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Take Off Your Glasses and See: A Mind/Body Approach to Expanding Your Eyesight and Insight
This revolutionary new look at vision will broaden your understanding of how you see and how you can see without your glasses or contact lenses. Take Off Your Glasses and See shows you how to free yourself from the crutch of prescription lenses, to build your self-confidence and awareness, and to open up your inner and outer vision in order to see more clearly. Jacob Liberman, an internationally recognized authority on holistic vision care, explains how most vision problems are the result of an unconscious decision to "close your eyes" to emotional discomfort or pain, and how increasingly powerful corrective lenses only encourage eyesight to withdraw even further. By removing lenses and practicing breath- and movement-awareness techniques to shift your perception, you can reintegrate the original disruption in the mind/body system. Dr. Liberman’s approach can help you join the thousands who have escaped from the self-defeating cycle of poor vision.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 28, 1995
176 people are currently reading
838 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
March 13, 2017
Update:
i just had an eye exam yesterday and my prescription was reduced from -3.15 & -2.75 to -2.50& -2.00 BUT, the thing is that i know i could have done so much better if the eye doctor next me would just stop stressing me and let me more than a second to respond, and let me breath instead of saying "you don't see right?" and laugh when i asked for the minimum prescription. That was frustrating, i haven't used my eye lenses or glasses for weeks, almost not at all, and i actually feel quite confident about it. It will continue to get better, i know it :) all thanks to this book ♥️ i wish all doctors were supporting like him!
i just had an eye exam yesterday and my prescription was reduced from -3.15 & -2.75 to -2.50& -2.00 BUT, the thing is that i know i could have done so much better if the eye doctor next me would just stop stressing me and let me more than a second to respond, and let me breath instead of saying "you don't see right?" and laugh when i asked for the minimum prescription. That was frustrating, i haven't used my eye lenses or glasses for weeks, almost not at all, and i actually feel quite confident about it. It will continue to get better, i know it :) all thanks to this book ♥️ i wish all doctors were supporting like him!
November 21, 2019
I kept giving this book another chance and finally just gave up on it about halfway through. There are some interesting philosophical points at the beginning, but then it just gets kind of weird. Almost like if you believe in the method enough you can regain clear vision and trash your glasses. I also feel like it could have been a pamphlet. Get to the point, man!
August 9, 2009
I'm not positive of my rating on this book as the effects of it are not in yet. I'm doing the exercises & have other things to try (like using weaker reading glasses for longer periods) before I can say for sure.
I had high hopes for the book & while they weren't completely dashed, I wasn't terribly pleased to find out that it mostly dealt with long range vision & my problem is with my close range. Still, it gave me some support for a theory that I'd held myself - my optometrist gives me stronger glasses than I really need & that isn't really helping me, it's just making me more dependent on glasses. Included are eye exercises & a chart to help me continue to work on building my ability to 'see' without the help of glasses. Whether I'll ever get rid of reading glasses entirely is doubtful, but hopefully my vision won't get worse.
He has an interesting theory on vision. Since he is an optometrist & it follows my own inclinations, I tend to lend a lot of credence to it. If you hate glasses, this is the book for you.
I had high hopes for the book & while they weren't completely dashed, I wasn't terribly pleased to find out that it mostly dealt with long range vision & my problem is with my close range. Still, it gave me some support for a theory that I'd held myself - my optometrist gives me stronger glasses than I really need & that isn't really helping me, it's just making me more dependent on glasses. Included are eye exercises & a chart to help me continue to work on building my ability to 'see' without the help of glasses. Whether I'll ever get rid of reading glasses entirely is doubtful, but hopefully my vision won't get worse.
He has an interesting theory on vision. Since he is an optometrist & it follows my own inclinations, I tend to lend a lot of credence to it. If you hate glasses, this is the book for you.
May 17, 2008
This book discusses the emotional basis for near or far sightedness. Energy and Auras are discussed. Inner vision and Eye vision are equated. Lack of eye movement due to wearing glasses/contacts are shown to cause a reduction in ability to feel and view wholely or fully. The restricted eye movement causes a mental tunnel vision and resulting emotional restrictions. His method for eliminatine the use of glasses and contacts are given. Eye exercises. Tibetan Wheel. Eye chart. Vision improvement resources and programs in U.S. and international.
June 24, 2014
Some really intriguing ideas about healing your vision. The author says that the body is remarkable in that it has the ability to heal itself in ALL areas - even vision. Makes sense to me.
I found the book tedious to read - I like summaries, and this book didn't summarize main points...
I'm going to do further research on this topic and try some of the exercises... if they work, I'll increase my rating.
I found the book tedious to read - I like summaries, and this book didn't summarize main points...
I'm going to do further research on this topic and try some of the exercises... if they work, I'll increase my rating.
September 26, 2011
I feel so much gratitude toward Dr. Liberman. Reading and working with this this book helped my eyesight so much, I was able to pass my driving test to drive in Tennessee ( which I initially failed) . Cannot recommend it highly enough- if you are considering Lasik surgery to correct your eyesight, read this first !
November 30, 2015
An interesting and practical book. This book provides many examples and exercises to help improve your natural vision. Just as the title implies, the book also focuses on your insight (maily consisting of different meditation approaches and views on life) which was a great help to fully grasp the understanding of the methods and benefits of the exercises. I wouldn't say this was am easy read, nor was it a quick read. If you decide to pick this book up consider taking the time to do the exercises because that's probably the real reason why you would start this book.
April 23, 2015
I like the overall approach - it's about changing your perception.
October 19, 2024
The philosophical reasons why people need glasses was very fascinating. I could definitely relate to what he says. What is so interesting to me is how he says glasses shrink one’s world and lock one into a certain way of thinking.
Part one talks about optometry and how they overprescribe and also the philosophy of poor vision. (Fear of life). Part two is practical tips and exercises. Part three is a little more out there.. he talks about seeing peoples auras and effortless learning, and how true living is living in the flow and not in effort.
