At the turn of the century a New York Ophthalmologist by the name of William H. Bates (1860 - 1931) began to question the official line. In his daily work of examining eyes he discovered that eyesight changes all the time. Over the years he began to uncover the natural way of seeing. It began with Bates curing himself from Presbyopia (far-sightedness that comes with age). He went on to cure consistently a whole host of eye problems within a very short time.

For example, in 1903 he discovered a simple technique that could prevent most school children from developing near-sightedness (myopia). In 1920 he introduced this into the school system of New Jearsy and was able to reduce the incidents of near-sightedness by 70% the first year. Like me, you are probably asking yourself - why do so many children still wear glasses?

The professional community has largely ignored Dr. Bates’ ideas. Today it is mostly people who have been cured using his methods that practise the Bates Method. American novelist Aldus Huxley recovered from near blindness by using Bates methods. He wrote a book about it appropriately titled “The art of seeing, 1943.” The Bates Method also helped the father of Gestalt therapy, Fritz Perls. Recently a young man, Mier Schnider, born blind, recovered his eyesight using the Bates Method. Dr. R.S. Agarwal has spent a lifetime teaching the Bates Method in India and founded the “School for perfect eyesight” at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. Dr. Agarwal has helped thousands of people with all kinds of eye problems including cataracts, double vision, macula degeneration, hyperopia, presbyopia, myopia, astigmatism and so on.

I wore glasses for more than 26 years before I got motivated to do something about it. I heard that people who spent a lot of time exercising could eventually recover their vision, however, being of the western world I wanted something that produced results quickly. In 1993 I was reading a book by John Grinder and Richard Bandler titled “Trance-formations, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the structure of Hypnosis, 1981.” In this book, on page 166, they talk about hypnotically regressing someone back to being 5 years old and having perfect eyesight. They brought him back to the present keeping the 5-year-old eyesight - and it worked! This was exciting news, so I started to look around for a hypnotist that I thought could do this for me. However, the Universe had other ideas, because I could not find anyone. therefore I started to search for other ways of improving my eyesight.

I experimented with various visualization techniques and found they indeed work, but, (in my estimation) are only able to improve about 10%. Imagination and visualization is an important factor as William Bates discovered about a 100 years ago.
One of the things that set me thinking was the research done in connection with people who have multiple personality disorder (MPD). A Chicago psychiatrist Bennett Braun (1983) working with such patients took them to an optometrist and while hypnotized, the patients were able to switch from one personality to another. The optometrist examined the vision of each personality. He was astounded to discover that vision shifted along with personality. Chriss Sizemore, the subject of the book and movie “Three faces of Eve,” experienced different vision in different personalities. Far-sightedness, astigmatism, and colour blindness altered with the personalities.

There are actual measurable changes in the shape of the eyes and the pressure within them. People with multiple personalities also exhibit other dramatic changes like needing insulin in one personality and not in another, depending on whether the personality is diabetic or not. All this leads to the conclusion that vision problems are not physical, they are a software problem, its in the mind. MPD’s exhibit the changes very dramatically and rapidly. This research shatters the common belief that vision deteriorates with age.

The final piece that made the difference was Pranic Healing. I met Master Choa Kok Sui in the early 1980’s before he published his first book “The Ancient Art & Science of Pranic Healing, 1987” From reading his book and other healing practices I have developed my ability to work on the etheric energy level. Pranic Healing enables you to remove stagnant energy in the eyes and replace it with fresh energy. I started doing the Pranic Healing process every two hours for the first week. Initially I stumbled to work without glasses and worked until after lunch before putting on my glasses again. However after a week of doing this I no longer needed my glasses and I have not used them since.

I did not have 20/20 vision, but I was comfortable without my glasses and in the following days and weeks my vision kept extending further and further out. Since 1992 my vision has been normal and I do not need any correction at all.

