TWO KINDS OF RELEXATION

Relaxation, which is the secret of normal vision, should therefore be the basis of eye training. There are two types of relaxation:

1. The sort you indulge when you are at rest, not attempting to use your eyes.
2. The sort you must maintain habitually at your work while it is necessary for you to see rapidly and accurately.

After this habit of relaxed visual, activity becomes automatic with you, the eyes will grow keener and stronger with use; just as any other portion of the body, if used correctly, will improve in health and power. For example, relaxation is emphasised in the treatment of the hard of hearing. No athlete is good until he relaxes. Slow motion pictures of a good boxer or runner show that even though his working muscles may tighten for an instant to provide power, he is boxing or running while relaxed. This is largely the reason for the custom that athletes warm up, by slight exercise, before engaging in contests.

The normal relaxed function of the eye is seriously hampered by the tensions of our super-civilisation. People who ease their way through life do not have eye strain. What we should teach in the earliest grades is the power to attain knowledge, to maintain interest, to accomplish tasks in mental application without tension. In reality, knowledge is acquired and creative mental work accomplished only when the mind is relaxed or at ease. Writers have told me that their best plots and most vivid scenes come to them when they are completely relaxed and at rest rather than when cudgelling their brains for material.

Dr. Bates proved that well-sunned, unstrained eyes are not affected by age because they maintain their relaxation during activity, which is the secret of all skills. The remarkable vision of primitive natives of great age is convincingly demonstrated by this story. 'One of my pupils who had developed super-distant vision studied a tribe of Indians on the desert. While strolling with an aged brave, he looked through his high-powered binoculars and located a deer on the horizon. He pointed the location to his venerable companion and asked what it was. The old Indian tipped back his head and, training his desert eyes on the distance, replied, "Umph, deer heading south." Thinking the Indian was perhaps far-sighted and could not see well at the close point-the so-called "old age sight" of civilisation-my pupil picked up a pinch of desert sand, spread it on his palm and questioned the old man, who examined it and gave an accurate description of its content.

Dr. Bates's work was with vision-not eyes. When vision becomes better, eye defects tend to disappear. Strain, effort and decentralisation, which is the use of the wrong portion of the retina, or failure to use the centre of sight, cause defective vision, technically known, as refractive error. If we eliminate strain, the refractive error takes care of itself. The orthodox hold the opposite contention that refractive error makes the strain. They treat the refractive error, allowing the strain to continue unattended.

Though Dr. Bates was a physician and surgeon, the method he developed is essentially educational, not medical. We who teach it do not concern ourselves with problems of physiology or disease. It is not necessary for us to do so, for experience proves that when people with imperfect. eyesight acquire the art - of seeing, the organs of vision will tend to rid themselves of their physical defects. Relaxed organs enjoy better circulation than organs wrongly used and under strain. Improved circulation gives an organ a chance to build up its resistance, free itself of disease and correct its defects.

Now you may wonder what you, yourself, can do for .your troublesome eyes that are constantly giving you imperfect vision. Study the drills in, this book thoroughly. Select the ones -that seem to apply most directly to your particular problem. Realise that tension is the basic cause, of all refractive error and more serious complications and resolve to get rid of your tension. Do these drills conscientiously each day as regularly as you eat your meals. You will be astonished at the results, not only in vision but in increased nerve power and greater endurance with which to meet the demands of your life... This ease of body and mind will show itself in a more optimistic outlook and a more radiant expression.

Students who-improve their vision only to a degree must continue their drills in relaxation to maintain their gain. Those who complete this normalisation find that their improvement is permanent and that their eyes need no further attention since they have estab-lished. Good subconscious habits of normal sight-and habit is lasting.