I learned a lot in this book. I will use some of his theories plus I’m working with a vision therapist who is giving me reduced prescriptions which I think is actually what helps you get out of myopia.
Part one talks about optometry and how they overprescribe and also the philosophy of poor vision. (Fear of life). Part two is practical tips and exercises. Part three is a little more out there.. he talks about seeing peoples auras and effortless learning, and how true living is living in the flow and not in effort.
I learned a lot in this book. I will use some of his theories plus I’m working with a vision therapist who is giving me reduced prescriptions which I think is actually what helps you get out of myopia.
February 10, 2026
“
The most powerful kind of mental shift for changing your vision is a shift of awareness.”
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
The universe is not only stranger than we suppose but stranger than we can suppose.” jBS Haldane
Vision is the art of seeing the invisible. Jonathan Swift
It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem. GK Chesterton
Real wisdom flows naturally from the clarity of our perception.”
Education is not as sudden as a massacre but it is more deadly in the long run.” Mark Twain
In the quantum mechanical body, any imbalances will simultaneously manifest physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
In its natural state, the eye is never in a state of rest, even during sleep.”
When the eye stops moving our vision begins to deteriorate.”
Our vision of reality is determined more by what we see with our mind’s eye than what we see with our physical eye.”
Our eyesight is simply a reflection of our view of reality. When the mind begins to see more clearly, the eyes also begin to see more clearly.”
If we live in a chronic state of fear or anger, all our sensory functions contract; we literally become narrow-minded.”
A deterioration of our vision results from the interaction of our thoughts, feelings, behavior, and social environment.”
Get baseline vision score
The most significant factor in natural vision improvement seems to be in the mind, not in the eyes. The way we think actually determines the way we see.”
To be a true healer, a doctor must be a living example of his own work.”
Those lenses are really little jail cells that lock our vision of reality into a hard, unchanging focus.
Does any test really measure anything other than our response to being tested?
Approximately 90% of the information most of us learn in a lifetime enters through the eyes.”
Vision has sensory, integrative, and motor component.”
Fundamental link between vision and movement seems to be our posture- how we hold ourselves in the world. Distorts neurological impulses in neck and back leading to muscle tension.”
A single eye contains about 1 billion working parts- far more complex than a NASA space shuttle.”
People have experienced spontaneous, permanent visual improvement simply by realizing that it was possible and releasing their limiting beliefs.”
Every point on a hologram contains all the information of the whole image.
Vision is a holographic process. Vision doesn’t occur at any single point in the body— but throughout the body and the energy field that surrounds us.”
Every cell in the body creates its own neuropeptides. Every one of our cells feels our emotions and thinks our thoughts, simultaneously materializing messenger chemicals to regulate our physiological responses.” Every cell contains the awareness of the whole.”
The biggest factor in turning this normal stress into a chronic physical symptom may be how we cope with our uncomfortable feelings.”
Twenty feet because this is the distance at which the light rays that enter the eye are roughly parallel— so it was defined as optical infinity.•
If our vision were a purely mechanical process, then the clarity of our vision could not be affected by what we saw, how we felt about what we were seeing, or how we felt about ourselves.”
What may appear on the surface to simply be a focusing problem in the eye is actually a deeply ingrained neurological pattern that affects every aspect of our behavior.”
If the hereditary shape of the eyeball is really the cause of weak vision, why didn’t our ancestors suffer from the same problems?
Behavioral optometrists believed the stress of reading was the primary cause of vision problems.”
Reading is a biologically unacceptable activity that creates physiological stress, affecting the structure of the eyeball.
We use peripheral vision at all times and it is our primary form of perception in the dark.
What we think of as seeing less clearly is actually just seeing differently.”
The same narrowing and tightening effect occurs every time we put on corrective lenses but we stop noticing it.”
We think we don’t see clearly without corrective lense but what we think of as seeing less clearly is actually just seeing differently.
What is it and what is to be done, that we use in order to focus our attention.”
Are there areas of perception that we miss when wearing lenses that are more important than seeing details more clearly?
Your prescription actually changes every time your eyes look away from the optical center.”
The feedback created by our corrective lenses not only blocks our peripheral vision, it also limits the range of our eye movements.”
There is not correct direction to move your eyes but most people have a predictable pattern of movement depending on the nature of the information they are trying to retrieve.”
Wearing glasses tends to suppress our natural eye movements and we tend to substitute head movements for eye movements. Excessive head movement also creates unnecessary tension in the neck and shoulders and may even encourage the development of astigmatism.”
Whenever we focus intently on something, our vision blurs and the visual field closes in.”
Some holistic optometrists prescribe bifocals to give you a weaker correction for close-up work than for distance vision.”
Open focus is the way to look at nothing and see everything. It dissolves the normal distinction between what we think we are looking for and what we think we aren’t looking for. It allows our eyes to be automatically draw to that part of the visual field that is calling for attention at that moment. Usually it’s not what we would otherwise be focusing on.”
It is almost impossible for you to open your focus while wearing corrective lenses. The testing procedure requires you to narrow your focus.
Rupert Sheldrake- morphogenetic fields. Molded by the form and behavior of past organisms of the same species through direct connections across both space and time.
Kirlian photography
I have consistently observed an energy field that appears to surround every human being.”
When apprehension becomes a chronic state with no means of escape, this habitual collapse increasingly diminishes the clarity and power of our senses. This reduces our conscious awareness of the fear, although it’s underlying intensity may actually get worse and our body will be aware of this even if our mind is not.”
“Many normal children live in a continual state of inner anxiety, although this may not be apparaent to those around them.”
Stretch your arms out to both sides with your thumbs up. Look straight ahead and slowly bring your thumbs together to the front. Notice the position at which you can first see each thumb. Those are the left and right boundaries of your visual field. Do this with arms extending straight up and down. Those are the vertical boundaries of your visual field.”
