CAMBRIDGE INSTITUTE FOR BETTER VISION

What They Never Told You About Your Eyes

by Martin Sussman
Founder & President, Cambridge Institute for Better Vision

10 Keys
to Better Vision
CAMBRIDGE INSTITUTE FOR BETTER VISION’S

10 Keys to Better Vision

 Cambridge Institute For Better Vision

65 Wenham Road, Topsfield MA 01983
Phone 978-887-3883 • Fax 978-887-3885
Email: info@bettervision.com
Table of Contents
5 LIMITING BELIEFS ABOUT EYESIGHT IMPROVEMENT... 1
THE FIVE BELIEFS LEADING TO POOR VISION ................................................. 1
MYTH 1: VISION PROBLEMS ARE GENETIC......................................... 3
BABIES CAN FOCUS CLEARLY ..................................................................... 3
OVER HALF THE PEOPLE IN THE U.S. SEE POORLY ..................................... 4
MYTH 2: VISION INEVITABLY DETERIORATES WITH AGE. ................ 5
YOUTHFUL VISION CAN BE MAINTAINED ...................................................... 5
MYTH 3: POOR VISION IS CAUSED BY WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR
EYES. ........................................................................................................ 6
TREAT YOUR EYES W ELL AND YOU W ILL SEE BETTER ................................. 6
MYTH 4: WEAK EYE MUSCLES CAUSE POOR VISION........................ 8
MYTH 5: POOR VISION IS CAUSED BY MISSHAPEN EYES................. 9
HOW THE EYE W ORKS ............................................................................... 9
HOW COULD AN EYEBALL BECOME MISSHAPEN? ....................................... 10
LET’S LOOK AT THIS SECOND CONCLUSION MORE CLOSELY. ......................... 10
IMPROVING VISION MEANS INCREASING FLEXIBILITY ................................... 11
THE ENTIRE VISUAL SYSTEM IS VERY DELICATE............................ 12
THE HUMAN DARKROOM .......................................................................... 12
EYES ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF YOUR TOTAL BEING ................................ 13
THREE FACTORS INFLUENCING EYESIGHT .................................................. 13
EYESIGHT INFLUENCE 1: SECONDARY PHYSICAL TENSION ......... 15
EYESIGHT INFLUENCE 2: LIMITING & NEGATIVE THOUGHTS ........ 16
A SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY ................................................................. 16
CONVERSION EXPERIENCE ....................................................................... 17
EYESIGHT INFLUENCE 3: SUBCONSCIOUS EMOTION ..................... 18
THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD HOLDS THE KEY .............................................. 18
A FEAR OF SEEING .................................................................................. 19
HEALING EMOTIONS. HEALING VISION. ..................................................... 20
REMEMBERING YOUR W AY TO BETTER VISION ........................................... 20
 ARE YOU W ILLING TO SEE?...................................................................... 21
INNER VISION – OUTER SIGHT .................................................................. 21
TEN KEYS TO BETTER VISION............................................. 22
KEY #1: BLINK REGULARLY. .............................................................. 23
KEY #2: USE YOUR PERIPHERAL VISION. ........................................ 24
KEY #3: KEEP YOUR EYES MOVING & CHANGE YOUR FOCUS. .... 25
KEY #4: AVOID DAYDREAMING. ......................................................... 26
KEY #5: LOOK WITH THE ‘EYES OF A CHILD.’.................................. 28
KEY #6: NOURISH AND REST YOUR EYES........................................ 29
KEY #7: USE AN UNDER-CORRECTED PRESCRIPTION. ................. 31
KEY #8: INCREASE BODY RELAXATION AND GOOD POSTURE. ... 32
KEY #9: BREATHE DEEPLY AND REGULARLY................................. 33
KEY #10: LOOK OPENLY AND HONESTLY. ....................................... 34
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5 Limiting Beliefs About

Eyesight Improvement
These common misperceptions hold many people
back from choosing to see better without surgery,
glasses or contacts.

H
ello…I’m Martin Sussman, founder and Executive Director of the
Cambridge Institute for Better Vision and the developer of the audio
cassette vision improvement system, The Program for Better Vision.
Since 1976 I’ve seen thousands of people gain better
I C O N K E Y eyesight using my methods.
Valuable
Yet many others – even if they want to see without
information corrective lenses – are skeptical that it’s possible.
Vision Hurdle
Much of this skepticism is rooted in misunderstanding.
Web Resources
There are five commonly held beliefs that lead
Key Approach people to think that eyesight cannot be improved.

The 5 beliefs leading to poor vision

The five beliefs are that poor vision is caused by:
1) heredity
2) age
3) how the eyes are used
4) weak eye muscles
5) that the eyes are the wrong shape.

First, I’ll discuss these five beliefs and then I’ll present a holistic model that
explains what I believe to be the real factors that cause poor vision.

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Then I’ll tell you about the stress free way to use your eyes – the ten simple
vision habits that are important to learn and practice and that will help
maintain clear and relaxed vision.

But first, the beliefs about vision . . .

