Bad eyesight, as I said, is a consequence of an abnormal state of the psyche. Spectacles can sometimes neutralize the effect of this condition on the eyes and, by providing more comfort to the person, to some extent improve his mental abilities. But we do not radically change this state of mind and, by turning it into a bad habit, we can worsen it.

It is easy to show that among the abilities of the brain that deteriorate with visual impairment is memory. Since a significant part of the educational process consists in the accumulation of facts, and all other mental processes depend on the assimilation of these facts by a person, it is easy to understand how little is achieved by simply putting glasses on a person who has "problems with his eyes." The extraordinary memory of primitive man was attributed to the fact that, due to the lack of suitable means of recording, he had to rely on his memory, which was strengthened accordingly. But from the point of view of the well-known fact - the connection between memory and vision - it would be more reasonable to assume that the memory of primitive man was good for the same reason as his sharp eyesight, namely, due to the relaxed, calm state of his psyche.

The memory of primitive man, as well as the keenness of his vision, can be found among civilized people, and, if the necessary investigations were made, it would undoubtedly be found that they always meet together. A similar unity was observed in the case that I recently encountered in my research. One girl was examined with such amazing vision that she could see the moons of Jupiter with the naked eye. This fact is proved by her sketch of a diagram of their arrangement, which corresponded exactly to the diagrams made by people using a telescope.

Her memory was just as amazing. She could retell the entire content of the book word for word after reading it, just as Lord Macaulay is said to have done. A girl without a teacher learned more Latin in a few days than her sister, who had 6 diopters of myopia and spent several years studying Latin. She remembered what she ate at the restaurant five years ago and even gave the name of the waiter, the house number and the street where it all happened. The girl also remembered what she wore for the occasion and what the others were wearing. Any other event that aroused her interest in one way or another was also correctly named. Her family's favorite pastime was to ask her about what the menu was like and how people were dressed on certain occasions.

It has been found that when two people's eyesight differs, their memory capabilities differ to exactly the same extent. Two sisters, one of whom usually had good eyesight, expressed by writing 20/20, and the other 20/10, showed that the time it took them to memorize 8 stanzas of a poem differed in almost the same ratio as their eyesight . The first girl, whose vision was 20/10, learned 8 stanzas in 15 minutes, the other, with 20/20 vision, took 31 minutes.

After palming, a girl with normal vision learned 8 more stanzas in 21 minutes, while her sister was able to reduce her time by only 2 minutes. In other words, the psyche of the latter was already in a normal or almost normal state, which could not be significantly improved by palming, while the first girl, whose psyche was under some stress, was able to achieve relaxation through palming and, therefore, was able to improve her memory.

The memory of even one person with differences in the vision of two eyes can change depending on whether both eyes are open or best eye closed.

Memory cannot be enhanced any more than vision can be enhanced. We remember without effort, just as we see without effort. The more we try to remember or see, the less we are able to do so.

The things we remember are the things that arouse our interest in them. The reason that we have difficulty in studying certain disciplines is that we get bored with them. When we are bored, our eyesight deteriorates. Boredom is a state of mental stress in which the eyes cannot function normally.

The sharp-sighted girl we talked about above could retell the books that interested her in their entirety from memory. But she had an extreme dislike for mathematics and anatomy, and not only could not learn them, but became myopic when the thought of them crossed her mind. She could read quarter-inch letters from 20 feet in low light, but when asked to name 1-2 inch letters in good light from 10 feet, she misread half of them. When asked to add a two and a three, she first said the number four before deciding that it would still be five. At the same time, all the time while she was doing this unpleasant business, the retinoscope showed that she was a myopic. When I asked her to look into my eye with an ophthalmoscope, she could not see anything there, although it takes a much lower degree of visual acuity to notice the details of the fundus than is required to see the moons of Jupiter.

One short-sighted girl, in contrast to this case, was passionate about mathematics and anatomy and achieved brilliant results in them. She learned to use the ophthalmoscope just as easily as that girl with sharp eyesight learned Latin. Almost immediately, the girl was able to see the optic nerve and note that the center of the retina was lighter than the periphery. She saw light colored lines (arteries) and darker lines (veins). At the same time, she also saw light stripes on the blood vessels. Some ophthalmologists will never be able to see this, and in general no one can do this without having normal vision. Her vision, therefore, should have become normal at this point in time. The vision of this girl, although not normal, was still better than for letters.