Many learning disabled children simply have severely contracted field, resulting in tunnel vision. They are not disabled; they are chronically afraid.”
When we are anxious, it’s very hard to process information because our perceptive network has been paralyzed.
Tunnel vision is the most obvious symptom of this self-contraction. Closing off our peripheral vision.
By allowing ourselves to follow the spontaneous turning of our awareness, we are automatically led to the next step of our life. As long as we remain relaxed, receptive, and flexibly attentive, this process occur without an conscious effort.”
The unresolved fears and hurts of our childhood seem to be repeated well into our adult life and often form the core of the major challenges in our life until we learn to heal or resolve them.”
The primary factors that encourage and intensify visual deterioration are prescription lenses that are used to correct vision problems, the social norms that encourage us to analyze instead of feel, and the stress involved in our educational system.”
Our eyes were simply not designed for a lifestyle that involves staying indoors performing such close-up tasks as reading. Our energy field has been encouraged to continue its defensive pattern and the initial trigger has never been addressed.”
The body is in a constant state of flux and regeneration.
Awareness seems to determine which potential the body manifests at any given point…The ability to shift the physical body with our awareness is actually available to everyone at all times. Every time our worldview shifts, we become a different person.”
What we resist, persists.”
Our most uncomfortable feelings are chronic. They keep coming back until we realize that the problem isn’t outside ourselves, in the other person or external events. The outside events simply create a resonance, a self-recognition, in our vibrational field. When we accept that what we are feeling is truly within ourselves, then we are really ready to begin the healing process.”
Those ideas are the result of a fear of life, a lack of trust in your own sacred being. I’ve found that full awareness spontaneously guides us to the most appropriate response to every situation. Aren’t we meant to be guided by our instinctive self?
When we feel contracted, we respond as if every pain is permanent and terminal, a threat to our very survival.”
Get used to seeing the world through the blur
If you understand these fluctuations, continue to wear corrective lenses only as necessary, and keep your awareness open, your vision will continue to improve.”
Behavioral optometrists will generally prescribe reduced prescriptions to support natural vision improvement.”
Every prescription lens wearer will experience a measurable improvement in their unaided visual acuity if they simply remove their lenses for a few hours.”
Like all of us, his problem wasn’t that he didn’t know how to see: it was that he didn’t know how to live.”
There is an instant in which we all see clearly, every time we open our eyes, healing our vision is simply allowing that instant to get longer and longer, until it becomes our normal way of seeing.”
Bring your attention to your eye sockets and notice any feelings of holding on or ‘grabbing’. Continue to gently open and close your eyes along with your breath.”
Exercises: breath awareness, blinking, tracing, swinging, open focus, palming, sunning, passive seeing, Tibetan wheel,
Wearing Corrective lenses tends to maintain or even increase our internal stress.
The human eye is primarily designed for distance vision in natural sunlight, not close-up work under artificial light. Most people experience some level of visual strain or fatigue when doing close-up tasks- Near-Point Stress.
Plus lenses reduce physiological stress. Often effective in reversing the early stages of near-sightedness in children.
Most children classified as non readers or juvenile delinquents have 20/20 eyesight, but still have significant vision problems( erratic eye movement, poor eye-teaming skills, difficulty in focusing) that profoundly affects their behavior and ability to learn.”
Remove your corrective lenses while reading, especially if you are nearsighte.”
Hold the book at a distance that creates the least psychological stress. Usually the distance between the bottom knuckle of your middle finger and your elbow. Move it closer to the ideal position each day.
Position your book at a slant parallel to the plane of your face.
Use a Look-up bookmark
Place your desk or reading chair facing a window. The farther you can see, the better.
Our eyes operate most effortlessly when their lines of sight are parallel or slightly diverged, as they do naturally when we are viewing a distant scene. When we try to focus on anything closer than 20ft, our eyes converge , which takes effort to maintain.”
Don’t squint or strain to see. Use passive seeing meditation- side to side, up/down, corner to corner; use long-distance vision; open focus; improve ambient light.
Pinhole glasses:- only allow parallel light rays to enter eyes so less focusing is necessary. Sunglasses desensitize the photoreceptors in the eyes thereby creating hypersensitivity to light.”
You are how you eat.
Take a vision walk: upgrades and downgrades. Allow your eyes to trace everything you see.
Whenever you notice yourself thinking, allow that mental chatter to be a signal to gently return your attention to your breath. The more we think, the harder it is to breathe.
Every person I have worked with has been able to uncover some kind of major emotional stress in the 1-2 year period before their vision first deteriorated.”
The other people in our lives may appear to be the source of our unresolved emotional issues but what we think of as a problem with another person usually has very little to do with them.”
Keep a journal
It is the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive.” CW Leadbeater
Physicists tell us that the invisible world is simply an illusion created by our senses, that even the most solid objects are simply vibrational frequencies with a vast expanse of empty space.”
Energy (in the form of light) not only enters our sensory organs but actually emanates from them as our mind creates meaningful patterns from that input.”
How we think seems to determine how we see.
The problems we have cannot been solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Albert Einstein
Absolute correlation between vision disorders, reading disabilities, and juvenile delinquency.”
New patterns of eye movement can translate into a more fluent way of being in the world. Visual problems begin in the mind, at the level of our awareness.”
Our way of seeing is only the mirror of our way of thinking, attending, and processing information.”
A major cause of nearsightedness and other visual problems is the tension generated by the current methods of education. Ray Gottlieb
Experience seems to be the most effective way to absorb new information •
Dr Robert Pepper
Learning without effort- arrow chart- 1) move head in direction of arrow 2) move head in opposite direction to arrow 3) move eyes in direction of arrow 4) move eyes in opposite direction 5) move right hand in direction of arrow 6) move left hand in direction 7) move both hands in direction, and call out 8) call out direction of arrow and move hands in opposite direction 9)move both hands in opposite direction and call out opposite direction 10)alternate 8)9) on each arrow line.
