Bates worked as a physician's assistant in a hospital in New York, then was the chief staff physician of a psychiatric clinic. At the same time, he practiced in other medical institutions, including the New York Hospital. He was a teacher of ophthalmology.

During all his practical work, Bates was interested in vision problems. In order to be able to engage in research in this area, he did not practice in medical clinics for six years, and only in 1902 did he return to work at the London Hospital. Since 1904, he conducted a private practice, and since 1910, he worked at the Harlem Hospital. Died in 1931.

Bates exercises to restore vision

To restore vision by strengthening the eye muscles, you must perform the following exercises sequentially.

Weak optics. First, the patient should replace his lenses or glasses with weaker ones. Bates recommended using optical aids that differ from those the patient currently uses for clear vision by 1-1.5 diopters.

Gymnastics for the eyes. It is very important to perform proper eye exercises:

raise your eyes up and down;
look alternately left and right, then up and down;
look down to the right, then up to the left;
draw a rectangle with your eyes, first moving clockwise and then in the opposite direction;
draw the dial with your eyes, stopping at the numbers 12, 3, 6, 9, then move in the opposite direction;
draw a snake with your eyes, moving in one direction and then the other.

Each exercise should end with blinking your eyes, which helps relieve tension. In the first week of training, you should do a maximum of three repetitions of this set of exercises.

Turns. This exercise must be performed with eyes closed and open, to the left and to the right. You can hum a pleasant melody during the exercise, which will help you relax. There is no need to concentrate on anything. You need to make at least 70 turns.

Exercises with the sun. Turn towards the sun, close your eyes and roll your eyeballs. It is better to do this exercise at dawn or sunset. This should absolutely not be done at maximum solar activity. The duration of the exercise is at least five minutes twice a day. If there is no sun, you can light a candle in the room. At the end of this exercise you should do palming.

Palming. You should close your eyes with your hands and imagine a deep black color without glare or colored spots. You should try to relax as much as possible. Palming needs to be done at least 4 times a day. The duration of the exercise is five to ten minutes.

Eye patch. To restore vision faster, you need to make a gas bandage from a light-proof material. One eye should be covered with such a bandage and normal housework should be done. After half an hour, the bandage should be removed, palming should be done and a similar exercise should be repeated for the second eye. This exercise is very effective and is recommended to be performed frequently.

Dr. William Horatio Bates (1860–1930) is one of the best eye doctors of famous hospitals in New York, a teacher of ophthalmology, and a private physician. I spent my entire life studying the functioning of the eyes. In 1919, Professor Bates published a book entitled Improving Vision Without Glasses by the Bates Method.

In the book, Bates went so far as to disagree with Helmholtz's generally accepted theory of vision. The theory has actually prevailed until today.

The theory is based on the idea that sharp vision is due to small ciliary muscles located inside the eye. Muscles are generally considered to “control” the thickness of the lens. Helmholtz attributed to them the main role in the process.

Dr. Bates concluded that the extrinsic muscles of the eyeball are responsible not only for eye movement, but also for lengthening and shortening the eye (similar to the lens of a camera or binoculars). Experiments conducted by Bates proved that the theory was correct.

Bates's belief that the eye functions in this way (via the extrinsic muscles of the eyeball) is supported by unexplained cases of clear vision in individuals who have lost a lens for one reason or another (cataract).

Bates method: description, advantages

What seems most characteristic of Bates- this is his approach to the patient and his disease. Bates would not prescribe glasses, like almost all eye doctors. Bates rather thought about how to really help the patient, that is, how to cure him of the defect so that the patient could see normally.

The basic assumptions of Bates theory are as follows:

Contraindications and disadvantages

What are the disadvantages and contraindications? The Bates technique is universal and practical. It is absolutely safe for human health.

There are a number of contraindications:

Many experts believe that the Bates method does not help improve vision. Bates is not recognized by scientific society. Whether you use the Bates method or not is up to you.

How do the eye muscles affect visual acuity?

Visual impairment is caused by muscles not working properly. These muscles need to be taught to work correctly. We need to understand why the proper functioning of these muscles is disrupted.

Be examined many patients. Bates was an ophthalmologist who worked in various clinics. And he came to an important observation: the normal functioning of muscles is hampered by their tightness.

To achieve a good result, a person must be in a state of relaxation. What happens to us when a feeling of danger or fear arises? We're shrinking.

And this feeling of compression prevents us from moving, like pain. When the muscles are relaxed, a person can move easily and freely. If the muscles are relaxed, vision improves.

