Q & A
Doug answers questions about the book:1. What inspired you to write a book about natural vision improvement (NVI)?
My primary motivation was to get the message out about this important alternative health method. NVI has remained in relative obscurity ever since the method was pioneered over 80 years ago. Even amidst the surging popularity of the alternative health field the past couple of decades, NVI is still largely an underground practice. Many people who've perhaps visited a chiropractor, an acupuncturist, a naturopath or a homeopath – in fact, many such practitioners themselves – are under the mistaken impression that the conventional eyecare industry is the only option for our valuable sense of sight. NVI offers the healthier alternative. I’ve benefited greatly from NVI; not only has my eyesight improved, but my overall health has as well. This inspired me to write the book.
2. Since NVI is still relatively obscure, how did you first find out about it?
A few years ago, I came across a brief article in a magazine dedicated to healthy living, a subject that has interested me as far back as my teens. The article made reference to Dr. Bates, a controversial eye doctor in the early 1900s, who offered a natural means to improving blurred vision. The health magazine was published at a time before widespread use of the Internet, so I wasn’t able to do a Google search to find out more. But, I eventually found a book about the Bates Method of NVI at a local health food store. I immediately purchased the book and decided to try out the method for myself.
3. You had some early success with NVI?
Yes. Ever since I was a child I had worn high prescription glasses for nearsightedness, technically called “myopia.” The lenses were what I called coke-bottle thickness. Without my glasses on, the world was extremely blurry beyond a few inches from my face. Yet within a few weeks of practicing NVI, one day my eyesight spontaneously cleared to virtually 20/20 vision for a few brief seconds. That sudden flash of clear vision completely caught me by surprise and convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dr. Bates was right. That was the turning point which solidified my commitment to continue the method.
I believed I would one day restore my sight to 20/20 vision, even though I had no idea how long it would take. Eight years later, I’m still not there yet, but I’m getting much closer to my goal. My myopia has reduced by half to three-quarters depending on lighting conditions and other stress factors. For the most part, I get by very well without any aids to my vision. I require weak prescription lenses only for driving or demanding low light situations.
The time aspect of NVI doesn’t matter to me, because I wasn’t seeking or expecting an instant miracle. Like any form of natural healing, time and patience are part of the process.
4. If NVI takes so long, why would people bother? Why not just go with optical services and new technological advances in eye surgeries?
The accepted quick fixes aren’t really fixes at all. Prescription lenses or laser surgeries neutralize the blurry vision, but they don’t address the underlying cause of the blur. It’s similar to taking medication for a headache; the pills only mask the problem and don’t cure anything.
Aside from masking the symptoms rather than addressing the cause, there are risks associated with the optical industry. Dr. Bates contended that the use of prescription lenses created a vicious cycle of dependence – some would even say an addiction – that only makes the blur worse. Over the long run, the more severe the blurry vision, the greater the chance that other serious eye complications could ensue. And, of course, contact lenses and laser surgeries carry many other risks that are coming to the forefront in the news. All these types of negative outcomes are what the medical profession calls “iatrogenic” – damages that are inadvertently induced by the treatment itself.
5. Considering that NVI is a relatively unknown field, your book contains a fairly extensive bibliography. How did this come about?
My interest in NVI just sort of gradually grew into a self-directed research mission. I wanted to gather as much material as I could on the subject of NVI and find out why the method has been suppressed for generations. I have a degree in engineering science, so analysis and problem solving skills are second nature to me. I became an ardent student, pouring through many books, journals and Internet resources. Much of the material was geared to the general public, whereas other material was specialized in nature and required learning technical terms. My study eventually branched to other fields of health that had a fascinating connection to the eyes or vision.
6. How did you choose the theme of Taoism for your book?
The Taoism theme is certainly quite far removed from my upbringing in Canada. During my childhood, I was raised in a traditional Christian culture and our family attended Presbyterian church service most Sundays. Being rather introspective by nature, I've always yearned for the proverbial “deeper meaning” that goes beyond such Western style religious practices. When learning about several Eastern religious practices and other inner traditions, I was immediately drawn to Taoism, the ancient Chinese spiritual philosophy; it just clicked with me, intuitively and emotionally. That was a few years before I found out about NVI.
After I studied Dr. Bates’ original writings in depth, I discovered that many of the facts and fundamentals he taught could be condensed in such a manner to parallel ancient Taoist values. It allowed me to structure chapters around Taoist themes of rhythm, softness, return, balance and wholeness while retaining the essence of Bates’ work. I found that a great deal of misunderstanding surrounds the Bates Method, not only by skeptics, but also by some proponents of NVI who teach non-holistic, regimented approaches that misrepresent his concepts.