Ray Gottleib Manual of Paradoxical Movement Exercises for Children
Paradoxical Eye Movements”
The most powerful kind of mental shift for changing your vision is a shift of awareness.”
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
The universe is not only stranger than we suppose but stranger than we can suppose.” jBS Haldane
Vision is the art of seeing the invisible. Jonathan Swift
It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem. GK Chesterton
Real wisdom flows naturally from the clarity of our perception.”
Education is not as sudden as a massacre but it is more deadly in the long run.” Mark Twain
In the quantum mechanical body, any imbalances will simultaneously manifest physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
In its natural state, the eye is never in a state of rest, even during sleep.”
When the eye stops moving our vision begins to deteriorate.”
Our vision of reality is determined more by what we see with our mind’s eye than what we see with our physical eye.”
Our eyesight is simply a reflection of our view of reality. When the mind begins to see more clearly, the eyes also begin to see more clearly.”
If we live in a chronic state of fear or anger, all our sensory functions contract; we literally become narrow-minded.”
A deterioration of our vision results from the interaction of our thoughts, feelings, behavior, and social environment.”
Get baseline vision score
The most significant factor in natural vision improvement seems to be in the mind, not in the eyes. The way we think actually determines the way we see.”
To be a true healer, a doctor must be a living example of his own work.”
Those lenses are really little jail cells that lock our vision of reality into a hard, unchanging focus.
Does any test really measure anything other than our response to being tested?
Approximately 90% of the information most of us learn in a lifetime enters through the eyes.”
Vision has sensory, integrative, and motor component.”
Fundamental link between vision and movement seems to be our posture- how we hold ourselves in the world. Distorts neurological impulses in neck and back leading to muscle tension.”
A single eye contains about 1 billion working parts- far more complex than a NASA space shuttle.”
People have experienced spontaneous, permanent visual improvement simply by realizing that it was possible and releasing their limiting beliefs.”
Every point on a hologram contains all the information of the whole image.
Vision is a holographic process. Vision doesn’t occur at any single point in the body— but throughout the body and the energy field that surrounds us.”
Every cell in the body creates its own neuropeptides. Every one of our cells feels our emotions and thinks our thoughts, simultaneously materializing messenger chemicals to regulate our physiological responses.” Every cell contains the awareness of the whole.”
The biggest factor in turning this normal stress into a chronic physical symptom may be how we cope with our uncomfortable feelings.”
Twenty feet because this is the distance at which the light rays that enter the eye are roughly parallel— so it was defined as optical infinity.•
If our vision were a purely mechanical process, then the clarity of our vision could not be affected by what we saw, how we felt about what we were seeing, or how we felt about ourselves.”
What may appear on the surface to simply be a focusing problem in the eye is actually a deeply ingrained neurological pattern that affects every aspect of our behavior.”
If the hereditary shape of the eyeball is really the cause of weak vision, why didn’t our ancestors suffer from the same problems?
Behavioral optometrists believed the stress of reading was the primary cause of vision problems.”
Reading is a biologically unacceptable activity that creates physiological stress, affecting the structure of the eyeball.
We use peripheral vision at all times and it is our primary form of perception in the dark.
What we think of as seeing less clearly is actually just seeing differently.”
The same narrowing and tightening effect occurs every time we put on corrective lenses but we stop noticing it.”
We think we don’t see clearly without corrective lense but what we think of as seeing less clearly is actually just seeing differently.
What is it and what is to be done, that we use in order to focus our attention.”
Are there areas of perception that we miss when wearing lenses that are more important than seeing details more clearly?
Your prescription actually changes every time your eyes look away from the optical center.”
The feedback created by our corrective lenses not only blocks our peripheral vision, it also limits the range of our eye movements.”
There is not correct direction to move your eyes but most people have a predictable pattern of movement depending on the nature of the information they are trying to retrieve.”
Wearing glasses tends to suppress our natural eye movements and we tend to substitute head movements for eye movements. Excessive head movement also creates unnecessary tension in the neck and shoulders and may even encourage the development of astigmatism.”
Whenever we focus intently on something, our vision blurs and the visual field closes in.”
Some holistic optometrists prescribe bifocals to give you a weaker correction for close-up work than for distance vision.”
Open focus is the way to look at nothing and see everything. It dissolves the normal distinction between what we think we are looking for and what we think we aren’t looking for. It allows our eyes to be automatically draw to that part of the visual field that is calling for attention at that moment. Usually it’s not what we would otherwise be focusing on.”
It is almost impossible for you to open your focus while wearing corrective lenses. The testing procedure requires you to narrow your focus.
Rupert Sheldrake- morphogenetic fields. Molded by the form and behavior of past organisms of the same species through direct connections across both space and time.
Kirlian photography
I have consistently observed an energy field that appears to surround every human being.”
When apprehension becomes a chronic state with no means of escape, this habitual collapse increasingly diminishes the clarity and power of our senses. This reduces our conscious awareness of the fear, although it’s underlying intensity may actually get worse and our body will be aware of this even if our mind is not.”
“Many normal children live in a continual state of inner anxiety, although this may not be apparaent to those around them.”
Stretch your arms out to both sides with your thumbs up. Look straight ahead and slowly bring your thumbs together to the front. Notice the position at which you can first see each thumb. Those are the left and right boundaries of your visual field. Do this with arms extending straight up and down. Those are the vertical boundaries of your visual field.”
Many learning disabled children simply have severely contracted field, resulting in tunnel vision. They are not disabled; they are chronically afraid.”
When we are anxious, it’s very hard to process information because our perceptive network has been paralyzed.
Tunnel vision is the most obvious symptom of this self-contraction. Closing off our peripheral vision.
By allowing ourselves to follow the spontaneous turning of our awareness, we are automatically led to the next step of our life. As long as we remain relaxed, receptive, and flexibly attentive, this process occur without an conscious effort.”