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Myth 1: Vision Problems

Are Genetic.
The first belief is that vision problems are genetic –
that is, if your parents had poor vision, then you
will too.

O
nce thought to be the case by most eye doctors, it is now
understood that the ability to see is not fixed at birth. In fact, only
3 people out of every 100 are born with vision problems. The other
97% who cannot see clearly develop the need for glasses at some
point in their life. Just as we learn how to talk or how to walk, we also learn
how to see.

But it’s more accurate to say that we were born with clear vision and we
learned how to not see clearly. We didn’t learn this deliberately or
consciously, and we weren’t taught it by anyone, but we did develop an
improper way of using our eyes and brain that led to unclear vision.

Babies Can Focus Clearly

Recent studies indicate that babies as young as 1 day old can focus clearly.
When shown a picture of their mother’s face, these little infants could bring
the picture into focus by adjusting the rate of their sucking on an artificial
nipple. If they sucked at the right rate, the picture would stay clear. If they
sucked too fast or too slow, the picture went out of focus.

Until this ingenious experiment was designed, scientists thought that babies
couldn’t focus clearly until 3 or 4 months of age. It seems that every day we
are learning more and more about how really amazing the body is!

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So, if you need glasses or contacts, chances are that you had
clear vision for some period of you life and then visual
tension and stress set in to limit it.

Over Half The People In the U.S. See Poorly

As human beings we learn about the world around us through our five
physical senses. Of these the most dominant and highly developed is vision.
In fact, over 90% of the information that we gather comes to us through our
eyes. Our vision is our primary means of relationship to the world around us.

Yet, over half the people in this country wear glasses or contacts. Needing
corrective lenses to see clearly is now considered normal. We have become
a nation of people largely dependent on an artificial means to perform a
most basic and essential human function.

And it wasn’t this way a hundred years ago. Back then, only 10% of the
population had vision problems. This huge increase took place over only
three or four generations. If poor vision was inherited, who could we have
possibly inherited it from?

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Myth 2: Vision Inevitably

Deteriorates With Age.
The second belief is that vision inevitably
deteriorates with age. That at 40 or 45, or
whatever that magic age might be, a person starts
to have trouble reading without glasses.

T
hree years ago I received a letter from a remarkable 89 ear old man
who had been using The Program For Better Vision. He said in his
letter, “I had been wearing reading glasses for 50 years, since I was
39. Now after 2 months of using The Program For Better Vision there
are times when I can read without my glasses and it’s completely clear and
effortless.”

That’s a pretty amazing change, but the part of the letter that I like the most
is when he goes on to say, “I learned that I can succeed in helping myself
and I’m looking forward to more changes in the future.” Now, that’s a
young attitude!

Youthful Vision Can Be Maintained

If nothing is done to retain the inherit youthfulness and flexibility of your
visual system, if you don’t get rid of the tension and rigidity that has
accumulated over time, your visual system may deteriorate as you age. But
this is not inevitable and it is not irreversible. In fact, nothing is further from
the truth.

Just as any other part of your body, your eyes also respond to exercise,
relaxation, and stress relief. It all depends on the attitude you have and the
steps that you take to retain the vision that you were born with.
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Myth 3: Poor Vision is

Caused by What You Do
With Your Eyes.
The third belief is that poor vision is caused by
what you do with your eyes.

F
or example if you read too much, or use a computer, or watch too
much TV, it will ruin your eyesight.

And statistics seem to point in that direction:

Only 2% of students in the fourth grade are nearsighted; in the 8th grade,
about 10-20% are; by the end of college between 50 and 70% of the students
are nearsighted. So it would seem that the more you read or study, the more
likely you would be to become nearsighted and need glasses.
It may seem that reading and studying too much are harmful to your eyes,
but it is not because of the activity, it is because of how you use your eyes
when performing the activity. And nobody is ever taught how to properly
use their eyes and how to protect the vision they were born with.

Treat Your Eyes Well And You Will See Better

When people are taught how to use and rest their eyes, then vision problems
are much less prevalent.

This information is not common knowledge in this country. But in China,

students and workers are taught simple eye exercises that they practice every
day in school and in the factory. And the rate of myopia, nearsightedness,
has decreased substantially.

There have been a handful of school systems in this country that have
incorporated these and other changes with just as promising results. So there

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seems to be no question that the proper use of your eyes can protect your
vision and the vision of your children. It’s simply a matter of education –
making these principles more widely known and then practicing them
regularly.

Hopefully, there will someday be such a shift in attitude. Rather than just
waiting until there’s a problem and then settling for the quick fix that glasses
provide, we’ll learn and practice the right way to use our eyes and preserve
our vision.

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Myth 4: Weak Eye Muscles

Cause Poor Vision.
The muscles around the eyes are 150-200 times
stronger than they need to be for normal usage.

T
hese muscles rarely, if ever, get weakened. Instead, the build up of
tension affects these muscles and prevents them from performing in a
natural, fluid manner.

I’m right handed, so naturally the muscles on the right side of my body are
stronger and more coordinated than on my left side. Why? Only because
I’ve used them more.

