Relearning to See

Rating:
Summary: Perfect sight---your birthright!
Review: "Relearning to See" is the largest and most comprehensive book ever written on the Bates Method of Natural Eyesight Improvement Re-Education. The author has taught Natural Eyesight Improvement and Teacher Training classes since 1983. He has recently relocated from San Francisco to the Natural Vision Center in Ashland, Oregon. RTS contains the pioneering work of ophthalmologist William H. Bates, MD. This educational program is *not* about eye exercises---a common misconception of the Bates Method. The most important contribution of RTS is that it concisely describes the 3 principles and 3 habits of natural vision. Yet each principle and habit is thoroughly explained, since all of them are necessary for normal, clear sight. RTS is a 521-page tome containing 60 color plates, over 150 illustrations and eye charts, (not a small booklet like most other books written on this topic), and contains information on how to improve nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, presbyopia, strabismus (e.g. crossed-eye), amblyopia (lazy-eye), and many other vision problems. Even many serious eye problems have improved with this educational program. RTS covers reading, driving, using a computer, in nighttime vision, flying, light tolerance, artificial lighting and many other topics. Glasses are an artificial crutch, and contact lenses are foreign objects. Both tend to reinforce strained vision habits and make your eyesight worse. RTS educates you about lenses and prescriptions so you can go to your eye doctor and get legal, safe, reduced-power glasses while you are improving your eyesight. One of the most interesting and valuable chapters is called "Brains and Vision," where the author presents a larger perspective on the Bates Method using the modern right brain/left brain model. Bates stated that vision is primarily mental. The sections on left-brain myopes versus right-brain farsights are quite revealing. There are many mental and vision quality benefits to improving eyesight naturally, including memory, concentration, imagination, creativity, color perception, depth perception, contrast and texture awareness. While Dr. Bates did make some errors, his *solutions* of re-establishing correct vision habits are flawless---because they are created by nature. Read Chapter 1, Chapters 2-4 if you have been wearing glasses or contacts; then jump to Chapters 9+ and get started with natural vision principles and habits. You can also read 50+ extraordinary feedbacks on this book (search for "NVCSF"). Then buy this book and begin Relearning to See---naturally and clearly! Also, check out his even larger, second work: "Better Eyesight: The Complete Magazines of William H. Bates," a 550,000+ word compilation of all 132 monthly magazines from 1919-1930.

Rating:
Summary: So simple, logical....why isn't this common knowledge !?
Review: As a child I was given glasses, luckily I hid them and refused to wear them, 20 years later and my eyes are a little blurry, mainly noticed whilst driving. I bought this book because I really don't want to wear glasses or contacts. At the back of the book are some standard Snellen eye charts, I pinned them up and noted my 20/30 vision, not too bad really. So I read a little of the book, enough to recognize some of the bad habits I've been adopting for years, why I sometimes get physical pain in my eyes, the vacant stare I adopt, why I went through phases of being cars sick etc etc. After spending a half a day practising the correct way to use my eyes again, I read the same chart in the same lighting conditions with 20/20 clarity. I've read a lot more of the book now, it is fantastic! The main challenge ahead it seems is to make these habits come naturally again.

Rating:
Summary: Encyclopedia of vision improvement
Review: Far and away the most comprehensive book on vision improvement I've come across, this is more of an encyclopedia than a book you read straight through. Mr. Quackenbush - not an eye doctor, but a long-time teacher of the Bates method - goes through the mechanics and physiology of the eye and the eye's natural vision habits in exhaustive detail. He also gives pointers on reducing one's prescription, movement exercises, acupressure, relaxation games, left-brain/right-brain physiology, and holistic health, all geared toward improving your eyesight. Central to his teaching of the Bates method is that there are NO exercises. These are habits which are to be practiced 24 hours a day! And they are so simple, so easy to do, and afterwards you'll wonder why people are still stuck in poor vision.

Tom, who founded the Natural Vision Center, used to teach his courses in the San Francisco Bay Area but is now in Ashland, Oregon. I've taken his natural vision course and I found it to be profound. It's been a year and a half; my prescription used to be 20/400, but now I can occasionally see 20/50 or better. Progress is expected to be slow but steady, and I saw jumps in my vision after only a few weeks in the course.

