A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE PREVENTION AND CURE OF IMPERFECT SIGHT WITHOUT GLASSES

APRIL, 1928

Brain Tension

Tension, Strain, Relaxation
Nerves, Cells in Brain, Body, Eyes, Retina

The brain has many nerves. Part of these nerves are called ganglion cells and originate in some particular part of the brain. Each has a function of its own. They are connected with other ganglion cells and with the aid of nerve fibers are connected with others located in various parts of the brain as well as in the spinal cord, the eye, the ear, the nerves of smell, taste, and the nerves of touch. The function of each ganglion cell of the brain is different from that of all others. When the ganglion cells are healthy, they function in a normal manner.
The retina of the eye contains numerous ganglion cells which regulate special things such as normal vision, normal memory, normal imagination and they do this with a control more or less accurate of other ganglion cells of the whole body.
The retina has a similar structure to parts of the brain. It is connected to the brain by the optic nerve. The eyes are a extension of the brain.
Many nerves from the ganglion cells of the retina carry conscious and unconscious control of other ganglion cells which are connected to other parts of the body.
The state of the eyes affects the body and the state of the body affects the eyes.
When the ganglion cells are diseased or at fault, the functions of all parts of the body are not normally maintained. In all cases of imperfect sight, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the ganglion cells and nerves of the brain are under a strain. When this strain is corrected by treatment, the functions of the ganglion and other cells become normal. The importance of the mental treatment cannot be over-estimated.
Relaxation of mind, body, eyes = healthy eyes, nerves, cells, clear vision.
A study of the facts has demonstrated that a disease of some ganglion in any part of the body occurs in a similar ganglion in the brain.
Brain tension of one or more nerves always means disease of these nerve ganglia. Treatment of the mind with the aid of the sight, memory and imagination has cured many cases of imperfect sight without other treatment.

Cataract

By W. H. Bates, M.D.

Some years ago a professor of anatomy was exhibiting the effect of pressure on the enucleated eyeballs of a dead cow and some other animals. At a distance of about twenty feet from the eye, the audience observed that the pupil was perfectly clear. Immediately after the eyeball was squeezed by the fingers of the professor, the area of the pupil became at once completely opaque, from the production of a cataract. Then when the pressure on the eyeball was lessened, the cataract at once disappeared and the eyeball became normal. Again squeezing the eyeball, a cataract was produced as before. And again, the cataract disappeared when the pressure was lessened. The experiment was repeated a number of times with the result that the pressure on the eyeball always produced a cataract, which was relieved by reducing the pressure.
There are two oblique and four straight or recti muscles on the outside of the eyeball.
The superior and inferior oblique pressing on the eyeball at the same time have always been followed by lengthening of the eyeball. The four straight muscles on the outside of the eyeball shorten the globe or eyeball by their contraction. In animals the eyeball has been shortened experimentally by operations on each of the four straight muscles, which increased the pressure temporarily. These operations were performed after death. Similar operations on the two oblique muscles at the same time produced pressure and increased hardness of the eyeball with cataract following.
Patients suffering from cataract have increased the hardness of the eyeball, at the same time increasing the density of the cataract. While the cataract is being observed with the aid of the ophthalmoscope, it can be seen to change in size or density when the patient consciously or voluntarily increases or diminishes the hardness of the eyeball with the aid of the memory or the imagination.
When a word, a letter, part of a letter, or other object is remembered perfectly with the eyes closed or open, the cataract can be seen by the observer to become less. But if memory of letters, colors or other objects is imperfect, the cataract always is seen by the observer to become worse. A great many cases of senile and other forms of cataract have been temporarily improved and this improvement has become more complete and more permanent by the practice of a perfect memory.
A perfect memory usually becomes manifest when the patient practices the optical swing. However, the cataract always becomes worse when the optical swing or the perfect memory is not practiced. To keep the eyeball hard by practicing an imperfect memory is difficult and requires effort. The practice of an imperfect memory is tiresome and requires constant attention of the patient. In others it can be demonstrated that the formation of cataract in elderly people requires hard work and is exceedingly difficult.
(Some of) these patients are difficult to treat because they cannot control the functions of the mind.

(The function of the mind can be improved at any age, along with the vision. Improving vision improves function of the mind.
Improving the mind, improves the vision. Stay active; mentally and physically. See left and right brain hemisphere activation, integration exercises.)