That’s the case with eye muscles: Over time, certain patterns and habits
develop, and some eye muscles become stronger and more coordinated than
others. But that’s not a physical problem. The source of the problem is the
underlying patterns and habits. And we can all train our eyes to function
with new, more effective patterns.

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Myth 5: Poor Vision is

Caused by Misshapen Eyes.
The fifth belief is that poor vision is caused by an
eye that is the wrong shape. If the eye is too long
that is supposed to cause nearsightedness; if it’s too
short that is supposed to cause farsightedness; and
if the shape of the eye is distorted, that causes
astigmatism.

T
he shape of the eye is one element of the visual system – but it is not
the only one that determines how clearly you see. And besides, has
anyone ever asked how the eye becomes the wrong shape?

There are three real causes of poor vision: First, the visual habit patterns that
a person has developed; second, tension in the eyes and body, and third,
mental and emotional stress and strain.

How the Eye Works

Before I can address each of these, let me explain how the eye works.

I’ll do this by comparing the eye to a camera. Let’s see how this analogy
holds true and also, let’s see where it breaks down.

In the front of the eye there is a lens, just like in a camera. In a camera, there
is film; in the eye the film is the retina, a light sensitive surface located on the
back of the eyeball. In a camera, for the picture to be clear, the image must
be focused on the film. Likewise, in the eye, the image must be focused on
the retina.

In a nearsighted eye, rather than the image registering precisely on the retina
(or film), it comes to focuse in front of the retina. So one conclusion that
could be drawn is that the eyeball is too long. In a farsighted eye, the

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opposite happens. The image comes to focus behind the retina. So, in this
case, the conclusion drawn is that the eyeball is too short.

How Could an Eyeball Become Misshapen?

If these conclusions are true, then the question becomes how did the eyeball
lose it’s natural shape and become too long or too short?

There are six muscles that surround each eye. Called the extra-ocular
muscles, they control the movement of the eyes. They move your eyes up,
down, to the right and to the left; when you look at something up close they
turn your eyes in and when you look at something in the distance they turn
your eyes out. As I said before, these extra-ocular muscles are 200 times
stronger than they need to be to perform their job.

In 1981, research performed at Harvard University Laboratories showed that

when these muscles hold the eyes in one position for an extended period of
time, they also squeeze the eye. This pressure can change the eyes’ shape.
And if the eye is misshaped by only 1/25th of an inch, that can cause
focusing problems.

So it’s rigidity, tension and lack of movement and flexibility that causes the
eyes to become misshapen. Just as exercise and relaxation can help other
parts of your body, so can it loosen up tight eyes muscles too.

But let’s return to the camera analogy for a moment. In the camera, the lens
moves in and out to bring objects at different distances into focus. This
doesn’t happen in your eyes. Instead, the lens changes it’s shape, becoming
thicker to focus on near objects and thinner to focus on objects that are
further in the distance.

Now, since unclear vision is caused by the image not being

focused directly on the retina, then there are really two
different conclusions that can be reached. One is that the
eyeball is the wrong shape, or – and this is important – that
the lens is too rigid – not changing it’s shape enough to
bring objects at certain distances into focus.

Let’s look at this second conclusion more closely.

Again, in order to focus on something close up, the lens becomes fatter,
bulging from front to back. To focus on something further away, it becomes
thinner. We are always changing what we are looking at, so the lens is
continually making fine adjustments in its shape. In fact, in the normal eye,
the lens changes it’s shape – and it’s focus – more than 100,000 times each
and every day.

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Now, the shape of the lens, and thereby it’s focusing ability, is controlled by
two sets of muscles that surround it. It is the constant and delicate interplay
between these two sets of muscles that gets the lens to be the exact shape
that it needs to be to bring whatever you are looking at into sharp focus.

And if you can’t bring an object into focus, it’s because there is not enough
flexibility in these muscles to change the lens into the appropriate shape to
view that object.

So if you are nearsighted, and can only see clearly up close, then these
muscles are stuck and only move the lens within a limited range. And if you
are farsighted, the same is true – the muscles are stuck and only move the
lens within a limited range, but that range is different.

Improving Vision Means Increasing Flexibility

Another way to talk about your vision problem is to say that you see fine
within a certain range, but not so clearly within another. So there is some
degree of flexibility to change focus. And improving your vision simply
means increasing the flexibility of those muscles that control the lens.

So again, it’s not a matter of strength, but of coordination between these two
sets of muscles and their degree of flexibility. And when these muscles
regain their natural flexibility and coordination, your vision just automatically
improves.

Many of the techniques in The Program For Better Vision are designed with
that goal in mind – to train your eyes to release tension and stress and regain
flexibility, relaxation and coordination.

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The Entire Visual System

is Very Delicate.
The entire visual system is very delicate – and
requires a high degree of precision, coordination
and flexibility to perform at its optimal level.

S
ince it is such a delicate system it is very sensitive to stress and tension
of any kind, whether it’s physical, emotional or mental. For example,
it’s not uncommon for people to notice that they can see better when
they are relaxed, or that “they can’t see straight” when they’re under
stress. Long term patterns of stress also affect eyesight.