In both cases considered, the ability to learn and the ability to see went side by side with interest. The girl could read a small photocopy of the Bible, retell what she read word for word, could see the satellites of Jupiter and then draw a diagram of their location because all these things were interesting to her. But she couldn't see the fundus as well as the letters. She could not see even half the number of numbers from the number of letters she saw. The reason for this was that these things were uninteresting and boring to her. But when she was told that it would be a good joke to surprise her teachers, who always reproached her for falling behind in mathematics, by getting a high mark on the upcoming exam, she woke up such an interest in this subject that she managed to learn enough material and score a whopping 78 points. For another girl, the letters were unpleasant. She was not interested in most of the subjects, which led to a lag in them and the usual transformation into a myopic. But when she was asked to look at objects that aroused her intense interest, her vision became normal.

In short, when a person is not interested in anything, his psyche goes out of control, and without mental control, a person cannot learn or see anything. When vision becomes normal, not only memory improves, but also all other mental abilities of a person. People who get rid of bad eyesight often find that their ability to do their jobs has improved.

One librarian in his 70s, forty of them wearing glasses, found that after he achieved normal vision without glasses, he was able to work faster and more accurately, while tiring less than before. During busy periods, or when there were no assistants, he worked for weeks from 7 am to 11 am and claimed to feel less tired after finishing work than before starting it in the morning. Previously, although he did not work more than his colleagues, the work always tired him very much. The librarian also noticed an improvement in his mood. He had worked in this library for a long time and understood the matter much more than his colleagues. Therefore, he was often asked for advice. These disturbances, before his eyesight became normal, greatly annoyed him and often spoiled his mood. However, later they did not cause him any irritation.

In another case, when vision became normal, the symptoms of psychosis were relieved. A doctor came to me, who had already been examined by many neuropathologists and ophthalmologists. But he came to me not because he had any confidence in my method, but simply because he had nothing else to do. He brought with him a fairly large collection of glasses prescribed to him by various doctors. However, no two of them were the same. He told me that he had worn glasses at one time for many months without success, so he stopped wearing them, which clearly didn't hurt him. Life on fresh air couldn't help him either. On the advice of a number of well-known neurologists, he even gave up his medical practice for a couple of years to spend this time on a ranch. But this vacation did not give him anything good either.

I checked his eyes and found no organic lesions and no refractive error. However, his vision in each eye was three-quarters of normal, and he suffered from double vision and all sorts of unpleasant symptoms. He saw some people standing on their heads, and little devils dancing on the roofs of high houses. He also had a number of other visual illusions, too numerous to be described here. At night, his vision deteriorated so much that he could hardly find his way. Walking along a country road, he assured that he saw her better when he turned his eyes away from her, looking at the road with the edge of the retina, instead of its center. At various intervals of time, quite suddenly and without loss of consciousness, he was attacked by blindness. This gave him great anxiety, since he was a surgeon with a large and profitable medical practice, and he feared that this could happen during an operation.

His memory was very weak. He couldn't remember the colors of his family's eyes, even though he'd seen them every day for years. He also did not remember the color of his house, or the number of rooms on different floors, or other details. Faces and names of patients and friends he remembered with difficulty or could not do it at all.

This man was very difficult to treat, mainly because he had an endless number of misconceptions about physiological optics in general and his own medical history in particular. He insisted on discussing all these thoughts of his and believed that as long as the discussions were going on, he would not achieve any success. Every day and every time he spent hours talking and arguing. His logic was amazing, seemingly irrefutable, and yet completely wrong.

His eccentric fixation was of such a high degree that when he looked at a 45 degree angle away from capital letter The "C" on the test card, he saw the letter as black as when he looked at it directly. The tension at the same time was terrible and led to the appearance of severe astigmatism. But the patient did not realize this, and it was not possible to convince him that there was something abnormal in this symptom. If he did manage to see any letter, he claimed that he should see it as black as it really is, since he does not suffer from color blindness. Eventually, he did learn to look away from one of the small letters on the test card and see it worse than when looking straight at it. It took him 8 or 9 months to achieve this, but when he managed to do it, he said that it felt like a big load was removed from his psyche. Throughout his body he experienced a feeling of peace and relaxation.

When he was asked to remember something black, closing his eyes and covering them with his palms, he said that he could not do this. He saw any color, but not black, which should normally be seen when the human optic nerve is not exposed to light. However, in college he was an avid soccer player, which allowed him to eventually discover that he could remember a black soccer ball. I asked him to imagine that this ball was thrown into the sea and that it was being carried away by the ebb, becoming smaller and smaller. smaller size, however, without losing the intensity of the black color. He was able to do it, and the tension began to float along with the soccer ball. As soon as, over time, the latter was reduced to the size of a dot in a newspaper, the tension completely disappeared. The relief lasted only as long as the patient remembered the black dot, but since he could not remember it all the time, I advised him to use another method to achieve continuous relief. It consisted in a voluntary (arbitrary) deterioration of one's vision. The patient strongly opposed this plan. "Oh my God! he exclaimed.