For almost 5 years I worked with individuals and was able to help them improve their eyesight and in some cases completely restore their vision to normal. In 1996 I was attending an NLP Modelling course at the NLP University, California. We were supposed to model someone who had done something exceptional. At the time I did not know anyone who had improved their eyesight, so I decided that I would use my own experience as the model. At the time I believed that it was necessary to find the underlying belief before vision could be restored. Over the years I regressed a lot of people and discovered many interesting causes for poor vision. Since, more than 60% of the population in the Western World wear glasses a more effective was is needed.

I wanted to find a way to integrate the principles of NLP and develop a Vision Training program that is effective and that can be taught in a workshop format. This way many more people can benefit.

What you are about to start on is a journey of discovering your natural vision. It is my conviction that no one need wear lenses or other corrective devices. There is no one way that is particularly right. What matter is that you learn to relax and see the world as it really is.

Because of my background with Hypnosis, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Pranic Healing, this method includes a lot more than the original Bates Method. I think of vision improvement as the balance of four elements.

Vision: the mind side is build on:

Visualization - Meditation / Relaxation

Belief work Energy work - Neuro-Linguistic Programming Pranic healing

Physical exercises - Bates exercises and others

Belief work

By resolving any limiting beliefs related to what you, at one point in your life, did not want to see or because of your beliefs must not see. Neuro-Linguistic Programming has, thanks to the work of Robert Dilts, some exquisite and elegant ways of resolving conflicting beliefs. With sub-conscious agreement your vision will improve very rapidly.

Physical exercises

These are primarily the Bates exercises as they have evolved over the years. When you wear correcting lenses your eye muscles do not get used as much as they normally would. Consequently they become lax and must be regenerated by exercise.

Energy work

This is what fuels the rocket. Pranic Healing enables you quickly to remove eye strain and project new energy into the vision mechanism. William Bates recommended sunning (facing the sun with your eyes closed), however, modern life with energy sucking computer screens requires a more readily available source of energy.

Visualization

Imagery and memory are important aspects of the visual system so visualization and relaxation are very important factors contributing to healthy vision.

Now, join me on your journey to recover your natural clear vision.

Basic assumptions I have adopted about vision:

Vision is 90% in the mind

The eyes are only sense organs all the actual seeing takes place at the back of the brain, where the two images are combined into a three dimensional impression. For example the eyes see the world upside down. Yet everyone can see the ground at the bottom of the picture.

Clear vision is the natural state

We are all born with perfect eyesight. Less than 1% are born with eye defects. Rural communities and people in native societies generally have perfect eyesight.

Sight is a learned ability

New born infants initially only see the world as a blur. The same is the case with adults who, through an operation regain their eyesight. Sight is one of the first senses to develop as the infant grows. Physicist Arthur Zajonc describes the surprising difficulties encountered by individuals who did not learn to see as children and first recovered their sight in adulthood. His book is titled “Catching the light: The entwined history of light and mind.”

The visual field is a mirror of our energy level

Dr. Bates was the first to notice that natural vision varies all the time. Everyone has experienced a reduction in visual acuity corresponding to the overall level of tiredness.

Vision emanates from within the self, goes out, and then return within

The meta-physical aspect of vision as an inner sense also plays a role in normal vision. There are people like Jacques Lusseyran, a French writer, philosopher, and resistance fighter whose eyes were destroyed in a childhood accident. Shortly after his accident he discovered that he could still see, even though his eyes had been completely destroyed. In his autobiography “And there was light,” he tells what happened after the bandages were removed.

Eyesight is reflecting belief imprint(s) about what can be seen and what must not be seen

One of the key factors in resolving vision problems is to resolve any deeply imprinted beliefs about what is OK to see. Often these imprints are sub-conscious beliefs that at one time were appropriate responses but have long since seized to be relevant. Resolving belief imprints allows the eyes to return to the natural state. Having sub-conscious agreement that vision training is appropriate goes a long way to making this a reality.

Muscles will regenerate if exercised

This relates to the eye muscles which are not used if lenses are worn.

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