Let’s go back to the camera analogy again. You’ve focused the lens and
you’ve taken the picture, but you still don’t really have a photograph until
the film gets developed. This is done in the darkroom.

The same thing is true in your eyes. Vision, or the formation of images of
the physical world, does not occur until the brain receives impulses sent to it
by the eyes. The darkroom of your visual system is a portion of the brain
known as the visual cortex or the occipital lobes, which is located in the
back of your head.

As everyone knows, the camera could take a perfect picture, but as a result
of some error in processing, the photograph could appear unclear, too dark
or too light. On the other hand, current space-age processing techniques
(used during space flights) can greatly enhance the quality of an under-
developed picture bringing out greater clarity, detail and brightness.

The Human Darkroom

The human darkroom – the brain – is much more complex and intricate than
any man-made darkroom.

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How complex? Well, the light that enters the eye hits the retina where the
image registers upside-down. Fortunately the image is righted in the brain,
otherwise we would see the world upside-down.

To this day, vision researchers still do not completely understand how the
brain produces these visual images.

The most striking omission of the eye/camera analogy is the complex role of
the brain in the visual process. In the case of the camera, it is the
photographer who controls the camera – deciding what to shoot at, how
much light to let in, what to focus on, for how long and from what angle.

In the case of the eye, each of us is our own photographer – and the choices
we make about what we see and how we see are governed by the
mysterious interplay between our physiological processes and our conscious
and unconscious mental and emotional decisions.

Eyes Are an Integral Part of Your Total Being

The eyes do not exist in isolation. They are an integral part of your total
being affected by – and affecting – the body, mind and emotions. It’s no
wonder that the eyes are called the windows to the soul.

Glasses and contacts do their job – when you put them on you get rid of
poor vision.

Now, if you have a headache, taking an aspirin usually gets

rid of your headache. It doesn’t correct what caused the
headache in the first place, and wearing glasses doesn’t
correct what caused the poor vision either. It’s a quick fix
that works very well, but doesn’t address the underlying
causes.

The entire visual system is very delicate – and requires a high degree of
precision, coordination and flexibility to perform at its optimal level.

Three Factors Influencing Eyesight

In addition to the visual habit patterns I’ve already talked about, eyesight is
influenced by three other factors.

The first is secondary tension

– tension that is stored in other areas of the
body besides the eyes. Also, the overall health of the body also affects
vision.

The second is limiting or negative thoughts about vision.

And the third is subconscious memories and past emotional decisions.

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All these factors combine in each person differently so each person’s vision is
affected to a different degree by each one. But it is important to address
each one to see what role it has played in your vision.

Let’s look at each one closely.

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Eyesight Influence 1:
Secondary Physical
Tension
Your vision is also influenced by three factors –
one of which is secondary physical tension.

S
econdary physical tension is any body tension that limits the free
movement and functioning of the eyes. This tension is usually in the
upper body – the chest, shoulders, neck, head, face and jaw. In fact,
people with different eye problems tend to exhibit different patterns of
tension.

Nearsighted people, for example, often hold tension in their upper back,
shoulders, and base of the neck as well as right around the eyes.

Farsighted people, on the other hand, often tend to experience more tension
in the front part of the upper body – the chest, throat and jaw areas.

People with astigmatism are more prone to exhibit twists and imbalances in
their posture – as if the distortion of the eye is mirrored in the body.

And those people who have a lack of eye coordination or who see
differently out of each eye often mirror that in the body by exhibiting a lack
of skilled eye-hand coordination, or by experiencing a variety of differences
between the two sides of the body.

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Eyesight Influence 2:
Limiting & Negative
Thoughts
Just think how many times you’ve said to yourself,
“I can’t see.”

T
he next factor that can affect our vision is limiting and negative
thoughts.

“I can’t see” is obviously the most commonly used negative statement.

Just think how many times you’ve said that to yourself – without even really
thinking about it – throughout the years – “I can’t see”, “I can’t see without
glasses”, “I can’t see that”, “I can’t see this”, etc. etc.

Most people who have clear vision take it for granted. They don’t walk
around thinking positive thoughts about their eyes, they just take it for
granted.

But if a person has a vision problem, they start to develop a set of negative
thoughts about their eyes. A whole cluster of negativity about vision begins
then.

Now of course, we all want to be honest with ourselves. It would be foolish

to tell ourselves we can see something when it isn’t clear. But it’s very
crucial to understand that there is a part of ourselves and our bodies that
listens to – and responds to – what we tell ourselves.

A Self-fulfilling Prophecy
Negative thinking tends to reinforce itself – How many people do you know
whose glasses or contacts they are currently using are stronger than the first
ones that they ever needed?

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Try using different phrases instead. “My vision is always improving” or “I’m
looking for my vision to change”, or “My vision is becoming clearer and
clearer everyday” or “I want to see more”. These phrases are all just as
“true”, in a sense, but they reinforce the possibility of change.