A perfect memory is easy. It is quick, continuous and beneficial. Patients with a perfect memory have consciously or unconsciously a perfect optical swing. They are able to remember, to imagine letters, colors and other objects continuously without any strain or fatigue. These cases are favorable and recover from cataract after they demonstrate that a perfect memory is beneficial.
The study of cataract has occupied the attention of eye doctors for many hundreds of years. It occurs very frequently in India, China, Japan and among people of the highest intelligence, as well as among those whose intelligence is of the lowest order. Some cases appear without apparent cause. It may increase rapidly or slowly and continuously, until the vision is completely lost.
Of all organic diseases of the eye which have received medical attention, measures of relief by operation or by the use of eyedrops have usually, in a large number of cases, been unsatisfactory. Cases have been operated upon in which a temporary cure was obtained. However, in too many of these cases the good vision obtained soon after the operation did not remain good. In some of these cases and without apparent cause, inflammation of the interior parts of the eye developed and was followed by serious loss of vision.
Some cases of cataract are found in the eyes of children soon after birth, sometimes in one eye, less frequently in both. The cataract which occurs in children is softer than in the eyes of adults and is more readily benefited by operation than in the eyes of adults. In some cases of cataract in children, the front part of the lens becomes opaque. Such a cataract is called an anterior polar cataract. Often, after the lens has been punctured, it becomes absorbed and good vision is obtained. In other cases an opacity forms on the back part of the lens which increases until the lens becomes entirely opaque. Here again repeated puncturing of the lens is followed by a total opacity of the lens, and its complete absorption. In a third variety of cataract in children, an opacity of the lens forms in one or more layers of the lens, which is usually absorbed after repeated punctures of the lens are made with a sharp needle. This operation has been called “needling of the lens.”

Birth trauma, forceps used on the baby’s head, neck, suction delivery, falls, head, neck injury can misalign the neck vertebrae, bones of the skull, eye socket (where the eye muscles are attached, nerves, blood vessels pass through and the eyes rest), resulting in: pressure, tension on/in the eye, lens, retina, eye muscles, abnormal eye muscle/eye function, movement, abnormal eye shape, incorrect focus of light rays, pressure, tension on the nerves, blood, lymph vessels in the neck, head, eye muscles, eyes, retina causing unclear vision, cataracts, astigmatism, crossed, wandering eyes and other abnormal conditions.
Chiropractic and Cranial Sacral treatment to align the neck vertebrae and bones of the skull/eye socket and the Bates Method removes the pressure, tension from the eyes, lens, retina, muscles, nerves… the eye returns to normal health, shape, function – cataract and other eye problems are reversed, cured without surgery, vision is clear.

When cataract occurs in adults of forty years or older it is called senile cataract. In adults, the operation of needling the lens is not so successful in being followed by absorption of the lens. In some cases, if not in a large number, better results are obtained by removing the whole lens by one or more operations. There are many diseases of the eyes such as inflammations of the iris and choroid which are believed to produce cataract. The removal of the lens is usually very difficult without injuring the iris, choroid and retina.
In cataract the crystalline lens becomes opaque and being opaque it interferes very seriously with the vision. To obtain good vision, eye doctors were usually able to improve the sight by the removal of the opaque lens. After the lens was removed, the vision was materially improved by the use of strong glasses, which rarely improved the sight to normal.
I have studied the physiology of the eye and I have repeatedly published the fact that it is much better to cure the opacity of the lens so that the patient could have normal vision with a normal eye rather than to relieve the blindness by the removal of the lens. Curing rheumatism of the hand by an operation which removes the hand is not the best treatment. Likewise rheumatism of the big toe is not considered a proper case for amputation. Medical or simple treatment without an operation will usually result in a cure.
I do believe in operations when necessary or where medical treatment fails to correct the trouble. However, removing the lens from the eye does not cure cataract of the lens nor does it prevent cataract from forming in the other eye.
Since cataract or opacity of the lens is caused by tension, relaxation should cure or prevent the trouble. If relaxation fails to cure cataract we should consider this fact an evidence that tension is not the cause of cataract. Relaxation can be obtained with the aid of memory, imagination and sight. If the eye of a child is injured by a blow and a cataract forms early or late in life it has always been demonstrated that the eye with cataract is under a tension.
Treatment which brings about relaxation always cures the cataract after a considerable amount of treatment which may require several months or longer. Among the many methods of treatment, the amount of relaxation necessary to be followed by a cure is a perfect memory, perfect imagination and the benefit obtained by sun treatment. Central fixation has in some cases cured all forms of cataract - senile cataract, soft cataract in children, cataract caused by sugar in the blood and other poisons.