The unresolved fears and hurts of our childhood seem to be repeated well into our adult life and often form the core of the major challenges in our life until we learn to heal or resolve them.”
The primary factors that encourage and intensify visual deterioration are prescription lenses that are used to correct vision problems, the social norms that encourage us to analyze instead of feel, and the stress involved in our educational system.”
Our eyes were simply not designed for a lifestyle that involves staying indoors performing such close-up tasks as reading. Our energy field has been encouraged to continue its defensive pattern and the initial trigger has never been addressed.”
The body is in a constant state of flux and regeneration.
Awareness seems to determine which potential the body manifests at any given point…The ability to shift the physical body with our awareness is actually available to everyone at all times. Every time our worldview shifts, we become a different person.”
What we resist, persists.”
Our most uncomfortable feelings are chronic. They keep coming back until we realize that the problem isn’t outside ourselves, in the other person or external events. The outside events simply create a resonance, a self-recognition, in our vibrational field. When we accept that what we are feeling is truly within ourselves, then we are really ready to begin the healing process.”
Those ideas are the result of a fear of life, a lack of trust in your own sacred being. I’ve found that full awareness spontaneously guides us to the most appropriate response to every situation. Aren’t we meant to be guided by our instinctive self?
When we feel contracted, we respond as if every pain is permanent and terminal, a threat to our very survival.”
Get used to seeing the world through the blur
If you understand these fluctuations, continue to wear corrective lenses only as necessary, and keep your awareness open, your vision will continue to improve.”
Behavioral optometrists will generally prescribe reduced prescriptions to support natural vision improvement.”
Every prescription lens wearer will experience a measurable improvement in their unaided visual acuity if they simply remove their lenses for a few hours.”
Like all of us, his problem wasn’t that he didn’t know how to see: it was that he didn’t know how to live.”
There is an instant in which we all see clearly, every time we open our eyes, healing our vision is simply allowing that instant to get longer and longer, until it becomes our normal way of seeing.”
Bring your attention to your eye sockets and notice any feelings of holding on or ‘grabbing’. Continue to gently open and close your eyes along with your breath.”
Exercises: breath awareness, blinking, tracing, swinging, open focus, palming, sunning, passive seeing, Tibetan wheel,
Wearing Corrective lenses tends to maintain or even increase our internal stress.
The human eye is primarily designed for distance vision in natural sunlight, not close-up work under artificial light. Most people experience some level of visual strain or fatigue when doing close-up tasks- Near-Point Stress.
Plus lenses reduce physiological stress. Often effective in reversing the early stages of near-sightedness in children.
Most children classified as non readers or juvenile delinquents have 20/20 eyesight, but still have significant vision problems( erratic eye movement, poor eye-teaming skills, difficulty in focusing) that profoundly affects their behavior and ability to learn.”
Remove your corrective lenses while reading, especially if you are nearsighte.”
Hold the book at a distance that creates the least psychological stress. Usually the distance between the bottom knuckle of your middle finger and your elbow. Move it closer to the ideal position each day.
Position your book at a slant parallel to the plane of your face.
Use a Look-up bookmark
Place your desk or reading chair facing a window. The farther you can see, the better.
Our eyes operate most effortlessly when their lines of sight are parallel or slightly diverged, as they do naturally when we are viewing a distant scene. When we try to focus on anything closer than 20ft, our eyes converge , which takes effort to maintain.”
Don’t squint or strain to see. Use passive seeing meditation- side to side, up/down, corner to corner; use long-distance vision; open focus; improve ambient light.
Pinhole glasses:- only allow parallel light rays to enter eyes so less focusing is necessary. Sunglasses desensitize the photoreceptors in the eyes thereby creating hypersensitivity to light.”
You are how you eat.
Take a vision walk: upgrades and downgrades. Allow your eyes to trace everything you see.
Whenever you notice yourself thinking, allow that mental chatter to be a signal to gently return your attention to your breath. The more we think, the harder it is to breathe.
Every person I have worked with has been able to uncover some kind of major emotional stress in the 1-2 year period before their vision first deteriorated.”
The other people in our lives may appear to be the source of our unresolved emotional issues but what we think of as a problem with another person usually has very little to do with them.”
Keep a journal
It is the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive.” CW Leadbeater
Physicists tell us that the invisible world is simply an illusion created by our senses, that even the most solid objects are simply vibrational frequencies with a vast expanse of empty space.”
Energy (in the form of light) not only enters our sensory organs but actually emanates from them as our mind creates meaningful patterns from that input.”
How we think seems to determine how we see.
The problems we have cannot been solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Albert Einstein
Absolute correlation between vision disorders, reading disabilities, and juvenile delinquency.”
New patterns of eye movement can translate into a more fluent way of being in the world. Visual problems begin in the mind, at the level of our awareness.”
Our way of seeing is only the mirror of our way of thinking, attending, and processing information.”
A major cause of nearsightedness and other visual problems is the tension generated by the current methods of education. Ray Gottlieb
Experience seems to be the most effective way to absorb new information •
Dr Robert Pepper
Learning without effort- arrow chart- 1) move head in direction of arrow 2) move head in opposite direction to arrow 3) move eyes in direction of arrow 4) move eyes in opposite direction 5) move right hand in direction of arrow 6) move left hand in direction 7) move both hands in direction, and call out 8) call out direction of arrow and move hands in opposite direction 9)move both hands in opposite direction and call out opposite direction 10)alternate 8)9) on each arrow line.
Ray Gottleib Manual of Paradoxical Movement Exercises for Children
Paradoxical Eye Movements”
March 6, 2024
Favourite Quote
" Hello" .
Chapter 3, Page 82.