Conversion Experience
I once had a participant in EYECLASSES – my weekend Vision Seminar –
who wasn’t too keen on what he called “this positive thinking stuff”. In fact,
he ignored that part of the seminar completely. He just wanted to focus on
the eye exercises. After all, he said “I have a physical problem with my eyes.
All I need are exercises to fix it”. And he was somewhat successful too.

Within a year after he took EYECLASSES he had improved his vision over
50% - from 20/200 to about 20/80. But then he hit a wall – for months he
just wasn’t getting any further. He thought he had improved as much as he
could, he started getting discouraged and then he just stopped practicing
altogether.

Two or three months went by and then one morning he awoke,

spontaneously repeating some of the affirmations that he had ignored at the
seminar. Even before he was completely awake he heard himself saying
them. He considered this so unusual that he figured that his subconscious
was trying to give him some kind of a message. So he started working with
vision affirmations – writing them down and saying them to himself
throughout the day – and within another month he reached his vision goal –
he passed his driver’s test with his own eyes!

Even though he didn’t realize it, he was using affirmations from the very
start. His affirmation was, “I can improve my vision”. How many people stop
themselves from having better eyesight by telling themselves “my vision can’t
improve”?

Even scientists and medical professionals are now beginning to understand

that the condition of the body is affected by the content of the thoughts and
the nature of the feelings. And, if you start to change these mental and
emotional patterns for yourself, the body – and the eyes – respond.

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Eyesight Influence 3:
Subconscious Emotion
The healing of memories and the release of
subconscious emotion can liberate your desire to
see.

U
nfortunately, it’s not as simple as saying “I want to see” and then
having your vision become perfectly clear.

That is an important first step but often, it is the deeper level – what
we hold to be true subconsciously that has the most profound affect on how
we see.

This is another factor that affects vision.

What is needed on this level is what I call psycho-visual alignment: This

combines releasing the inner barriers to seeing, the healing of memories and
the alignment of the inner consciousness and the outer desire to see.

To understand how this works, divide your life into two distinct stages – the
first stage being the time from when you were born to the time you first
noticed a problem with your vision. The second stage begins when you got
your first pair of glasses and continues until now.

This second stage is all after the fact and doesn’t have anything to do with
whatever may have caused the problem in the first place.

During the first stage, whether it is consciously remembered or not, you had
naturally clear vision. (Remember, poor vision is not genetic!)

The Transitional Period Holds the Key

To understand the inner causes of unclear vision it is necessary to look at
what I call the Transitional Period – that period of time – usually a year but it

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could have been longer – between seeing clearly with natural eyes to first
noticing a problem.

This physical change in vision often follows changes in our own emotional
and psychological responses to ourselves – or to the world around us – that
become ingrained during this Transitional Period:

Most people can identify a transition in at least one of these three major
areas during the Transitional Period.

Personal –
changes in self image usually (but not always)
accompanied by physical changes during adolescence, reaching puberty or
with middle age.

Emotional – changes in significant relationships. (parents divorce,

another child is born or a loved one dies)

Situational – changes in the environment. (moving to another town

and having to make new friends or staying in the same town but switching
careers, homes or schools)

Whatever the specific outer changes may have been, what is important are
the significant inner changes of feelings, attitudes or perspective and the
establishing of limiting emotional patterns. The emotional and subconscious
statement “I don’t want to see this part of myself or this problem” is what
affects the visual system. Exactly how is not clear, but I’ve seen it happen
over and over again in the more than 200 vision improvement seminars that
I’ve conducted.

During this Transitional Period a person usually doesn’t want to admit to

what is being seen, sensed or perhaps even feared. The message “I don’t
want to see what is going on” is sent to the subconscious mind. Often
delivered with emotion, this message becomes a command to the mind to
develop a more limited pattern of seeing and the visual system responds
accordingly. Not wanting to be seen or hiding and protecting oneself from
others out of fear or shame can also contribute to the closing and limiting of
the visual system.

A Fear of Seeing
For example, one middle-aged stockbroker who had been unable to read
anything without his glasses looked back at his Transitional Period – a time
when he was losing money in the stock market – and recalled that he had
finally reached the point where he was afraid to look at the stock tables for
“fear of seeing” how much he had lost that day. The stock tables had
become the “proof” that he was a failure and he did not want to see that.

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But while using one of the techniques from The Program for Better Vision he
realized that he had formed an image of himself as being “a failure”. When
he was able to let go of that image he recognized that his sense of himself
went deeper than the ups and downs of the stock market. He saw himself as
more than his successes or failures. His vision returned to normal and he
began to read and work without glasses for the first time in five years.

Healing Emotions. Healing Vision.

I also remember a woman who attended the EYECLASSES Vision Seminar in
New York. Prior to attending the seminar, she had been doing vision training
for two years with one of the leading eye doctors in the field. In fact I was a
little concerned about her being in the seminar. After all, what could she
learn there that she already didn’t know?

In the two years that she had worked with this doctor her vision had
improved from 20/400 to about 20/200. But in the seminar she did
something that she had never done before – she healed some of the
emotional issues that she had stored in her subconscious from her
Transitional Period.