However, after a whole week of argument, he agreed to try this method, which gave very good results. After he had learned to see two or more lights where there was only one, by making an effort to see a point above the light source and at the same time trying to see the light source itself as well as by looking directly at it, he learned to avoid the unconscious tension that caused double and multiple images. More such additional images did not bother him. In the same way, it was possible to get rid of other illusions.

One of his last delusions, which had to be eliminated, was his belief that in order to remember black, effort is needed. His logic in this matter was formidable, but still, after many shows, he was convinced that it was not necessary to make any effort to relax. As soon as he realized this, his eyesight and mental state immediately improved.

Ultimately, he improved his eyesight to 20/10 or more. At the same time, despite the fact that he was over 55 years old, he read diamond type from distances from 6 to 24 inches. His night blindness was gone. The day blindness attacks also stopped. He still managed to tell me the color of the eyes of his wife and children. One day he said to me: "Doctor, I am grateful to you for what you have done for my vision, but no words can convey the feeling of gratitude that I feel for you for what you have done for my psyche."

A few years later, he called me to tell me that he had not had any relapses.

From all these facts it is clear that any problems with vision are much more closely connected with the psyche than is commonly thought and that no convex, concave or astigmatic lenses can solve them.

Visual memory fills our memories with vivid pictures of the past, large quantity details, elements that are very difficult to describe in words and very long. We remember our life bright and full thanks to the well-coordinated work of our eyes and our brain.

What is visual memory? How does it work, how is it combined with memory from other senses? How to improve visual memory and why is it needed? This article is about this and much more.

Visual memory, what is it?

Visual memory… It is not so difficult to explain what it is. For example, you are going somewhere by bus, to another country, let's say. Together with you - about forty people whom you first saw while boarding the vehicle. And so, before crossing the border, the bus stops and all passengers, including you, get out of it and mix with passengers from other buses. 20 minutes pass. A person with a well-developed visual memory (in this case, a memory for faces) can easily pick out from the crowd not only the man who has been sitting next to him for the past two hours, but also most of the travelers from his bus. A person with a poor visual memory will remember two or three who were sitting in his field of vision.

Or here's another example. Suppose you visited Serbia 10 years ago. And now, at the mere mention of it on TV, or in conversations with friends, you imagine a vivid and distinct picture: hilly mountains in greenery, and among them - a small beautiful house.

Now it's time to define visual memory. What is it, after all, is it?

Visual memory is a type of memory that is associated with the work of the visual analyzer. Responsible for the preservation, and then for the reproduction of visual images.

There are several types.

Iconic. Its duration is less than a second. Information that has not been used at this time is lost.

Short-term. Lasts up to 30 seconds.

Long-term. Particularly long-term visual memory.

Eidetic memory, what is it?

Also, eidetic memory is allocated to a separate group. This is an ability that not all people have, most often children, teenagers, artists. It is the ability to keep in the head bright and clear images of the objects seen for a long period of time. Eidetics see the picture well even after it has disappeared from their field of vision.

Eidetism is a well-developed photographic memory. Some use this concept as a synonym for visual memory, but we consider photographic memory as part of visual memory.

Remember, you must have heard stories that a certain person reproduces with amazing accuracy the details of a picture he saw some time ago. Or about people who are ready to recite various verses without stopping. These are all individuals with a well-developed eidetic or photographic memory.

There are unique cases of eidetism. For example, the Italian bibliophile Antonio Magliabechi, who lived in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, at the end of his life could recite each of the books he read by heart. And there were more than 40,000 of them ... Or the 40th US President Ronald Reagan memorized texts just by looking at them.

Visual memory is an important information carrier

Interestingly, the use of visual images allows a person to encode a lot of memories.

We just need to remember, for example, what it looks like handsome man, which we see in the dining room at lunchtime. When we remember it, we see a picture. Now let's imagine that we need to describe his girlfriend, who has never had the honor of meeting this handsome man. How many words will be needed? Hundreds. He is both tall and broad-shouldered, and his hair is long, but not very long, to the shoulders, like that of such and such an actor from such and such a film, and his beard is the same as that of someone ...

It turns out that the picture carries the information of hundreds of words, which, you see, are much more difficult to remember. It is unlikely that a friend will be able to repeat everything she heard. Rather, she will now remember the image that she formed on the basis of the descriptions she heard.

And further. It seems that we remember only the picture. Actually, it is not. The visual image is supplemented by a large amount of information received from other senses.