Brief Summary
Firstly this book is not just about improving your eyesight, it can be read by literally anyone and those with perfect "20/20 vision"... as the real powerful way of "seeing" is through improving our "vision" as explained in this book. The book does highlight eye exercises to literally learn ways of how taking off your glasses and performing "Open Focus" can remove the constricted worldly views prescribed glasses impinge upon us. The book also engages in the wider concepts of how improving our "vision" is fundamental in changing how we "see". It does this by identifying how and when our eyesight problems seem to occur through case stories and oral histories in varying scenarios and stimuli such as learning how our individual internal minds have reacted to past traumatic experiences or high-pressure/stressful based environments that have not been dealt or resolved with appropriately (such as relationships or traditional schooling respectively for e.g.) can impact our internal energies/light/auras and "holographic vision" we all have. Inevitably, the author sets us to challenge ourselves to firstly look within ourselves and start believing in how our eyes are more extraordinary than we think and how we can genuinely heal them through non-traditional therapy, rather than "fix" with traditional optometry methods and solutions that instead reduces our abilities to see clearly overtime.
My Thoughts
I did not realise the impact of how our "vision" and fundamentally how our internal energies/auras within us would have such a profound effect on our eyes from truly healing. The book has left me questioning how constricted the traditional means of eye procedures provided to us only really provide us with a quick-fix solution to see, and that our true ability to see can be so much more than the constricted tunnel vision views our glasses actually allow us to see. We truly do need to apply and challenge ourselves to look within, to actually heal our myopia. Whether it is placebo or not... since reading this book, I truly do feel the impact of taking off my glasses as I see a world with such greater unexplainable dimensions. My mind-body-energy connections do change to a more open, free and less anxious state that I welcome going forward in my journey to improve my "vision".
Thank you Dr. Liberman for opening my eyes with your insightful, important and impactful research that I hope more will read to help them.
" Hello" .
Chapter 3, Page 82.
Brief Summary
Firstly this book is not just about improving your eyesight, it can be read by literally anyone and those with perfect "20/20 vision"... as the real powerful way of "seeing" is through improving our "vision" as explained in this book. The book does highlight eye exercises to literally learn ways of how taking off your glasses and performing "Open Focus" can remove the constricted worldly views prescribed glasses impinge upon us. The book also engages in the wider concepts of how improving our "vision" is fundamental in changing how we "see". It does this by identifying how and when our eyesight problems seem to occur through case stories and oral histories in varying scenarios and stimuli such as learning how our individual internal minds have reacted to past traumatic experiences or high-pressure/stressful based environments that have not been dealt or resolved with appropriately (such as relationships or traditional schooling respectively for e.g.) can impact our internal energies/light/auras and "holographic vision" we all have. Inevitably, the author sets us to challenge ourselves to firstly look within ourselves and start believing in how our eyes are more extraordinary than we think and how we can genuinely heal them through non-traditional therapy, rather than "fix" with traditional optometry methods and solutions that instead reduces our abilities to see clearly overtime.
My Thoughts
I did not realise the impact of how our "vision" and fundamentally how our internal energies/auras within us would have such a profound effect on our eyes from truly healing. The book has left me questioning how constricted the traditional means of eye procedures provided to us only really provide us with a quick-fix solution to see, and that our true ability to see can be so much more than the constricted tunnel vision views our glasses actually allow us to see. We truly do need to apply and challenge ourselves to look within, to actually heal our myopia. Whether it is placebo or not... since reading this book, I truly do feel the impact of taking off my glasses as I see a world with such greater unexplainable dimensions. My mind-body-energy connections do change to a more open, free and less anxious state that I welcome going forward in my journey to improve my "vision".
Thank you Dr. Liberman for opening my eyes with your insightful, important and impactful research that I hope more will read to help them.
February 24, 2021
Brilliant, extraordinary, and truly revolutionary book. I find more ideas on any page of this book than at any shelf filled with books.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is searching the answers about vision, self esteem, memory, posture, well being, and happiness. It is all interconnected and Jacob Liberman demonstrates it so brilliantly. Truly I think that he deserves Nobel prize for his work. I was never wearing glasses and hope that I never will. However, last twelve years I have been working for eight- twelve hours a day in front of a computer and struggled to keep a good eyesight. I read many books on the subject and attended many courses. They all helped in some way, as I still do not wear glasses although my eyesight fluctuates as pressure at work increases. When I read this book it was like a ticket to freedom. Genius! I am so grateful. Thank you so much!!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is searching the answers about vision, self esteem, memory, posture, well being, and happiness. It is all interconnected and Jacob Liberman demonstrates it so brilliantly. Truly I think that he deserves Nobel prize for his work. I was never wearing glasses and hope that I never will. However, last twelve years I have been working for eight- twelve hours a day in front of a computer and struggled to keep a good eyesight. I read many books on the subject and attended many courses. They all helped in some way, as I still do not wear glasses although my eyesight fluctuates as pressure at work increases. When I read this book it was like a ticket to freedom. Genius! I am so grateful. Thank you so much!!
May 27, 2022
An incredible book . I highly recommend it to everyone interested in natural vision improvement. This book will "open your eyes". I have already started my journey of eyesight improvement 3 months prior to reading this book and the progress is obvious. This book just deepened my knowledge and confirmed that what I was already doing was right. Also this book will uncover some amazing facts that you probably have no idea about right now. I highly recommend it!
October 23, 2020
Amazing book
I am on a spiritual journey and I know healing my vision is part of that and this book has very helpful information that I plan to incorporate into a daily practice. I know u will be seeing clearly very soon!!
I am on a spiritual journey and I know healing my vision is part of that and this book has very helpful information that I plan to incorporate into a daily practice. I know u will be seeing clearly very soon!!
July 12, 2017
This book may turn into a DNF, because I am losing interest in it. But I wanted to say a few words about what I have read so far at just about halfway through the book.
First, the perennial question: Does it work? Yeah, sort of, in a way, it can work. My main issue is that it might not work in a way that is practical for most people. My vision correction is not severe (I came out at 20/40 on the chart in the book before I had read anything); my vision problem is astigmatism, so I have difficulty with blurring and lack of clarity both close up and at a distance.
