There is a good chance that this is your first deeper encounter with eyesight improvement, so let’s start with a brief review of the main principles/rules. If you are no longer a rookie, consider it a kind reminder.
MAIN PRINCIPLES
RELAX
Eyesight is at its best when you look in a relaxed way. This principle is true to all eyesight improvement techniques, in fact it is true to all seeing. Trying hard and with intensity will slow your vision improvement process down. Find out what being relaxed feels like by “looking” at an object with your eyes closed. Looking should never cause you pain, tension or strain. As you follow each technique’s instructions, look with interest, and laugh when a humorous moment occurs. Breathe freely (don’t hold your breath) and blink often.BE IN THE MOMENT
Seeing is an action that can only be done in the present. You can see neither in the past (that is remembering) nor in the future (that is imagination). Stop daydreaming. Be aware of your body and your surroundings in every moment. Look at the world with interest and curiosity. Pause, so that images can come to you for you to receive them.ENGAGE THE WHOLE VISUAL SYSTEM
The majority of seeing is done by the brain, not the eyes. The eyes simply take in a signal and send it on, through the optic nerve to the visual cortex. Therefore, learning how to engage the whole visual system (not just how to correct the eyes) is what drives progress.TREAT EACH EYE AS ITS OWN ENTITY
In order for the two eyes to work in harmony, each eye individually has to be fully engaged in the act of seeing and have a solid connection with the visual cortex. During the process of natural vision improvement much of this is accomplished by leveraging selective vision obstruction, such as the one provided by the Overbound Clarity Eyesight Trainer.SEE THE WORLD MOVE
Fovea Centralis is the only part of the eye that registers visual signals with absolute clarity. The fovea centralis is located in the retina, and has a diameter of only about 1.5mm. Therefore the eyes can only see clearly a spot as small as a pin head. Everything else is less clear. To see a full picture well, there must be no staring. Instead, in order to achieve clarity, the human eyes must constantly move. While they move, the position of all objects within their visual field changes in relation to the point of the eye’s focus, which the eyes perceive as constant movement.COMMIT TO THE PROCESS, NOT TO THE END RESULT
Exceptional eyesight is a skill and, as such, takes time to fully develop. Be patient, know your ultimate goal, and commit to the process of getting there, not to the end result. It is when you are on the path, appreciating what you can see, vs what you cannot, when the breakthrough will most likely happen.
HOW TO REACH YOUR GOAL
KNOW YOUR WHY
There is a reason why you have put yourself on this vision journey. Know your goal and what it means to you. Write down, on a piece of paper, what your life will look like when you reach that goal. Picture it, feel it. Where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with? Then, as stated earlier, make a commitment to the process that will get you there, not to that goal. Commit to taking the steps necessary and for as long as needed, without imposing a deadline on yourself. One step at a time. Visit your goal and your why as often as you like, especially on days when things are not going as planned.PRACTICE OFTEN
While the techniques are easy to understand (not necessarily to perform), frequent repetition is necessary for great results. Make eyesight improvement part of your daily routine, set up reminders on your phone or calendar, or enroll in a guided program that fits your schedule and needs.TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK
Eyesight is variable, not a constant. It is wrong to believe that a person with perfect eyesight sees perfectly at all times. The quality of one's vision depends on factors like health, the weather, emotional state, etc. Nobody’s vision is perfect all the time.This is important to keep in mind when learning new vision skills. There may be days when the learning is easy, your vision gets sharper, your field of clarity expands. Then, the very next day you cannot make up the letters you saw just yesterday. This is the way it will most likely go. Two steps forward, one step back. Flashes of clarity lasting less than a split of a second happening one day, but not the next day and the day after that. Be ready for this, it is part of the process. Make the forward steps inspire you, don’t let the steps back defeat you.
LEARN FROM THE POINT OF EASE
Always learn a new skill the easiest way possible, and increase the difficulty as you go. Adjust the distance from which you practice, or choose the techniques that are easier to grasp. Give yourself a chance to succeed and challenge yourself gently, one inch at a time, one skill at a time.ALWAYS PRACTICE WITH YOUR GLASSES OFF
You cannot see if you never look. You must look without glasses in order for your eyes to learn how to be without them. So practice in a safe environment and no matter how poor your eyesight is, practice with your eyes naked.
USE YOUR MEMORY AND IMAGINATION
Remember, most of the seeing is done by the brain, not the eyes. Knowing what you are looking at is one of the ways to show your brain how you want the signals to be interpreted. Maximize your ability to imagine and remember, so that you show yourself what you want to see.If you find this to be extremely difficult, consider joining the Ignite Your Memory and Imagination Workshop the next time it opens.
TRACK YOUR PROGRESS
Changes to your vision may be quantitative, such as an ability to see further into the distance, or reading a smaller font up close, reducing your prescription glasses by a diopter. They can also be qualitative, such as seeing more vivid colors, sharper shapes, or waking up with your eyes ready to go. Set up a diary or a simple tracker where you can mark your progress. Changes can sneak in, almost unnoticed, and .there are times when we have to remind ourselves how far we have come.CELEBRATE AND REWARD YOURSELF TO STAY THE COURSE
Even the slightest improvement is a reason to reward yourself and your eyes. When you notice a change, however miniscule, welcome it with positive emotions. Be excessively excited! Be thankful for the tiniest progress you make.Reward yourself! Make a list of at least 10 things that will motivate you to do your daily practice. Chocolate? Coffee? A walk in the park? A call to a friend? You know what you love, the things that you would do anything to eat, drink, do. Use them as a motivation and a reward to work on your vision, no matter how long or short your practice happens to be, and most importantly, no matter the result!
Celebrations and rewards trigger the release of dopamine (a feel good chemical) that helps the brain understand what we desire and that makes it easier to repeatedly come back to the same action (such as vision practice).
WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR
Other than paying attention to your safety while practicing, especially if using the shields of the Clarity Eyesight Trainer, re-learning to see is kind journey. If you are here to address common vision challenges, it will likely go smoothly.
If your vision challenges are severe or if there are visual skills that you need to re-learn from scratch, the process may bring temporary discomfort. The most common forms of such discomfort are motion sickness / nausea for those who do not see relative movement, brain fatigue for those with a significant difference of acuity between their two eyes, or awareness of fear of looking into the distance for those with heavy myopia. Even if any of these situations happen for you, learning to see is exhilarating. Time to time it may take your breath away (literally and figuratively). So, as you practice, pay attention to your eyes, your brain and your body. Be gentle. Breathe. Take as many breaks as you need. Don’t leap, inch forward instead. There is a whole new world waiting for you on the other side.