For example, five years ago you visited a famous restaurant abroad. And then, walking down the street, out of the corner of your ear you hear that someone else mentions the name of this institution in a conversation. A picture immediately arises in front of you: you are sitting, and in front of you is a chic table with a tablecloth hanging to the floor, collected in several places, twilight, there is a glass of wine on the table, and many, many flowers around.

Is this all? Not! Surely, you almost felt a barely perceptible smell, which probably came from the kitchen then. And they also felt a slight coolness, because. when you were in the restaurant, the air conditioner worked well, and you got a little chilly. Also, of course, the sounds of live music, calm and unobtrusive, that you heard then, flashed through your head. In addition, the heard name for some reason immediately improved your mood. After all, then, 5 years ago, in this overseas restaurant, your current husband proposed to you.

All this happens because visual memory does not work alone. To it is added also auditory, olfactory, tactile, emotional. The picture is supplemented by the results of the work of the senses, due to which a more complete, complete image is formed, filled with a large amount of information.

Who has the best visual memory?

Many are not left alone with the question, who has a better visual memory? To better accept the answer to this question, let's take a slightly abstract example. Anyone who is interested knows that Americans generally have higher IQs than Europeans. And despite the fact that the tests with which it is checked among US residents are more difficult.

Scientists attribute this to the fact that Americans are constantly, day after day, forced to use in their daily lives those skills and capabilities that are tested in IQ tests. It turns out that without their active participation, the abilities of their brain are improved.

The same is true for visual memory. It is well developed in those who use it constantly.

Take the Eskimos for example. They live where it is almost impossible to live - in the expanses of the Arctic. All around are monotonous white landscapes, someone would even say - depressive. There is nothing for the eye to stop at.

And the locals here have a super-acute visual memory. It captures the smallest details that we, who have grown up in a large variety of images, would not have caught close. The eyes of the Eskimos notice among the monotonous pictures - ice and snowy mountains - various identification marks. That is why, even in the most difficult conditions, the Eskimo is not afraid to get lost. In winter, he will easily and quickly find his hiding place, in which he hid the game he caught in the summer. A large amount of visual information is stored in his memory, which helps him survive in difficult conditions.

You can also hear the point of view that visual memory in women is better developed than in men. Allegedly, these differences are associated with the structural features of the brain in people of different sexes. We, on the other hand, adhere to the point of view that if there are differences, then they are connected, first of all, with different conditions in which boys and girls grow and live.

For example, girls, it is likely, have been dominated by hobbies since childhood, games where visual memory is actively involved, there are a large number of visual images. Boys have a slightly different experience. Therefore, at some period of life, differences in the quality of visual memory can be recorded. But if there were no differences in the experience of girls and boys in their childhood, there would be no differences in memory.

And a little more about animals. Scientists are all trying to figure out what kind of visual memory they have? It is quite difficult to do this. They resort to experiments during which food is hidden from animals right in front of them in one of several shelters and they wait for how long the animal will be able to remember exactly where the food was placed, in which shelter.

So they found out that the dog runs unmistakably to the shelter with food after 17 minutes of waiting, and the cat after 6. It does not seem to be very long. In the same time, complete picture It is difficult to imagine what is going on in the head of an animal. After all, their olfactory, auditory memory is much stronger than ours. Therefore, they are well versed in their life situations, remember what they need, instantly, do not suffer, in general.

How to improve visual memory?

Visual memory training can significantly improve the capabilities of a person as a whole. Study, work, everyday life… In each of the areas there will be only pluses. A person gets the opportunity to more deeply perceive objects around, due to which he becomes more attentive, concentrated.

How to develop visual memory? There are many ways. For example, you can find special games on the Internet - simulators. Most of them have the same idea. For a certain period of time, various objects are shown to you - pictures, facial features, etc., after which the images disappear and you are asked to remember what was shown and in what sequence.

Also, visual memory is trained by the following classes.

Drawing. Portraits, landscapes, still lifes… The bottom line is that we first isolate some detail, then remember it, and only then transfer it to the canvas. This is good for developing visual memory.

Games. Remember the children's games like "Find 10 Differences"? Just they are aimed at the active development of visual memory. Find more sophisticated options for adults, and go!

Memories. it The best way training not only visual, but also memory in general. It consists in the fact that before going to bed, lying in bed, a person remembers everything that happened to him during the day. The main thing is that in the process of memories, appropriate visual images constantly arise in the head.

Memory of images. It consists in the fact that you are trying to remember as accurately as possible some image that was before your eyes not so long ago. For example, the face of a man who was seen several times in the subway.

How to improve photographic memory?

There are also good exercise to train photographic memory.

Exercise number 1.