Telling and proposing methods for improving human vision, Bates focused on 4 main areas:

solarization;
palming;
rocking;
memories.

Basic approaches help us relax the eye muscles. As a result, the eye returns to its natural state. In the state of the instrument of a clearly visible apparatus. Speaking about relaxation, Bates makes an important point.

There are two types of relaxation:

mental;
physical.

These two processes are interconnected and determine each other. It is impossible to relax muscles if a person is stressed all the time. And it is impossible to relax mentally (calm down) if the body is in a tense state or is in pain. These two processes are interconnected. All techniques offered by Dr. Bates take both factors into account.

Exercises for vision correction according to Bates

Let's look at the most popular and effective exercises.

Palming

Palming- this is when you close your eyes with your palms and at this moment the muscles relax.

Technique:

Memories

Mental images

Use positive language. The formulations will help restore vision. The topic of positive thinking is very important.

It is very difficult for a person with negative thinking to relax. Because the body is under tension.

When thinking about trouble, fear arises. And fear creates tension first in the psyche, and then in the muscles. Happy and positive people live longer. And they see perfectly.

Movement

This could be a fun game- use real cars or people that move. Just pick one person and follow him with your nose.

Turning his head rather than literally sniffing the ground where he walked! And, notice how the rest of the world is moving in the opposite direction.

blinking

There are a large number of exercises. Let's look at the most effective ones:

Turns

There are two types of exercises:

big turns;
finger turns.

Let's look at the big turns first:

The advantages of this method:

At that moment the eye relaxes.
It glides over dark and light objects.

There are several other benefits to the exercise. The spine of the back and cervical spine is warmed up. Today many people suffer from back problems. Back pain leads to spasms. And the spasm impairs vision.

Exercise- finger turns. Place your index finger in front of your nose. Turn your head left and right. Switching the focus of vision allows you to train your muscles. A very effective exercise.

Solarization

Solarization- working with the sun. The ancient sages said that fire (light) is like vitamins for the eyes. That’s why people love to look at the fire and the sunset so much. Sunlight is important for eye function. The sun improves your mood and energizes you.

It is strictly forbidden to look at the sun when it has risen above the horizon beyond its diameter. When the sun rises, it is red. When it rises it turns bright yellow. As long as the sun is red, you can watch. When the sun became bright you can’t look. There may be a burn to the retina.

Three simple exercises (easy to remember and do):

Strengthening gymnastics

Strengthening gymnastics consists of regular exercises. Strengthening exercises should be performed at any time of the day.

Results of classes using the Bates method

The results of the lessons vary. Some were unable to regain their vision. There are lucky people who were able to regain good vision without surgery. There are people who have improved their vision by several diopters.

The result of the classes depends on the person himself. Exercises using the Bates method must be performed systematically. An important condition is the correct technique.

Conclusion

It is important to note that the Bates method is a simple set of eye exercises designed to strengthen muscles.

Vision problems exist because the eye muscles are too tense. By practicing the Bates method, you force the eye muscles to relax.

It's not like going to the gym. If you go to the gym and increase your muscle mass and then stop going, you will lose that muscle mass.

And the improvements you achieve by relaxing your eye muscles don't go away.

It often takes several months of almost daily work to achieve a small result in vision correction. There is no need to repeat the practice daily.

A great way to maintain clear vision as you age. Although most people use the Bates Method as a way to correct vision, it would actually be ideal to use it to prevent vision problems before they form.

Ideally, children should learn these simple habits at an early age. Children do visually complex tasks (reading and writing). Unfortunately, many children develop poor vision habits that lead to various abnormalities.

Maintaining clear vision is not the only incentive to practice the Bates Method. The positive side effects of the Bates Method extend far beyond the eyes. People with good eyesight can still use training to improve their memory - not to mention the Bates Method's ability to reduce stress. Everyone, regardless of vision, could relax in life.

Many people develop all sorts of vision problems over time - this could be myopia, farsightedness, or astigmatism. And every person suffering from eye pathology dreams of getting rid of it.

It is quite possible to restore vision, especially since there is enough many confirmations. People who managed to do this claim: it is enough to do eye exercises regularly, and positive effect will come pretty quickly.

Systematic implementation of special exercises allows you to improve blood circulation and restore lost tone of the eye muscles, which will ultimately allow you to completely stop using glasses or contact lenses.

