This post is particularly relevant if you previously did the Vision Improvement Course (and read the 60s Installments).

I am struggling a bit today.

The new e-mail delivery mechanism that is supposed to send the free program, is sitting in the corner, staring at me blankly. All the pieces are there, everything else appears to work, but the free installments quietly sit in the queue, not being sent your way.

Meanwhile I get a surprising amount of e-mail sign-ups every day, including from friends and existing clients, and I am left feeling a bit embarrassed by the state of those particular affairs.

Hopefully I will make some headway today, in getting that working.

And of course the Winter Installments are up, but I am getting some bug reports from users saying that it is not working for all of  them.  It is a busy Monday.

***

But while I was thinking about these things earlier today, and it happened to be a sunny day, I felt it may be a good to post a small and fun outdoor exercise for you:

This one is a good one to put on your list of habits to build, for when you make it out of the house (or office): Get some outdoor time, bring your regular normalized (distance vision) prescription, and your differential (close-up) prescription with you.

If you are comfortable using no glasses outdoors (always be safe!), start with no glasses:

10-15 minutes, push a bit of focus on nearby written objects, such as license plates and street signs. Nothing strenuous, just get a bit of active focus happening.

Then switch to the differential prescription.

And yes, these are meant for close-up, but the lower amount is just about ideal for what you want to do here. Alternately, you can use your Peak Prescription, if you have one.

Now, rather than pulling focus, find some distant writing that is a bit into the blurry part of your vision. Look at this sign, without blinking (no straining). Just take some time to see that you are actually seeing multiples, rather than simple blur. The edge of the writing might be very close together, so without paying attention it may seem like blur, but with a bit of looking you will realize the difference. Don’t try to pull it into focus, just recognize the true nature of the  image.

This may make far less sense if you have not done the 60s installments, unless you are already familiar with double vision vs. blur.

Spend at least 10-15 minutes just seeing your surroundings, and recognizing that most of what is at at the blur horizon, is not just blurry – it is multiple images, that do not quite line up.

And, that’s it. Switch to your normalized prescription, enjoy your walk.

You can at that point blink at try to actively focus, resolve the double vision into a clear image – but it is not necessary. The exercise is merely to recognize the multiple images.

Doing this somewhat regularly will add stimulus beyond our focusing pushing and pulling. Your eyes may already be transmitting the necessary information to produce a clearer image, but your brain is not fully processing this change, yet. The exercises in the 60s installments further help with this – some outdoor time tends to help move this process along.

There are a few other posts on this subject, such as this one.

Enjoy!

Alex discussing myopic child