Observe any object, for example, at your desk at a distance of two meters, 2 minutes. Try to remember as many details as possible. Do not take your eyes off the picture for all 2 minutes. Now close your eyes and try to imagine the color of objects, proportions, shapes ... Everything that is possible. If you forgot something, then open your eyes for a few seconds. This will allow you to remember the missing details.

After it becomes easy for you to train with objects, start using texts, complex pictures.

Exercise number 2.

It can be done while you are walking home or driving to work. Quickly look at any object that you have come across on the road. For example, a small shop. Look away and try to remember what you saw, draw a picture in your head. After a while, such entertainment - training will become your habit. You will not even notice how the improvement of visual memory turns into pleasure.

Today, many diseases that are accompanied by symptoms such as visual impairment, hearing loss or memory loss are no longer the lot of only the elderly. More and more middle-aged patients (and sometimes young people) are turning to medical institutions, complaining of these unpleasant manifestations of various diseases. Why are we seeing this trend? Among the reasons that cause a decrease in memory, vision and hearing are the following:

Unfavorable ecology;
- abuse of alcohol, drugs and drugs;
- Smoking tobacco products, which not only affects visual acuity and hearing, but also affects verbal and visual memory;
- lack of certain vitamins and minerals in the body;
- infectious diseases and diseases of internal organs;
- metabolic disorders;
- Severe head injury.

It is traditionally believed that the deterioration of vision, hearing or memory loss is associated with problems of the heart, brain or adverse weather conditions, but as practice shows, very often the problem lies in the cervical spine. Cervical osteochondrosis is increasingly affecting people young age(25-45 years old). And there is nothing surprising in this. Our spine is designed by nature for movement, and each of its joints must work. But in modern conditions When many people spend more than eight hours a day at the computer, it is very difficult to implement this function of the spine. This ultimately leads to a malfunction of the entire human body. The supply of oxygen to the brain worsens, and as a result, memory impairment begins, vision and hearing decrease. This concomitant disease of osteochondrosis of the cervical spine is called vertebrobasilar insufficiency. Among its main symptoms, in addition to the deterioration of hearing, memory and vision, there are:

Severe headaches;
- frequent bouts of dizziness;
- drops in blood pressure;
- noise in ears.

The above symptoms should not be ignored, they warn you that not everything is in order with the body and you need to urgently contact specialists. timely health care often helps to avoid long and expensive treatment, and sometimes saves from disability. The clinic of a healthy spine and joints will help you solve any problems with the musculoskeletal system at the highest professional level. If you have problems with the spine, which are manifested by symptoms of memory, vision or hearing impairment, our specialists and the most modern medical equipment will help you restore your health and return to a full life. In our practice we use conservative methods treatment and resort to surgical intervention only as a last resort.

18-02-2014, 05:26

Description

Let's start with what lies on the surface and has been known since ancient times - with the relationship between vision and the psyche. Dr. Bates takes the following position:

“Poor vision is the result of an abnormal state of mind. Glasses can sometimes neutralize the negative effects of the psyche on the eyes and improve mental properties to some extent. But we do not fundamentally change this state of mind and can even worsen it.

It is easy to show that among the abilities of the brain that deteriorate with visual impairment is memory. Since a large part of the educational process consists in the accumulation of facts, and all other mental processes depend on the assimilation of these facts by a person, it is easy to understand how little positive is achieved by simply putting glasses on a person who has problems with his eyes.

The extraordinary memory of primitive man was due to the fact that, due to the lack of suitable means of recording, he had to rely on his memory, which, accordingly, was strengthened. But, given that memory is linked to vision, it is more reasonable to assume that primitive man's memory was good for the same reason as his sharp eyesight, namely, due to the relaxed, calm state of his psyche.

Among civilized people, there are also many who have an excellent memory and excellent eyesight. Conducting the necessary research would undoubtedly prove that these properties always occur together. I myself have recently witnessed such a unity.

One girl was examined with such amazing vision that she could see the moons of Jupiter with the naked eye. This fact is proved by her sketch of a diagram of their arrangement, which corresponded exactly to the diagrams made by people using a telescope.

Her memory was just as amazing. She could retell the whole content of the book word for word after reading it, just as Lord Macauley is said to have done (this man was able to read 500 pages of text per hour and easily reproduce what you read from memory). A girl without a teacher learned more Latin words in a few days than her sister, who had 6 diopters and spent several years studying Latin.”

Dr. Bates is echoed by many of his students and followers. In particular, G. Benjamin, already mentioned by us, argues that "temperament, which tends to mental and mental stress, is the cause of most visual impairments." And the scientist and ophthalmologist R. Kaplan aptly noted: “Not only our eyes look, but the whole body.”

