FIRST PRINCIPLES OF RELAXATION FOR BETTER VISION: SWINGING

The first law of vision is motion; when the eye shifts it sees. Eyes that stare grow dim. There are

definite mental and physical techniques to break the stare habit, in the body and the mental

swings.

The Long Swing

Standing with your feet about one foot apart, face the windows of your room. Then, shifting the

weight to the left foot, turn your head and shoulders to the left wall, then, shifting the weight to

the right foot, turn the head and shoulders to the right wall. Keep this motion up rhythmically to

slow waltz time, loosening the heel as you turn. If you hum a waltz you like, it will insure that

you breathe deeply as you swing. Notice that when you face the right wall, the windows have

passed to the left. When you face the left wall, the windows have passed to the right. You can

notice the windows slipping by as you turn, taking your eyes with you. You are not trying to

hypnotize yourself in feeling this motion. You are just demonstrating relativity—you and the

windows pass each other. Let them go by. If you cling to them, you will become dizzy or slightly

nauseated so you will know you are not, as Dr. Bates said, "letting the world go by." Be careful

that you do not close your eyes as you pass the windows or you will fail to see them pass. Count

each turn as you swing. You will have to count to 60 to develop the amount of relaxation you

need. From 60 to 100 you revel in the relaxation that is bound to aid in developing the vision you

are seeking.

This swing should be done 100 times each morning and again in the evening before retiring. It

takes only two or three minutes but works wonders for you. It loosens the vertebrae up and

down the spine, starts the inner organs functioning more normally (digestive tract, heart, lungs,

etc.) and, best of all, it starts the eyes vibrating their seventy times per second tiny involuntary

shifts. You will not feel them shifting. The apparent motion of the windows is your guarantee

that they are.

Remember, this is not a seeing drill and not an exercise. It is a loosener to get eyes and mind in

motion and break the stare. Do it gently, rhythmically and do not make an exercise of it. This

swing is a relaxation to loosen tensions. Make it that.

The Finger Swing

This swing is the first step in breaking eye strain. Hold your forefinger up in front of your nose.

Turn you head gently from side to side, taking care to look past the finger, not at it. You will get

the illusion that the finger is moving. If you start this swing with the eyes closed and let the

finger brush the tip of the nose in passing, you will get the sense of motion more quickly. If,

when you open your eyes, they cling to the finger, you will feel dizzy and fail to get the sense of

motion.

What, no motion? Then try this. Hold your palms, fingers wide apart, before your face. Swing

past the open fingers as if they were a picket fence, looking not at them but through them into

the distance as you go by. The fingers will pass. Alternate three swings closed, thinking, "They

move to one ear, then to the other," three swings open, seeing them go by. Always do this swing

twenty or thirty times, remembering to breathe. It is pain-killing in effect. If you have pain or a

threatened headache, do it for ten or twenty minutes, alternating eyes open, then closed.

Afterward, palm and you should feel better. But always think the motion. And breathe!

Another doctor told me that he considered this head swing one of our most valuable

developments, because, through the sympathetic nervous system, it releases the tension in every

part of the body.

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