It is found that when patients sit facing the sun with both eyes closed and move the head a short distance from side to side, they can stand the strong light of the sun for longer periods of time than they can with the eyes open. When the sun is not shining, a strong electric light is a good substitute.
Much quicker improvement in the sight can be obtained with the proper use of the sunglass. The patient is directed to look down while facing the sun and to do this continuously without effort or strain. The operator lifts the upper lid with the thumb of one hand. When the white part or sclera of the eyeball is exposed to view he quickly concentrates or focuses the strong light of the sun on the sclera, moving it continuously and only for an instant at a time.

A Case Of Cataract

By Emily C. Lierman

There was a time when I thought that all cases of cataract could be treated and benefited by one and the same method. I know now that this cannot be done for many reasons. Age has nothing to do with treatment for the cure of cataract, because I have had patients over eighty years of age who responded much quicker and became well much sooner than younger patients who were troubled the same way.
I was treating a woman with cataract who was seventy-seven years old, at the same time that I was treating another woman, age sixty-two. Both women had the same amount of vision with the test card, and neither one could read newspaper or book type. Yet, the elder of the two was benefited and the cataract of both eyes had entirely disappeared, while I was still working hard with the younger patient who was becoming irritable, rebellious and most discouraged, because of the increased length of time required to benefit her.
Neither of us was at fault as far as my good judgment goes, because she was faithful in what I directed her to do when I was not with her. While I was treating her, I had to remember constantly that there was a man named Job who was severely tried, according to the Old Testament of the Bible. However, my dear patient did not know of my endurance because I kept smiling always. She was very nervous and had cause to be. Money was no object to her but a great disappointment had come into her life. So great was it in fact, that all who knew her thought she was losing her mind. For this reason, my heart went out to this patient who suffered mentally because of her wayward son. Extreme mental, emotional strain=strain, tension in the body, mind, eye muscles, eyes=cataract, unclear vision.
During the hour, or I should say two hours of her treatment, because I could never accomplish anything much in less time, she would mention the name of her boy who, although he was of age and married, was still her little boy. Her room, which was cheerful and sunny, had pictures of him all over the walls. Some of them were baby pictures and there were others taken at the ages of sixteen and twenty-one and when he graduated from college. I noticed particularly that when she looked at his baby pictures her face would show signs of tenderness and relaxation. But when she looked at the pictures of his later years she would close her eyes and her face would become wrinkled with age and tension.
For days after I had noticed this, I studied her case and planned a different way of treating her. All my spare moments were spent in thinking out the best way to relieve her strain which prevented a permanent benefit.
Weeks grew into months before I finally conquered the wrong, or really helped her to overcome her disappointment and nervousness. In seven months’ time with treatment several times every week, never less than three treatments each week, she finally became able to read every test card, even to the ten line letters, at fifteen feet.
She had been a great reader, and could read a whole book in less than two hours when she was much younger. Therefore it was a terrible disappointment to her when her sight failed and she had to forego that pleasure. Occasionally, a neighbor or a friend would visit her and read her favorite books aloud to her. Now at the end of seven months’ treatment of her eyes she was convinced that I had told her the truth; that she would become able to read again without the aid of glasses.
Neighbors and friends were invited to call so that they could see with their own eyes what she was able to do. These friends knew how she had doubted me. They doubted me too, except one who was at one time a patient of Dr. Bates. This friend had not called because she was too far away, but she had written to my patient. What she wrote gave my patient enough faith and confidence in me to start the treatment, although she doubted me. She told me so in plain English. She was not the only patient who doubted me at the beginning of the treatment and who later on believed in me completely.
When the vision of this patient became normal for distant sight, she soon was able to read the finest print readily without glasses. I had not tested her ability to read fine print because I feared the bad effect of disappointment if she failed to read it. My experience with other and similar patients encouraged me to believe that if I could improve her distant vision to the normal that she would soon become able to read the fine print, “diamond type,” without the aid of glasses.
I felt that it was useless for me to test her ability to read fine print from our usual test cards, so I asked her if she had some book in her possession containing small print, and she answered me by pointing to a large dictionary fastened to a stand in a sunny corner of her room.
Before I asked her to go near the dictionary, I said, “I have had patients with your trouble who became able to read the small print of the dictionary by placing a small card with much finer print in the neighborhood of the small letters of the dictionary.” As I watched her closely while saying this and noticed her frown, I said quickly, “Of course, I do not expect you to do this just now.”
This remark worked something like a magnet, for she at once hurried to the dictionary and with the aid of the small card which she received from me and which contained fine print or diamond type, she read occasional words of the dictionary, much to her delight.
There were times during the months which followed, when she had relapses which caused depression, but after she had removed some of the pictures of her son from the walls of her room, the conversation while I was with her was more about herself and the improvement in her eyes. In the beginning, her distant vision with the test card was 10/30 with the right eye and 10/50 with the left. At the end of her treatment her sight was better in each eye than the average normal eye.
During the last treatment, I spent the day with her, and she read for me a large part of a book in which the print was very small. She announced with a great deal of pleasure that for years she had been unable to read this book, with or without her glasses. The cataract in both eyes was very materially improved. Only the lower inner part of the pupil had a trace of the cataract in each eye.
The principal part of the treatment given this woman was the sun treatment. While I was with her, I applied the sun glass. When I was not with her she was able to use the sun glass with benefit or just the same as I used it. Because she was of a nervous temperament, I always focused the sunlight on the outside of her closed eyelids.