At the same time, you should not immediately start excessive loads - this can cause overstrain and severe pain in the eyes, which can only cause worsening vision. First it is recommended to do exercises easier, and then proceed to more serious loads.

Dr. William Bates's technique is based on the fact that visual impairment is associated with mental stress. It is this factor that causes physical strain on the eyes and nerves.

This scientist’s theory is to restore vision by performing special exercises aimed at training and relaxing the eye muscles.

W. Bates worked at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and over time became disillusioned with the methods of vision restoration existing at that time.

Even well-chosen glasses had to be replaced with stronger ones after some time. But patients who did not wear glasses for a certain time noted an improvement in their vision.

Bates's discovery was that six extraocular muscles have a significant influence on visual acuity, which change the shape of the eye. This makes it possible to adjust the focus.

When vision is normal, all muscles are in a relaxed state, and the eye has a spherical shape. This is what allows the image to focus correctly on the retina.

If a person needs to look at a close object, he tenses the transverse muscles. At the same time, its longitudinal muscles relax. As a result of this, the eye stretches forward and becomes like a horizontal oval.

If you need to look at something in the distance, the transverse muscles relax. Moreover, the eye becomes spherical.

Thanks to this discovery, it was possible to conclude that myopia is a consequence of prolonged tension of the transverse muscles, while farsightedness can be explained by persistent tension in the longitudinal muscles.

To restore their vision, a nearsighted person should strengthen the longitudinal muscles and learn to relax the transverse ones. In the case of farsightedness, the situation is the opposite: there is a need to relax the longitudinal muscles and strengthen the transverse ones.

As a result of this discovery, Bates was able to develop a whole system of exercises that helped train eye muscles. He used the North American Indian system as a basis.

The main principle of this gymnastics is to strengthen some muscles and relax others.

Who is Dr. William Horatio Bates?

William Bates was born on December 23, 1860 in Nyacre, New Jersey. All of my life He dedicated to ophthalmology, and its discovery can be called a real revolution in science.

Not much reliable information is known about his life.

Bates received his medical education at Cornell, after which he entered the American College of Physicians and Surgeons. After graduating from this educational institution in 1885, he received an academic degree and began practicing medicine.

At first, he worked for a short time as a physician's assistant at a New York hospital. But the following year he became a full-time doctor at a psychiatric hospital. At the same time, he practiced in other medical institutions, including the New York Hospital. He also became a teacher of ophthalmology.

During his practice, Bates became interested in vision problems. In order to devote all his time to research in this area, he did not work in medical institutions for six whole years.

It was not until 1902 that he began practicing again in a London hospital. In 1904 he opened a private practice, and in 1910 he began working as a physician at Harlem Hospital.

W. Bates method - description of exercises

To strengthen muscles and restore vision, you need to follow the following steps:

At the beginning glasses or contacts should replace with weaker ones. The doctor advises using glasses that will differ from your vision by one to one and a half diopters.

Very important perform special gymnastics for eyes:

raise your eyes up and down;
look to the right and left;
look right and left, up and down;
look right-down, left-up;
draw a rectangle with your eyes: first clockwise, then in the opposite direction;
draw a dial with your eyes, while you need to stop your gaze on the numbers twelve, three, six, nine, and then you can move in the opposite direction;
draw a so-called snake with your eyes, first you need to do this from left to right, and then vice versa.

After completing each exercise you need blink your eyes easily to relieve tension. During the first week, you should do no more than three repetitions of this complex.

Turns. Must be performed with eyes open and closed. This must be done to the left and right. While doing the exercise, you can hum a pleasant song. There is no need to concentrate on anything. You need to do at least seventy repetitions.

Exercises with the sun. You need to turn towards the sun and, closing your eyes, make turns. This exercise should be done at sunset or dawn. However, it cannot be performed during the greatest solar activity.

You need to do this exercise twice a day for at least five minutes. If there is no sun, you can light a candle in a dark room. After completing the exercise, you need to perform palming.

Palming. You should close your eyes with your hands and imagine a deep black color; it should not contain glare or colored spots. You need to try to relax completely. Perform at least four times every day. This must be done for at least five to ten minutes.

To restore your vision as soon as possible, you need make a blindfold made of lightproof material. Cover one eye with a blindfold and do housework. In this case, the eye under the bandage must be kept open.

After half an hour, you need to remove the bandage, do palming and put it on the second eye. This exercise is very effective, so it is recommended to do it very often.

Video recording of V. G. Zhdanov’s lecture on vision restoration using the Shichko Bates method.