7. What do you consider to be the most important concept from Dr. Bates’ work?
The primary concept is what I call “refractive rhythm.” Refraction is the technical term for the phenomena of light rays bending through different media. A common example of refraction is the illusion of a distorted spoon handle in a glass of water; the handle appears bent at the boundary between the air and water. Light rays also refract after they enter your eyes. When you look at an object, light rays from that object converge in the back part of the eye, called the “retina.” If the light rays don’t refract or bend the correct way on the very center of the retina, the resulting vision will be out of focus. Eye specialists call this an “error of refraction.”
Conventional vision science states that this error of refraction is a genetic outcome – both unpreventable and irreversible. Dr. Bates, on the other hand, discovered an ebb and flow to refraction, which means that sharpness of vision fluctuates considerably under many different factors. Dr. Bates further discovered that stress was the culprit behind blurred vision, impacting the natural focusing movements of the eyes.
Once Dr. Bates made these discoveries, it created such hope for conditions previously thought to be irreversible and incurable. Restoring Your Eyesight goes on to discuss several ingenious techniques he developed to help people gradually reverse their blurred vision by natural means.
8. Besides a dramatic improvement in your vision, what other health benefits have you experienced?
As my body began to rebalance with relaxation, I realized that my blurred vision was just the tip of the iceberg. Healing pains in muscle groups started to surface first in the face and head. Over time, the pains continued to surface and work their way down into the neck, shoulders, chest, ribs, hips and legs.
The holistic aspect of NVI was the big surprise that was in store for me. Prior to starting the program, I was a constant mouth breather, I had poor immunity to sinus infections and I suffered a recurrent problem with a stiff neck and shoulder. It turned out that my blurred vision was part and parcel of all these other symptoms. I never would have believed they were related, but the impact of stress and strain is broad, not localized.
In essence, my eyes were messengers, telling me loud and clear that there was a whole body imbalance. I discovered my imbalance centered on the jaw and inner-ear, not the eyes. I’ve since been diagnosed as having a jaw dysfunction, called a TMJ disorder, which in my case causes muscle strain in the head and neck area to distort the function of the inner-ear. I suffered vertigo spells as child prior to the onset of the blurred vision. Once I started to wear the glasses, I apparently subconsciously compensated the off-balance feelings with continual eyestrain and postural strain, thereby averting vertigo spells. But my body paid the price. The strong prescription lenses that neutralized the blur actually exacerbated the problem. Muscular tension got locked in from head to toe, and the tension got much worse as the years went by.
Since embarking on my NVI program, my general health has improved considerably. I’m a nose breather now and I rarely get sick any more. I’ve had but a couple of minor sinus colds over a six-year period. That’s a far cry from the three or four severe colds I used to catch each year.
9. When you discuss “soul-istic” healing in your book, what do you mean by that?
It's been said that our eyes are "windows of the soul." Unfortunately, conventional vision treatment stops at the window pane and completely ignores our soul essence inside. Even some misguided or misunderstood attempts at NVI deal with the eyes strictly from a physical fitness standpoint.
The outer physical body is but one aspect of holistic health. True holism must also consider the inner realm. Taoism says it nicely: "Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, can you avoid separation." Because our inner soul aspect deals with the mind and emotions, I like to say that holistic is largely "soul-istic."
An impressive body of scientific research has found that many emotional and behavioral difficulties go hand-in-hand with vision problems. ADHD, dyslexia, phobias, learning delays, stuttering and delinquency all tend to have a connection with vision difficulties. As well, specific personality styles correlate with different types of visual blur. For example, the majority of nearsighted people like me are typically introverted. The introversion not only manifests itself as blurred vision, but also throughout the body as a type of emotional "armoring."
To wholly heal blurred vision requires tapping the inner realm; literally getting to the heart of the matter. Many alternative health modalities, too numerous to mention here, are available to help people unleash emotional blockages that may be hindering the physical release of tension.
10. Would you like to see NVI gain more acceptance by the mainstream eyecare industry?
Definitely. It may take a few more generations, but I believe it will happen in due course.
The mainstream vision industry actually consists of shades of gray. There are competing professional bodies within vision science all vying for your business. The spectrum ranges from the conservative and dogmatic on one end, to the progressive innovators on the other end. The progressive group includes behavioral optometrists, those whose training teaches them the unique relationship between the mind, emotions and the eyes. Some of these professionals have even improved their own eyesight naturally and incorporate NVI in their practices. Unfortunately, the more progressive views haven’t gathered the necessary momentum for a paradigm shift in the industry.
The public tends to be enthralled and mesmerized by technology. However, science is first and foremost a business venture, both at the research and development stage and applied in practice in the world of consumerism. Students pursuing careers in science must follow the money and the prestige in order to succeed. This path of least resistance discourages challenges to the status quo. It’s what I call educational cloning. Very few seem to stop and ask “Why?”
The outdated mechanical modeling of the human body into separate parts keeps getting passed along from one generation to the next. Parceling out and studying the eye in isolation, without regard to the mind and emotions, has been a futile quest in the search for the cause and cure of blurred vision. My hope is that with an increasing awareness of NVI, the old approaches will eventually go by the wayside and a truly holistic vision science will one day dominate.