The striking part that DID work in a desirable way was partially credited to the book, but not entirely. The book jogged my memory of an older man, who had told me that he installed a super-bright, full-spectrum light above his reading chair and that, by using it, he could read without glasses. So, I took my book outside in the bright summer sunlight and read without my corrective lenses for over an hour with no difficulty whatsoever. I do think it would be both practical and possible to read without corrective lenses every day if I only get a light like that, which would probably be beneficial in the long run. I do agree with the author's basic premise that using corrective lenses all the time "fixes" your vision into that level of correction.
This is where it gets impractical. If one removes one's glasses in order to "allow" the eyes to freely self-correct (which I agree, they could do, at least to a point), eventually, one needs to put glasses back on. Now, this might not be a problem if you're an optometrist yourself and can just pick up a weaker pair of glasses at whim. But how is the average person supposed to have a variety of different Rx lenses to choose from according to the need of the moment? See, the fact that one's eyes adjust to a prescription and "fix" themselves into a particular focus is not so bad after all. Besides that, I'm really only interested in not requiring corrective lenses at all. There is no benefit to me in simply having a reduced prescription if I even did get that.
Am I going to finish the book? Maybe. If I change my mind about it, I'll come back and edit my review. But for now, the book is somewhat intriguing, but not very practical for me.
First, the perennial question: Does it work? Yeah, sort of, in a way, it can work. My main issue is that it might not work in a way that is practical for most people. My vision correction is not severe (I came out at 20/40 on the chart in the book before I had read anything); my vision problem is astigmatism, so I have difficulty with blurring and lack of clarity both close up and at a distance.
The striking part that DID work in a desirable way was partially credited to the book, but not entirely. The book jogged my memory of an older man, who had told me that he installed a super-bright, full-spectrum light above his reading chair and that, by using it, he could read without glasses. So, I took my book outside in the bright summer sunlight and read without my corrective lenses for over an hour with no difficulty whatsoever. I do think it would be both practical and possible to read without corrective lenses every day if I only get a light like that, which would probably be beneficial in the long run. I do agree with the author's basic premise that using corrective lenses all the time "fixes" your vision into that level of correction.
This is where it gets impractical. If one removes one's glasses in order to "allow" the eyes to freely self-correct (which I agree, they could do, at least to a point), eventually, one needs to put glasses back on. Now, this might not be a problem if you're an optometrist yourself and can just pick up a weaker pair of glasses at whim. But how is the average person supposed to have a variety of different Rx lenses to choose from according to the need of the moment? See, the fact that one's eyes adjust to a prescription and "fix" themselves into a particular focus is not so bad after all. Besides that, I'm really only interested in not requiring corrective lenses at all. There is no benefit to me in simply having a reduced prescription if I even did get that.
Am I going to finish the book? Maybe. If I change my mind about it, I'll come back and edit my review. But for now, the book is somewhat intriguing, but not very practical for me.
Read
May 2, 2022I actually haven’t read this book. However I have a sister who used to wear glasses and a few years ago started going to this church. I don’t know what they preached one day, but she left & she *truly* believed she could take off her glasses and be able to live life without needing them.
For context, she’s been wearing glasses since the age of 3, and would have headaches in primary school etc. So she really needed these.
Anyway she just posted a throwback picture today and I was like, wow she really used to wear glasses all the time a few years ago. And then she took them off and has lived life perfectly without them.
And that is how I found myself here. I googled whether this is a thing. And I came across this book.
I don’t wear glasses myself, however if you’re thinking of trying something like this, I’d say it’s worth a shot. There seems to be something in it!
For context, she’s been wearing glasses since the age of 3, and would have headaches in primary school etc. So she really needed these.
Anyway she just posted a throwback picture today and I was like, wow she really used to wear glasses all the time a few years ago. And then she took them off and has lived life perfectly without them.
And that is how I found myself here. I googled whether this is a thing. And I came across this book.
I don’t wear glasses myself, however if you’re thinking of trying something like this, I’d say it’s worth a shot. There seems to be something in it!
February 10, 2019
I finished the book very quickly because it is written in a very simplistic way and it’s easy to read.
It’s very interesting book and throws a very different perspective of our vision. Shall I call it a medical book, an exercise book, a counselling book or a spiritual book. But having read quite a few things on spirituality as well, I can say that what is written by author makes sense. He has also been practical by not just talking about it but also guiding readers to practice about it.
I m giving it a 5-stars and will see if I would retain this rating after doing some practice sessions as mentioned in the book.
It’s very interesting book and throws a very different perspective of our vision. Shall I call it a medical book, an exercise book, a counselling book or a spiritual book. But having read quite a few things on spirituality as well, I can say that what is written by author makes sense. He has also been practical by not just talking about it but also guiding readers to practice about it.
I m giving it a 5-stars and will see if I would retain this rating after doing some practice sessions as mentioned in the book.
May 21, 2022
كتاب جميل و منعش، مناقشة فكرة ان لبس النظارة او العداسات هى نسبة كبيرة منها ممكن التخلى عنه و الحفاظ بل تحسين بصرك من غيرهم فكرة عميقة.
فى تحيزات فكرية كتيرة تميل انه النظر بيضعف مع الوقت، الكتاب بيناقش و بيعالج التحيزات ديه.
فى عمق فى المعانى و مراجعة للنفس و للافكار اللى جوة دماغك و تقبلها و التعامل معها بشكل مختلف عن التعامل المعتاد.
فى انشطة لذيذة جداً و مفيدة بردو، و اعتقد ممكن اوصفة انه كتاب فى فهم الذات و كيفية التعامل معها و واخد النظر كطريق لشرح وجهة نظرة و خبرته.
استمتعت جدا بقرأة هذا الكتاب، و بدأت استخدم اساليب منه فى روتينى اليومى و هستعمل اساليب تانية جواه كمان شوية بردو ان شاء الله.