Questions And Answers

Q - Is it all right to palm while lying down? Is it better to sit or stand while doing so? If the arms get tired is it all right to rest the elbows on a desk or something like that while palming? Or is it best to hold the elbows up free from all support?
A - It is all right to palm while lying down. Palming should not be done while one is standing. The elbows should rest on a desk or table or on a cushion placed in the lap. One should be in as comfortable a position as possible while palming, in order to obtain the most benefit.

Q - My left eye turned in and was corrected by operation. Now it turns out. What method will cure this?
A – You need more than one method. Complete relaxation will relieve the strain and correct the squint.

Q – Is a great amount of floating specks indicative of cataract? When I am weary these look like a flock of bees crossing my eyeballs.
A – No. Your particular strain produces floating specks. A different strain produces cataract.

Q – Would the reading of fine print at four inches be helpful?
A – The reading of fine print at four inches is usually helpful.

Q – How long is it necessary to read the test card before obtaining benefit?
A – Some patients by palming and resting their eyes have obtained benefit in a few minutes.

Q - I notice that my squint eye does straighten after palming, but reverts when I stop. How can I tell when and how I strain?
A – Avoid staring after palming and blink all the time. You can demonstrate that staring is a strain by consciously doing it for a few seconds.

Q – Please explain what you mean when you say “imperfect sight, imperfect memory.”
A – If you see an object imperfectly, blurred or gray instead of black, you cannot remember it perfectly. You will remember it as you see it.

The blurred mental image causes the object to continue to be seen unclear because the memory, imagination, brain is creating, storing a unclear image, picture of the object. Remembering, imagining the object clear, shifting on it causes the brain to store a clear picture of the object in the memory. The object becomes clear, the eyes then see the object correct, clear and send a perfect clear picture to the brain. The brain stores a perfect clear picture of the object in the memory. The next time the object is seen, the eyes, brain use the clear memory picture to activate correct eye function, perfect shifting on the object - the eyes see the object clear.

Q - My hands become tired when I palm. Can I sit in a dark room instead of palming? Can I cover my eyes with a dark cloth?
A - No. I have found this to be a strain.

Q – Why is fine print beneficial?
A – Fine print is beneficial because it cannot be read by a strain or effort. The eyes must be relaxed.

Q – How can one overcome the stare if it is unconscious?
A – Blink consciously, whenever possible, especially when reading. Never look at an object for more than a few seconds at a time. Shift your gaze. Shift from part to part, object to object. Blink, relax.

Q – I have attained normal vision, but after reading for a while, my eyes feel strained. Would you still consider I had normal sight?
A – If your eyes feel strained, you are not reading with normal vision. Check your posture, relaxation, positive state of mind, stay interested in the subject being read. Blink. Avoid staring, squinting, effort to see, worrying, thinking about the eyes, clarity of vision. Look to the distance occasionally.

Q – If type can be seen more distinctly with the eyes partly closed, (squinting) is it advisable to read that way?
A – No, it is not advisable to read that way because it is a strain, and alters the shape of the eyeball.