Deception. Manipulation and pressure are dangerous for the eyes of a child

That is why I want to start the practical part of the book with exercises that relieve mental stress. In his book, W. G. Bates gives striking examples of how it adversely affects vision. For example, 16 A year-old girl was asked to say that her name was not what she really was, and then her eyesight was checked. It turned out that it had deteriorated sharply, became myopic. Assuming that the girl is too emotional, the researchers conducted a similar experiment with the young man. 25 years (when checking his eyesight, he was asked to incorrectly name his age, add one year).

What, it would seem, is the difference at this age - 25 are you old or 26 ? However, the young man did not see several lines in the checklist as a result.

And what happens to our poor eyes when we get angry, angry, annoyed, feel fear, hatred, pain or any other emotional and mental stress?! It is not for nothing that so many stable expressions and metaphors associate emotions with the eyes: “The eyes darkened from anger”, “The eyes filled with blood from anger”, “Sparks from the eyes fell from pain”, “Fear has large eyes”, etc.

It’s hard not to recognize the close relationship between a difficult life situation and the state of vision when I listen to or read the stories of my students about how they literally cried out in a state of great stress, keeping them “wet” for a long time.

Will it get better if you cry?

By the way, I want to note that a very common opinion about the benefits of tears is nothing more than a myth. The tears that a person sheds from grief, according to researchers, are no different from “onion” tears in their biochemical composition. Tears also do not alleviate emotional experiences. This was confirmed by experiments with a large number female test subjects.

One group of women, while watching a heartbreaking film, was asked to cry if they wanted to, while the other group was not recommended to cry. Those who kept themselves from crying quickly regained their peace of mind after the session. Those who cried became sickly and restless and returned to normal only after a few hours. So the recommendation “cry - it will become easier” is not always correct!

I am convinced that any grief is not a reason for constant tears. And even more so, you should not allow the child to achieve something from you with the help of crying. Explain to the baby that tears are dangerous for his eyes and psyche. Of course, the baby will not understand this, therefore, while crying, it is necessary to distract him with something or announce an ultimatum: until you stop crying, you will not get what you want.

In addition, it is worth teaching the child to be sincere and truthful, not giving him a reason to show himself only from the side that is especially pleasing to parents and teachers who are prone to dictate. Adults often do not even suspect how much they suppress the personality of their precious baby.

Once I happened to participate in a psychological training, the host of which invited everyone to remember if someone put pressure on them and whether they themselves put pressure on someone. Surprisingly, almost all participants said that they experienced authoritarian pressure from their parents, not only in childhood, but also during adult life, and were forced to admit that they themselves put pressure on their children. Occasionally, the objects of psychological aggression are spouses. I was then struck by the identity of the answers, and an experienced presenter said that these were the results of polls in almost all groups over the years. The purpose of this discussion, in her opinion, is to give people the opportunity to see themselves from the outside, so that they stop bullying their children for every possible reason.

Of course, one should not indulge a child if he is lazy and sloppy, you cannot fulfill all the desires of your beloved child and always allow him to do what he wants. However, accustoming the little man to work, order and discipline, do not do it harshly and directively. Awaken in the baby desire and interest in various household chores. Avoid a peremptory tone, do not teach, strive to give any activity the form of a game, stimulating development creativity baby.

Undoubtedly, not only psychological, but also physical stress is of tremendous importance. It is extremely important to remove it from the first days of a person's life.

The stress of death is like. Strength is in relaxation

The ancient yogis thought so, and modern scientific data fully confirm this thesis. In the above-mentioned book by E. S. Avetisov, E. I. Livado and Yu. A. Kurpan, it is argued that increased visual load with insufficient physical activity is the most important factor that most contributes to the development of myopia in childhood.

For example, fatigue of the neck muscles associated with poor posture and incorrect sitting posture directly affects vision. Any chiropractor knows this. Good specialists in this field are able to help the patient improve vision in 1-2 session, if the cause of the problem lies precisely in the tension of the spine.

The book "Your Eyes" (compiled by G. Yesakova) provides a list of areas, the tension in which contributes to the deterioration of vision.

• A tense jaw indirectly limits the mobility of the eyes, since one of the most important nerves for vision has branches in the jaw and the thoracic and cervical spinal cord. Nerve impulses from the brain pass through it, which provide the mobility of the eyes.
• Tension of the occipital muscles impedes blood circulation in the visual centers of the brain, as well as in the eyeballs and adjacent muscles, since blood from the heart passes through the vessels through the muscles of the back of the head to the visual centers and visual analyzers located just in the back of the head.
• Tension in the back limits the field of vision and makes it difficult to move the eyes; only the correct, harmonious work of the muscles of the eyes, the back of the head and the back ensures sufficient mobility of the gaze.
• Tension in the legs and the incorrect position of the pelvis and spine can easily lead to impaired motor functions and loss of a sense of balance (so-called kinesthetic disorders); then you have to “cling” with your eyes to the surrounding objects to maintain balance.