Three days after the seminar she went to her eye doctor and her visual acuity
had improved from 20/200 to 20/80 – more in the two day seminar that it
had in the entire two years. Needless to say, both she and her doctor were
quite surprised and thrilled.

Addressing decisions that may have been made during the Transitional
Period can have a profound – and sometimes immediate – effect on one’s
physical eyesight.

Remembering Your Way to Better Vision

Now if you can go further back in time than the Transitional Period, that is
the time of clear seeing. I believe that the ability to see clearly is still inside
all of us, that our subconscious brain remembers how to see clearly. Even if
that memory may be buried underneath negative thinking and emotional
stress, it’s there waiting to re-emerge.

Just as early memories may be buried in the subconscious, so is the ability to

see clearly.

One technique I recommend in The Program for Better

Vision is a visualization of clear vision. A person doing this
visualization is asked to imagine themselves in an outdoor
setting seeing everything clearly. At one point in the
visualization, the person is asked to close their eyes in their
imagination and feel them relaxing. Then they are asked to

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re-open their eyes again – only in their imagination – and continue with the
visualization.

One man wrote me to tell me about an experience he had the first time that
he did the visualization. He misunderstood the directions as he was listening
to the visualization on cassette and by mistake he actually opened his eyes,
instead of just imagining them opening.

And when he opened his eyes, his vision was perfectly clear! This spell of
clear vision lasted for only a few minutes, but he told me in his letter how it
convinced him that he did in fact have the ability to see clearly inside of him.

Are You Willing to See?

Developing the emotional willingness to see has a definite impact on vision.

Unresolved emotional issues, particularly those involving loss, fear and

misunderstanding coupled with the attendant forgetting of one’s deeper
positive qualities – such as acceptance, compassion and forgiveness – are
also key elements of the transitional year.

All of us have been in situations where we see things we don’t like or that
have hurt us in some way. One response is to pull back; to shut down our
awareness. There’s a part of ourselves that imagines, “If I pretend not to see
it, it will disappear”. Pretending not to see or not to know is one strategy to
deal with oneself, one’s feelings or one’s life situation. It may be a useful
protection at certain times in life, but one of its by-products is the way it can
affect eyesight.

Changing emotional decisions and healing painful memories

greatly accelerates vision improvement and also leads to a
greater sense of inner peace and understanding, a clearer
self image, and a healthier attitude and perspective.

Inner Vision – Outer Sight

I don’t mean to say that people who wear glasses have more hang-ups than
people who don’t – that’s not the question. But there clearly is a link
between the inner vision and the outer sight and it’s very helpful to explore
what effect this level may have had on your eyesight.

Some people stop themselves by saying they can’t remember anything “back
then” and that’s understandable, because there is a link between memory
and vision. In fact, there is a link between memory, vision and imagination.
When you start to improve your vision, so can your memory of significant
events become clearer.

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The Cambridge Institute’s Program for Better Vision will help you address all
the levels that may be affecting your vision. The Program helps you bring
your physical eyesight, your emotional seeing and your inner focus into
greater balance and harmony.

Ten Keys to Better Vision

These ten keys can replace your old habit of poor
eyesight with a new habit of better vision.

Y
our vision is influenced by your mind, body and emotions and all of
the information that you have read so far can be distilled into 10
vision habits that you can easily develop and practice.

These 10 vision habits reduce the physical and mental strain that could affect
your eyesight. Making these habits second nature will help keep your vision
as clear, sharp and relaxed as it can be.

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Key #1: Blink Regularly.

Blinking is a natural preserver of your better
vision.

B
linking cleanses and lubricates the eyes. When there is no tension,
your eyes blink 10-12 times every minute, or about once every 5
seconds. But people who do not see clearly tend to stare and
unconsciously hold their eyes open, which causes strain as well as
the feeling of dry and tired eyes.

Consciously remind yourself to blink every 3-5 seconds. Of course, you don’t
want to go through the day with a stopwatch, but the more conscious you
are of blinking regularly, the better it is for your eyes.

The eyelid is the only part of the body that is controlled by just one muscle.
Any other movement usually involves 2 muscles – one that contracts and one
that stretches to make the movement. Your eyelid is controlled by only one
muscle. By having proper relaxation in that muscle, it can promote relaxation
throughout the entire body. That’s why you often hear hypnotists using the
phrase “your eyes are becoming heavy” as a way to get their subject to
become more relaxed.

A blinking exercise that you can practice frequently

throughout the day is called Flutter Blinking. To practice
Flutter Blinking, blink your eyes lightly and rapidly 10 to 20
times. Do not strain or squeeze your eyes shut and relax
your face as you blink. Then close your eyes and relax.
Repeat this 2 or 3 times. Flutter Blinking will help to keep
your eyes moist, relaxed and free of strain.

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Key #2: Use Your

Peripheral Vision.
Tunnel vision or peripheral vision? Your eyes may
be offering you more than you realize.

A
t the same time that you are focusing on one object, images are also
coming into your eyes from your peripheral awareness – from the
left and the right, and from in front of and behind what you are
directly looking at.