Rating:
Summary: Encyclopedia of vision improvement
Review: Far and away the most comprehensive book on vision improvement I've come across, this is more of an encyclopedia than a book you read straight through. Mr. Quackenbush - not an eye doctor, but a long-time teacher of the Bates method - goes through the mechanics and physiology of the eye and the eye's natural vision habits in exhaustive detail. He also gives pointers on reducing one's prescription, movement exercises, acupressure, relaxation games, left-brain/right-brain physiology, and holistic health, all geared toward improving your eyesight. Central to his teaching of the Bates method is that there are NO exercises. These are habits which are to be practiced 24 hours a day! And they are so simple, so easy to do, and afterwards you'll wonder why people are still stuck in poor vision.

Tom, who founded the Natural Vision Center, used to teach his courses in the San Francisco Bay Area but is now in Ashland, Oregon. I've taken his natural vision course and I found it to be profound. It's been a year and a half; my prescription used to be 20/400, but now I can occasionally see 20/50 or better. Progress is expected to be slow but steady, and I saw jumps in my vision after only a few weeks in the course.

Rating:
Summary: Hallelujah!
Review: Hallelujah I can see... well actually I already could, but having Keratoconus made wearing glasses mostly a waste of time. So I did like the book said and quite wearing them. I can now go out on a bright day without dark sunglasses. After reading all 521 pages in the book the techniques become second nature. I bought a pile of them to give out as Christmas gifts to all my four eyed friends, and family members. If you cherish sight then this is a must buy.

Rating:
Summary: concise and detailed
Review: I did not realize this was such a large book and technical at the same time. But it is concise and thorough and I skipped many of the technical explanations and derived the main geist of improving vision naturally.

Mainly the book conveys the importance of relearning correct habitual seeing at all times as opposed to exercises for the eyes. The book is emphatic and focused on this point.

Mainly the three habits of seeing is blinking, sketching, and breathing and the book goes to great lenghts to explain and convince in many different situations its relevance.

Outstanding reading. Just realizing your erred visual habits will improve your sight to an extent which varies widely but as the book says it will take more time and relearning to undo years or lifetime of incorrect habits that it becomes natural and subconcious as was what you were born.

Rating:
Summary: It worked for me!
Review: I thought this book was excellent in explaining anything you could possibly want to know about the eyes - almost like a biology/physics textbook, and it has a ton of excerpts from Bates original publications. The book is well-written, and my eyes were glued to it (probably reducing my eyesight LOL)- I sped through it within 2 days.
In general, I found this book to be *extremely informative*, and very in-depth and perhaps giving me much more than i really wanted to know.
It definitely gives a person hope that he/she can improve their eyesight, all you need is *dedication* and *motivation*. I have not been able to make a habit of doing the 'exercises' yet, so I can't comment on that, but the belief that poor eyesight comes from straining is something i believe in, and therefore reversible.

Rating:
Summary: Improve Your Eyesight
Review: If you want to learn how to improve your vision naturally, then this is an extremely good book. Its 521 pages are full of information on various aspects of eyes and related subjects. Methods to improve your vision naturally are given in easy to understand language and if you follow them strictly, you will definitely have your vision improved. One thing everybody has to remember is that anything related to vision will not happen overnight. It will happen over a period of time and the improvement will be gradual. So one has to be really careful and follow the instructions of your ophthalmologist on a regular basis.

The author really struck a chord with me and these days that's not too difficult. It's been my third week off coffee and I've feeling fantastic. The headaches are gone and no more acid stomach thanks to a coffee replacement I found called s o y f e e. Made from soya and I bought it online at www.s oycoffee.com. Simply marvelous, just like this book.

Rating:
Summary: Answer To Prayer!
Review: This is a wonderful book packed with the proper knowledge to reverse refractive errors if given enough time and patience. I've read the book and am now applying the principles revealed. My vision is getting better because I have begun to utilize the correct visual habits that improve vision. I had considered refractive surgery such as lasix for my myopic condition. I was praying for a natural way of vision restoration when I found this book listed online. I'm so thankful for this knowledge. I recommend this book to anyone interested in natural vision recovery.

Rating:
Summary: best modern presentation of the Bates Method
Review: This large book is on the Bates Method, which Tom has been teaching for about fifteen years. Large portions of Bates's book and magazines are quoted, and while there is no substitute for reading Bates's book and all his magazines yourself, this book reviews what Bates taught more comprehensively than any other author. If it were not for this and Tom's other book, The Complete Magazines of William H. Bates, I might never have understood the Bates Method as it is meant to be understood.

Tom emphasizes relearning to use natural, relaxed vision habits all day long, habits which most people with imperfect sight had as children. Even those people such as me who have had eye problems all their lives, even as infants, unconsciously know how to use their eyes and mind in the right way.

He also goes over a number of modern issues that Bates was not aware of in his time, such as color therapy, left and right brain hemispheres, and healing crises.