Q – Seeing stationary objects moving appears to me to be merely self-hypnotism. I can’t do it.
A – When riding in a train the stationary telephone poles appear to move in the opposite direction. Of course this is an illusion, but it is a benefit to the eyes to imagine all stationary objects moving.

Q – I am always conscious of eyestrain in church.
A – Eyestrain is caused by a stare or an effort to see. Close your eyes frequently and rest them. Shift, blink when looking at the priest, alter, windows… If you are bored with the sermon because you have heard it many times before, let the mind daydream to something pleasant.

Q – Is there any power in the lens of dark sunglasses? Are they harmful?
A – Yes. Dark glasses are very injurious to the eyes.

Sunglasses, tinted, colored, UV blocking and even plain eyeglass lenses prevent healthy full spectrum sunlight from entering the eyes and causes harmful unbalanced, partial spectrum light to enter the eyes, brain, body, lowers tolerance to sunlight and all light, adjustment to light/dark, causes watering eyes, impairs mood, sleep cycle, functions of the brain, memory, imagination…, impairs health and function of the retina, lens, cornea, eye muscles, iris, resulting in unclear vision, astigmatism, cataracts, macula degeneration, conical cornea and other eye problems.

Q – By blinking do you mean shutting and opening the eyes quickly, or is it dome slowly like a wink?
A – Blinking is done quickly, and not slowly link a wink. Watch someone with perfect sight do this unconsciously, and follow his example.

Q – I have noticed that when I palm, my eyeballs hurt from the pressure. When I loosen this tension the light filters in.
A – Palming is done correctly with the fingers closed and laid gently over each eye, using the palms like a cup. If this is done properly there is no pressure and the light is shut out. Its ok if a little light shines through.

Q – I have improved my sight by palming, but when I read for any length of time the pain returns.
A – When you read and your eyes pain you, it means that you are straining your eyes. More frequent palming may help you more continuously.

Squinting – To squeeze the eyelids close together, narrowing the space between the eyelids. This reduces the unfocused light rays in abnormally functioning eyes (the pinhole effect) and brings temporary clearer vision while squinting but leads to eye muscle tension, strain, muscle tension in the face, neck… and increased blur. Avoid squinting.
Shift part to part on a object to see it clear, maintain clear eyesight and healthy eyes.

Case Report

By Edith Reid

The following is a report of a case treated by Mrs. Edith Reid, one of Dr. Bates’ representatives, who is now practicing in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Many times I have been asked: “Is it really possible to cure cataract by Dr. Bates’ method without an operation?” I can prove that it is. One morning in January during our very hot weather a lady called to see me. Upon being told that as I was leaving town very shortly I could not see her, she became very much upset and declared that she would go blind, as she had cataract. As soon as I heard it was cataract, I had her shown into the room, knowing that if she was not taught the Bates Method she would become worse if left until I returned some months later. This lady made her living by teaching singing.
When tested, she read the fifty line at ten feet from the test card; then her vision blurred as she began to strain terribly. She was taught to palm and rest her eyes. Hers was a bright, sunny nature and she was very happy at finding such an easy simple way of resting her poor tired eyes.
She was told to discard her glasses, but declared that would be very difficult as she had worn them for thirty seven years. However, she said that she would be plucky and try. She was asked to come again the following day, which she did. She was all smiles and said that she was sure she was better as her eyes felt moist and so rested.
She was taught the swing and was told to swing and palm all day long if possible. She had a journey of about two hours on the train every morning to come into the city to teach, so she was told to look out of the windows and see everything moving, and when talking to friends to be sure to close her eyes often, so as to keep herself from staring.
Every morning for the next eight days she came to my rooms to get the sun glass treatment and rest for at least an hour before starting her teaching. She was always bright and cheerful and came every day saying how much better she was.
On the ninth morning she was tested and she was able to read the test card 15/10 and diamond type print at twelve inches. She became very much excited and told of how she had been told by an eye specialist that she had cataract and that she would go totally blind and then they would operate. She was also told never to take off her glasses. When asked how she found time to practice, she answered: “I work with my eyes all day long. When I play the accompaniments for my pupils, I swing and then when I speak to them I close my eyes.”
She is now able to read the newspapers and any small print with perfect comfort. She says her friends come to see her teach as they had never known her without glasses. She is most grateful to Dr. Bates.