But unfortunately, people with poor vision have trained their minds to so
intently focus on just one thing that they block out their peripheral
awareness. This “putting on of blinders” breeds mental fatigue and a tense
style of concentration.

Whatever you are looking at, always remind yourself to be

aware of your peripheral vision. Consciously remember to
be aware of everything at the same time that you are
looking at one point.

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Key #3: Keep Your Eyes

Moving & Change Your Focus.
Staring is the most commonly practiced bad habit
by people who do not see clearly.

K
eeping your eyes moving and changing your focus is the most direct
and powerful way to break the staring habit.

Normally, the eye moves slightly 50-60 times every single second,
constantly changing what it is looking at. This subtle movement is essential
for clear vision; staring and not consciously moving your eyes interferes with
it.

Of course, you can’t consciously move your eyes that fast, but you can
unlock tension in your visual system by remembering to change your focus
frequently.

This encourages your eyes to become more relaxed.

Whatever you may be doing with your eyes, you can always
remember to shift your focus and keep your eyes moving.
For example, when driving a car, shift your focus from the
speedometer to the rear view mirror to the license plate of
the car in front of you, and so on. Whether walking down
the street, watching TV or engaged in conversation, you can
always keep your eyes moving and change your focus regularly.

When reading or doing other close work such as using a computer, make
sure that you look up and focus on something in the distance at least once
every 3 to 5 minutes.

Also, remember to use your peripheral vision when involved in these

activities.

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Key #4: Avoid Daydreaming.

You can tell when somebody is daydreaming –
they get a glazed, de-focused look in their eyes –
they stare, they don’t blink and their eyes don’t
move – all of which, when developed into a habit,
promotes poor vision.

I
use the word daydreaming to mean any mental activity – whether or
not it involves images, that captures a person’s focus while their eyes are
open.

There isn’t anything wrong with the creative use of the imagination, but
when daydreaming becomes a habit it can have a negative effect on your
vision.

Here’s why:

If you close your eyes and imagine looking at a distant scene, your eyes
respond to that, and change their focus, as they would if they were actually
looking at that distant scene. It is as if your eyes are trying to focus on
whatever you see in your mind’s eye.

So, if you’re driving down the road and you’re thinking about something
else, your eyes are caught in a dilemma – what should they be seeing? On
the one hand, they are trying to bring the road into focus and on the other
hand, are trying to focus on what’s in your mind. This causes you to stare,
creates visual tension and sends mixed messages to your brain.

Don’t let your eyes get stuck between these two different kinds of seeing –
the outer sight and the inner vision. Close your eyes when you want to
daydream. Any stay involved in your world when your eyes are open.

I mentioned before that the need for glasses increases as students go further
along in school. What are most of these kids doing in school? Most of the
time, they’re daydreaming about what they’re going to do after school –
while their eyes are trying to focus on the blackboard.

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But there is another daydream that students are involved in every single day:
Reading. Think about reading for a minute. Your eyes are seeing the letters
on the page; for example they might be seeing the letters C A T.

But in your mind you see a cat. Your eyes are seeing one thing and your
mind is seeing another.

Sustained focusing at near has been cited as a major cause of

nearsightedness, but I think that reading – because it is an abstract activity –
can be particularly stressful to the eyes.

To prevent reading from stressing the eyes, remember to

incorporate the first 3 tips I’ve mentioned: 1) keep blinking,
2) be aware of your peripheral vision, and 3) look into the
distance frequently.

But it is just as important for your vision for you to

remember to be conscious of what you are actually seeing – the letters on
the page – as well as being absorbed in what the words mean to you.

Teach these tips to your children too! And let them maintain and protect the
vision that they were born with.

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Key #5: Look With the

‘Eyes of a Child.’
Engage your world as a child would – with
excitement, freshness, awe and wonder – as if you
are seeing everything for the first time.

I
f you are remembering to blink, to move your eyes and shift focus, to
use your peripheral vision and to avoid daydreaming, you can get stuck
in the trap of just mechanically using your eyes. There’s a big difference
between seeing and actively looking. There’s always something new
and different to notice. Engage your world as a child would – with
excitement, freshness, awe and wonder – as if you are seeing everything for
the first time.

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Key #6: Nourish and

Rest Your Eyes.
Your eyes are nourished by light, just as your body
is nourished by food. And the best nourishment
for your eyes in sunlight.

T
o get this important nourishment spend at least 15 minutes a day
outdoors – without glasses or contacts – so that your visual system
can receive unfiltered sunlight. There has been a lot of concern lately
about the depletion of the ozone layer and the harmful effects of
sunlight. Though it might be wise to limit sunbathing or other extreme
exposure to sunlight, it is still very important for the health of your eyes (and
your body) to be exposed to natural sunlight at least a little bit each day.

The kind of indoor lighting that you use is also important. Dr. John Ott, a
pioneer in the field of photobiology, which is the study of how different
kinds of light affect living organisms, developed an indoor light that is the
most complete substitute for sunlight. It is called Vita-Lite and it easily
replaces any standard fluorescent tube. Studies have shown that using Vita-
Lite increases see-ability, reduces glare and eyestrain and improves visual
acuity.