I'll give you an example. When the body is in a natural, relaxed state, a person can run on a rough road or go down stairs while watching a bird flying in the sky. At the same time, the legs themselves find their way.

If the position of the body is not balanced relative to its own center of gravity, when walking, you have to look for a fulcrum in the surrounding space. At the same time, the gaze coincides with the direction of movement, fixing on the objects in front. This unnaturally narrows the field of view and creates additional strain on the eyes. Recall how often adults make remarks to a mobile child: do not turn around, do not turn your head, look under your feet, otherwise you will fall, etc.

Back training is becoming more and more widespread as one of the radical methods of maintaining the health of the body and especially vision.

How to acquire the correct posture, how to relieve tension in the neck and jaws, is described in the chapter 8 . For now, I will only say that it is extremely important to learn how to sit, walk and stand correctly, that is, without tension. The inability to timely relieve excessive tension in the body and back leads to the formation of incorrect posture, spinal deformity and, ultimately, to eye diseases.

Maintaining the correct position of the body, you can thereby maintain and activate the functionality of vision.

The Power of Positive Attitudes

Before you start working on restoring your baby's vision, choose a positive attitude for him using the method described by experts from the American Vision Institute. They called this way of working with mindsets "the power of thinking" and gave it the first place in their visual program among many others. Characteristically, the method works regardless of whether you believe it or not, due to the conscious concentration of mental energy on the goal.

Choose from one of the positive affirmations below, or create your own.

It doesn’t matter which one, as long as it creates a feeling of comfort and joy for you and your baby. Practice repeating any of these phrases until it becomes part of you:

• Every day I see better!
• My eyesight is improving!
• I have normal healthy eyesight!
• I can clearly and clearly see distant objects!
• I can see everything without glasses!
• I see clearly, comfortably and naturally!
• My eyes are completely relaxed!

Repeat any of these phrases as often as possible - while working, playing, shopping, in a car, etc. Say it out loud if no one is around, and whisper it to the beat of your breath when you are among people. Write the phrase on brightly colored cards, place them in prominent places throughout the house, at your workplace, attach them to the glass in your car.

If the situation permits, repeat the installation with as much energy as possible, even shouting as loudly as possible. You can also hum the phrase or chant it by clapping your hands. The more energetically the setting is pronounced, the better the result will be (Fig. 4).

Let the adrenaline rush excite your mind to maintain your inner drive and stimulate your eyes and brain to restore vision.

Of course, you can repeat the installation in a whisper or to yourself. However, the effect will be greatly enhanced if you say it out loud, loudly and clearly. Be sure to do this daily, preferably several times a day.

If it's difficult to pronounce a long text, choose one key phrase that matches your aspirations. For example, "I can see perfectly!" or “My eyes are healthy!” These words can be sung or chanted loudly while clapping your hands and tapping your foot. To enhance the effect, ask family members to repeat the phrase with you. The louder and more convincing the positive attitude will sound, the faster it will work. You can sing the selected phrase by clapping the rhythm.

See how the faces of your family and especially the baby turned pink, how everyone smiled at each other and cheered up at once. This means that the brain has already taken a beneficial attitude as a command to act, it has already begun to stimulate the eyes and activate visual resources. Do not be surprised if, in a week or two, the adult members of the family, as it were, accidentally read the newspaper text, and the young ones see the image on the screen without glasses!

MEMORY AND IMAGINATION

The faculty of perception depends, as has already been said, on the quantity, quality, and usefulness of previous experience. But past experience exists for us only in memory. Therefore, it is more correct to say that perception depends on memory.

Imagination is closely connected with memory, which transforms memories, creating new constructions from what is really experienced, different from everything really experienced in the past. The ability of the mind to interpret sensations is as much influenced by imagination as it is by memory.

The extent to which perception, and therefore vision, depends on memory and imagination is a matter of everyday experience. We see familiar things more clearly than those of which we have no memory, and when - due to stress or emotional arousal - our imagination is more active than usual, it often happens that we interpret the sensations of objects with which our imagination is busy, than sensations coming from the outside world.

The old seamstress, who can't tell a thing without glasses, sees enough, however, to thread a needle. Why? Because she's more familiar with needles than letters.