انصح بالقرأة لهذا الكتاب،
تقيمى: ٨ من ١٠
فى تحيزات فكرية كتيرة تميل انه النظر بيضعف مع الوقت، الكتاب بيناقش و بيعالج التحيزات ديه.
فى عمق فى المعانى و مراجعة للنفس و للافكار اللى جوة دماغك و تقبلها و التعامل معها بشكل مختلف عن التعامل المعتاد.
فى انشطة لذيذة جداً و مفيدة بردو، و اعتقد ممكن اوصفة انه كتاب فى فهم الذات و كيفية التعامل معها و واخد النظر كطريق لشرح وجهة نظرة و خبرته.
استمتعت جدا بقرأة هذا الكتاب، و بدأت استخدم اساليب منه فى روتينى اليومى و هستعمل اساليب تانية جواه كمان شوية بردو ان شاء الله.
انصح بالقرأة لهذا الكتاب،
تقيمى: ٨ من ١٠
Read
July 1, 2019I jumped to the last section of the book on seeing the world differently. To bring more presence in your outer sight & inner sight thereby bringing hyper-awareness. Sounds fantastical, however, a part of it wants me to believe it to be true. Would be keen to come across other's experiences what Liberman has.
April 16, 2020
Um, seriously? There's always someone trying to get gullible folks to drink the Kool Ade. I only picked this up to find out what nonsense the author was peddling, and wasn't disappointed. Just the synopsis should warn away any thinking reader.
January 24, 2023
This book is truly life-changing! It gives you a different perspective and possibilities of seeing better without wearing eyeglasses, "the vision crutches." This book is truly a gift! Highly recommended!
December 11, 2020
Another consciousness-raising book from Jacob Liberman. It all makes good sense to me!
February 15, 2022
Light, fun, easy and delightful! This is a keep-forever book of actions to enhance life! Thank you!
February 2, 2024
I support the book's idea that "vision" is more complex than visual acuity. I've begun to practice some of the exercises in the book and my goal is to be able to read books without struggling.
June 9, 2024
I mean, probably not. But if all these kooks with way worse eyesight than mine are getting by without their glasses, no need for me to be a drama queen about it.
October 21, 2025
barely read the last few chapters
stopped wearing my glasses 👀
stopped wearing my glasses 👀
March 24, 2024
This was a fascinating book and it had a concept and approach to sight that makes sense to me due to other books I have read. Our bodies are made to heal, so why is our eyesight an area that doctors think couldn't be improved.
As he is a former optometrist, it was really helpful to have him explain the meaning and purpose of the tests done during the eye exam and how they actually are not a good representation of what your true eyesight is. I also really appreciate the scientific explanations of how doctors look at your vision and the knowledge that they don't really understand it (what a shocker) all completely themselves.
Corrective lenses, especially contacts, freeze your eyes into a fixed focus that is applied to every visual task. "The wearing of spectacles confines your eyes to a state of rigid and unvarying structural immobility." If you broke your leg, it would be similar to wearing a splint or brace on your leg for the rest of your life. Your eyes need to move and lenses essentially prohibit that movement and make your measured eyesight worse.
Another realization was that vision is so much more than eyesight. He demonstrated how the suppression of feelings and perceptions create the physical, psychological and energetic roots of our vision problems. I had to start wearing glasses in the third grade. I remember exactly when and where I realized that I needed glasses to see. It was right after I was told my parents were going to get a divorce. I was nearsighted and my vision and focus narrowed.
There is a lot more to it than that, but his explanations and examples were very helpful and hopeful. I recommend reading this book if you wear corrective lenses. It will actually be very liberating when you read it and that alone may expand your "vision."
As he is a former optometrist, it was really helpful to have him explain the meaning and purpose of the tests done during the eye exam and how they actually are not a good representation of what your true eyesight is. I also really appreciate the scientific explanations of how doctors look at your vision and the knowledge that they don't really understand it (what a shocker) all completely themselves.
Corrective lenses, especially contacts, freeze your eyes into a fixed focus that is applied to every visual task. "The wearing of spectacles confines your eyes to a state of rigid and unvarying structural immobility." If you broke your leg, it would be similar to wearing a splint or brace on your leg for the rest of your life. Your eyes need to move and lenses essentially prohibit that movement and make your measured eyesight worse.
Another realization was that vision is so much more than eyesight. He demonstrated how the suppression of feelings and perceptions create the physical, psychological and energetic roots of our vision problems. I had to start wearing glasses in the third grade. I remember exactly when and where I realized that I needed glasses to see. It was right after I was told my parents were going to get a divorce. I was nearsighted and my vision and focus narrowed.
There is a lot more to it than that, but his explanations and examples were very helpful and hopeful. I recommend reading this book if you wear corrective lenses. It will actually be very liberating when you read it and that alone may expand your "vision."
March 29, 2016
Ever wonder why each time you go to the eyedoctor you need stronger glasses? This book proposes that vision problems are not merely physical eye deformities but psychological and spiritual imbalances that manifest in vision problems. By working through these issues with confidence, clarity, and relaxation, we can improve our own vision from the inside out. Doctors are taught one thing, but didn't you ever wonder if you didn't upgrade that prescription that next time you visit the doctor? Perhaps it would will be the same because you have a vision set point that is defined by your psychological and spiritual issues and this set point can move by working on yourself. Not doing the work and just getting stronger glasses, your body keeps readjusting until you fix it instead of put a distortion lens over it.
March 13, 2015
I have only read half of this book so far and the main thesis seems to be that the cause of eye problems is related to the emotions. There are some physical activities in the book, but my reasoning at this point is to seek emotional release and then read a book by Bates for physical exercises for eyesight improvement.
December 19, 2016
In the end, the Bates book is far better and this one just repeats a lot of it so I am not sure why you would read this as well. I guess it depends which is cheaper or at your local library. On its own I did not care for the Buddhist angle -- everything is slanted towards Buddhist this or that. I could do without that garbage.
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