Your eyes are rested by total darkness. The best way to rest
your eyes is to close them and place your cupped palms
over your closed eyes. You can palm like this for as little as
30 or 40 seconds any time that your eyes feel tired or
strained. When palming, visualize a pleasant scene in your
imagination – you’ll be surprised at how refreshed you feel
when you are done.

By the way, if you see sparks of light or color when your palms are covering
you eyes, that indicates visual stress. Seeing blackness, on the other hand,
indicates visual relaxation.

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Nourishing and resting your eyes can be done at the same time in a short
exercise that I call the Sun Cycle. It’s done like this: Close your eyes and
face the sun (never look at the sun with your eyes open!). Let the sunlight
fall on your closed eyes for 5 to 10 seconds. Then palm over your closed
eyes and shut out all the light for another 5 or 10 seconds. Repeat these two
steps at least 10 times, for a total of 3 or 4 minutes.

The Sun Cycle helps to nourish your visual system, exercises the focusing
muscles of your eyes and reduces sensitivity to glare.

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Key #7: Use An Under-

corrected Prescription.
If you wear glasses or contacts, you have probably
experienced the all too familiar pattern of needing
a stronger and stronger prescription year after
year. This is caused by a number of factors, but to
a large degree it can be prevented by using an
under-corrected prescription.

W
ith an under-corrected prescription, you probably wouldn’t be
able to read the bottom line of the eye chart in the doctor’s office,
maybe only one or two lines above the bottom line, but you
would still be able to comfortably see in your day to day life as
well as be able to drive safely.

An under-corrected prescription encourages your visual system to work with

the glasses or contacts – and not just passively depend on them – in order to
see. If you are also doing eye exercises, then as your vision improves, what
was once an under-corrected prescription will eventually become too strong
as your own vision gets clearer. At this point it’s time to get another under-
corrected prescription.

In this way you are slowly weaning yourself from corrective lenses and your
eyesight gets stronger as your glasses get weaker.

Not every eye doctor agrees with this philosophy of under-

correction, so it may take some looking on your part to find
one that understands and supports this approach. You can
contact the Cambridge Institute for Better Vision for help in
locating a sympathetic optometrist in your area. Point your
web browser to: http://www.bettervision.com

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Key #8: Increase Body

Relaxation and Good Posture.
It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to relax your
eyes and mind and maintain clear vision if your
body is overly tense.

A
s I mentioned earlier, postural imbalances and physical tension have
long been associated with vision problems. It’s important for you to
find ways to release tension and develop relaxation in your body.

In addition, people with vision problems shouldn’t read or

watch TV while lying down. Instead, they should sit in a
relaxed, comfortable position. This makes it easier for the
blood and the oxygen to circulate to the head and the eyes.

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Key #9: Breathe Deeply

and Regularly.
Approximately 30% of the oxygen you inhale goes
to nourish the muscles, nerves and brain cells of
your visual system.

W
atch what happens to your breathing the next time you are
engrossed in an activity or are tense. Most likely, it will become
shallow and irregular. You might even find that you are holding
your breath unconsciously for periods of time.

Breathing deeply and rhythmically helps vision. And it will

keep your body more relaxed, help you concentrate easier
for longer periods of time and eliminate eyestrain and
fatigue.

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Key #10: Look Openly

and Honestly.
Past and present emotional stress can affect vision,
so it is important to develop the inner willingness
to see.

E
motionally, there may be a part of us that believes that if we don’t see
something it might disappear. Though this response might feel more
safe, nothing disappears when we don’t see it. Instead, the problem
or the feeling haunts us until we look at it and deal with it openly and
directly.

Develop an inner willingness to look directly at challenging and difficult

situations and do whatever you can to release the emotional stress that
affects vision.

Apply these ten tips consciously and regularly and you’ll find that not only
will your eyes start to feel more relaxed but that your seeing will become
clearer. You will start to develop a whole new way of seeing and looking
that involves your eyes, your mind and your heart.

Congratulations! You have taken the first steps to better

vision! Give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it!

Now if you are really serious about improving your eyesight,

we have a limited time, special offer for you. IF YOU ACT
NOW: You can use the same money you already spent on
this eBook and apply it towards an upgrade to the Institute for Better Vision’s
most celebrated flagship product: The Program for Better Vision

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That’s right we’re giving you a $10.95 coupon off the price of world’s #1 best-
selling audio tape solution for the eyes. Just follow this link for your special
discount rate:

http://www.10keystobettervision.com/program_ebook_coupon

If you want a complete method to improve your inner and outer sight,
contact the Cambridge Institute for Better Vision. In addition to the Program
for Better Vision, we offer a wide variety of healthy items for your eyes –
natural eye drops, eye patches, vision vitamins, Vita-Lite lighting, books,
audio tapes and more. For more information,

Point your web browser to:http://www.bettervision.com Or write the

Institute at 65 Wenham Road, Topsfield, MA 01983. Or call toll-free 1-800-
372-3937.

I wish you the clearest, sharpest and most open vision that you can have.

To Better Vision!

Sincerely,
MARTIN SUSSMAN

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