The Bates Method
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Natural Vision Improvement is largely based on the work of Dr William H. Bates (1860–1931), an ophthalmologist in New York City who helped thousands of people improve their vision and reduce their dependence on glasses.
A wonderful resource for learning more about natural vision improvement and the Bates Method is Visions of Joy, the website of my first vision teacher, Esther Joy van der Werf. (Esther just passed away in March 2025 and will be dearly missed!) You can also check out the Better Eyesight Podcast, a monthly podcast dedicated to reviving the original monthly magazine published by Dr. Bates exactly 100 years ago.
My own approach combines different elements from my various streams of learning as well as my personal vision journey.
Recently, in my Transformational Coaching studies, I came across a striking passage describing the process of perception, echoing Aldous Huxley in The Art of Seeing, and beautifully aligned with Dr. Bates’ understanding of refractive error as a symptom of mental strain.
“We tend to be creatures of habit, and each of us has unique ways of looking at ourselves and at the world, ways that probably long ago settled within us. These patterns of perception are the result of grasping onto certain things we believe we need or we want, and rejecting other things we believe to be of no use to us or things we imagine are going to hurt us. Deep in the cure of the body there is often a kind of anxiety that bubbles up right under the surface of our conscious experience because of our preconceptions about what is good or bad, right or wrong, needed or not needed. The anxiety emerges because a genuine perception of what is actually happening in the present moment is arising, but it is colored by our habitual ways of perceiving—our samskāras. Consequently much of our life is spent avoiding the undercurrent of anxiety that surfaces as we place a mask of happiness (or tragedy) over what on a deeper level we are actually aware of—the present moment. With practice we learn to observe these brief little moments of anxiety before that are covered up by the avoidance habits of mind. The content of our observation could be wonderful, bright, and happy, or it could be absolutely miserable, but nonetheless we stick with it and watch it with an open mind and an open heart. And this is the foundation of the practice: that we simply train ourselves to observe the presentation of the mind, the vrtti , whatever it is and whenever it drifts into our conscious awareness.”
— The Mirror of Yoga: Awakening the Intelligence of Body and Mind, by Richard Freeman
Disclaimer: As I am not a medical doctor, I do not diagnose or give prescriptions. I also do not guarantee results.