A student comes across in a textbook an unusual technical term or a phrase from an unknown language. The letters that make up unfamiliar words are exactly the same as those printed in the entire textbook, and yet they are definitely more difficult to see. Why? Because the main text is written in native and understandable English language, and these unreadable ones are in Greco-Latin gibberish.

A man spins all day in his office like a squirrel in a wheel and does not notice fatigue, but in a museum he is exhausted in an hour and returns home with a splitting head. Why? Because at work he follows a routine, dealing with his usual papers, while in the museum everything is alien, new and strange.

Or take the case of a lady who is terribly afraid of snakes and one day takes a piece of hose for a huge viper. Her vision, as shown by the Snellen chart, is quite normal. Why then does she see something that isn't there? Because her imagination is accustomed to using memories of snakes in order, by creating frightening images of these creatures, to forestall real danger; in this situation, her mind, under the influence of imagination, misinterpreted the sensations associated with the hose, and the lady vividly saw in it a "viper".

There are an infinite number of such examples. There is no doubt that perception, and therefore vision, depends on memory and, to a lesser extent, on imagination. We see better those things (or similar ones) of which we have a good store of memories. The more accurate these memories, the more thorough and analytical knowledge they embody, the better (ceteris paribus) will be the vision. True, vision can be better even with other things unequal. Thus, a veteran microscopist may have worse eyesight (to refer to Snellen's chart) than the freshman he teaches. However, when he sits down at his instrument, thanks to his rich experience and accurate memory of similar objects, he sees the object being dissected much clearer and sharper than a beginner can.

That perception and vision depend on previous experience fixed in memory is a truth recognized by all. However, I know only one person who drew serious (I call them utilitarian and therapeutic) conclusions from it; this is Dr. W. G. Bates. He was the first to ask the question: "How can this addiction be used to improve vision?" And having asked it, he did not rest until he found a number of simple and practical answers. His followers also contributed to the creation of techniques for improving vision by working with memory and imagination. Here I will talk about the most effective of these exercises. But first, a few more words about some features of this most mysterious psychic force: memory.

For us who are trying to restore visual abilities, perhaps the most important feature of memory is that it does not work well under stress. Everyone knows the situation when, in a conversation with a friend, you suddenly find that you can’t remember his name in any way. But if a person is wise, he will stop trying in vain and allow the mind to sink into a state of watchful passivity: the chances are high that the name will voluntarily float to the conscious level. As you can see, memory works best when the mind is in a state of dynamic relaxation.

Experience has taught the vast majority of people that there is a relationship between good memory and dynamic relaxation of the mind; this state tends to be accompanied by dynamic relaxation of the body. But it is unlikely that anyone has taken the trouble to formulate this position - people know it unconsciously and behave accordingly. When they need to remember something, they instinctively relax, because their experience suggests that the state of "let everything flow by itself" is most favorable for memory work.

So, this habit of relaxation persists even when bad habits of mental and physical tension have formed in relation to other manifestations of life. That is why people, starting to remember, automatically, without thinking, bring themselves into a state of dynamic mental relaxation, which is favorable not only for memory, but also for vision. This seems to explain the phenomenon of why successful recall also brings immediate improvement in vision.

In some cases of impaired vision, the state of mental and physical stress is so extreme that those suffering from it have lost the habit of "let it all flow..." even in regard to recall. Experienced teachers of Dr. Bates' method have told me of people who could not remember the letters or numbers they had looked at just ten seconds before. But as soon as the eyes and mind relaxed a little with the help of palming, solarization, swaying and moving, the memory returned to them again. The inability to remember, which plunged these poor fellows into a state of apparent dementia, was due to the same fundamental cause as imperfect vision: a malfunction associated with severe mental and neuromuscular tension.

Fortunately, such cases are not very common, and most of those who suffer from impaired vision successfully apply the rule: "let everything flow by itself" - unconsciously derived from the experience of everyday life. That is why they retain the ability to use memory as aid to relax the mind and body, and ultimately the eyes. A visually impaired person looks, say, at printed letter and cannot see it clearly. But if he closes his eyes, relaxes, and remembers something that is easy for him to remember clearly and distinctly, he will find, when he reopens his eyes, that his vision has improved markedly.

Since clear recall is not possible without relaxation, improvement in vision will follow each act of recall, even if what is remembered has nothing to do with the thing that is in this moment required to be seen. And if you have this particular thing fixed in your memory, or something similar that you saw in the past, then recall will be doubly effective in improving vision, since it will lead not only to a beneficial relaxation of the mind, but also to increased knowledge of the object in question. And, as you know, we see most clearly those things that we know best. Therefore, any exercise that brings us even closer to the object of our attention promises the opportunity to see it more easily.

These preliminary explanations, I hope, will help you to understand the essence of the exercises presented below.