GENERAL RELAXATION OF EYES : MENTAL

"Sensing is not the same as perceiving. The eyes and nervous system do the sensing, the mind does the perceiving. The faculty of perceiving is related to the individual's accumulated experiences; in other words, to memory." -ALDOUS HUXLEY

DR. BATES discovered how to relax a tense, busy mind for a few moments of respite in the midst of toil on a trying day. This is done through memory of pleasant happy events and experiences or beautiful things you would like to see again. The underlying principle is this: You cannot mentally do two things at one time. It is impossible to remember pleasant scenes and, simultaneously, to worry over problems; which means to strain. Remembering scenes or events you have enjoyed is cheerful memory, hence relaxing. Worry is an unhappy activity, therefore tensing. One can choose and determine for a few moments to re-live a joyous experience or to remember something beautiful one has seen; that is, indulge in mental pictures, look through a window into the past, thus obliterating for a moment, the troublesome present.

To quote Dr. Bates: "Perfect memory of any object increases mental relaxation which results a relaxation of the eyes and both together result in better vision." Briefly, memory brings vision.

In the visual process, light rays are reflected from an object on to the nerves of the retina and the impulses carried by the optic nerve to the brain cells. In mental picture work, if a pupil can remember an object the process is reversed; the impulse will be sent in the opposite direction. Psychologists teach us that to see a statue the eye must traverse every part of it. To remember the statue again the eye traverses the image in imagination, not spot-photographing it but reviving, in memory, the sensations and motions that enabled us to see the statue from top to base in the first place. This revived motion starts the shifting or vibrating within the eye of the retinal nerves as if they were being used in perfect vision, even though the eyes remain closed. This prepares the eyes for vision when the lids are lifted.

The danger of visualising a stationary object like a statue is that the mind may fail to travel over it, and instead remain fixed in a mental stare. One can stare and strain in the mind with closed eyes, even to the point of pain and fatigue. Minds and eyes are not constructed to think or see more than one thing at a time. They must see every part of one thing in rapid succession or different things in series. To avoid the danger of a mental stare, it is better to visualise people or things in motion. This starts thought and vision shifting rapidly. Correct mental pictures put both eyes and mind at rest because you cannot both remember and strain at the same time.

Imperfect vision makes a mental strain because it is hard for the mind to interpret a poor image. Conversely, imperfect memory, a mental blur, makes eyestrain because the eye struggles through mental confusion. Using the perfect memory within a keen mind, we can improve vision in dull eyes. When the mind thinks a shape, the eyes do something about it. The two work in perfect co-ordination; hence, our work is not with eyes but with vision and the mind behind the look. Vision is the product of the mind.

Some persons claim that they cannot visualise, that the moment they close their eyes everything is a blank. This is a misunderstanding-of the meaning of visualisation. Naturally, when the eyes are closed, sight is impossible; you cannot see with the physical eye. But you can stare member something you have seen. That is mental picture work-true visualisation. "Memory pictures" might be a better phrase.