I flunked my eye exam at the DMV and had to get glasses for my birthday. I wasn't all that surprised, but waited until the week before to try and research and do something about this. Turns out, a week is not enough time to deal with the emotional roots, re-up your vitamins, learn to relax your eye muscles and establish new habits. "Eye guru" Jake Steiner says you can expect about .75 diopters a year improvement if you're working on it the right way. Your vision didn't get bad overnight and won't get better overnight either, but you don't have to accept it as aging, genetics, or fate. As in most conditions, a multi-faceted approach is usually the best. We are triune beings, and when something goes haywire, it's usually off in more than one area. 

Emotional roots

Given my flower essence business, this is the first place I went. (Flower essences work to the degree something is emotionally rooted, so if you're wondering about other physical issues that's where you'll need to start too for the flower essence angle.)

"What is it that I don't want to metaphorically see?" Myopia is "nearsightness." The distance is fuzzy.  I can't tell you how many times I've said to someone pushing me for an answer to something in the future "I don't know. I can't look at that right now, I just have to focus on the very next thing I have to do, then I can get back to you on that."

I've also compared my current lifestyle to a kayak trip. Ideally you want to know where you are in the grand scheme of the river and how best to position yourself for every bend, but when you're in the thick of it, you just position yourself to take the very next wave, then the one after that and the one after that. If you look too far you're going to get flipped. 

So if my life is one big whitewater trip, I might need to deal with stress. William Bates (old timey eye guru) said myopia was a stress condition. All the little muscles around your eyes get wound up and distort your lens ever so slightly, and he developed exercises to get them to relax. I bought the book several years ago, but exercises... When your life is a raft trip, you don't do exercises. 

Bates, who believed vision to be 90 % mental, measured an increase in blur every time a patient lied. The need to lie can be rooted in insecurity. We have essences for that. Beyond the obvious lying to others, you can lie to yourself as well. I've noticed Ice Stone essence helps me to be honest with myself. 

You might also look back to when you noticed your vision going downhill, and try to determine what was going on in your life that was a stressor. 

Vitamins

There are supplements specifically for eye health, however I'm not thinking they do anything for myopia. Improving night vision and keeping your eyes healthy overall? Sure. What might be the biggest help are vitamins and minerals that combat stress. B vitamins and magnesium for sure. I got back into juicing this week because whether it helps vision or not, it's just a good thing to do. Celery and carrots are juicing staples for me; celery is anti-stress and carrots are the famed vision helpers.  

Reflexology

In my internet travels for myopia fixes, I ran across this site. Working on your eye reflex points for a few seconds several times a day might help over time. If you're barefoot a lot and your feet are accessible, give it a try. You can do reflexology on your hands as well, but I prefer feet as I can find the tender spots and feel like I'm making progress better.

Reducing Eyestrain

Jake at endmyopia.org is adamant that myopia is caused by eyestrain. Tons of info over on that site on fixing it without Bates eye exercises, or swearing off looking at screens. This is the direction I'm currently headed as it seems like the most doable and makes the most sense to me. If you are familiar with using Chrysanthemum for body coaching, there's plenty of info on how your eye actually works for good coaching fodder. Here's a podcast that's a good intro. 

The Essences

I know you were waiting for me to get around to this. I'm doing a custom combo of Queen Anne's Lace, Speedwell, Hawkweed and Dandelion.

Queen Anne's is none other than wild carrot, and we use it for spiritual seeing, but some report their natural vision improving as well. We think it's when there's a psychosomatic issue involved.

Speedwell is another for that metaphorical vision, and also to quit living your life at an unsustainable pace.

Hawkweed is that big picture vision. For me who has trouble seeing the grand scheme and where I need to be, it's helping me as I take time to vision where I want to be 10 years out, and to look at all the things I was resistant to before.

Dandelion is the classic for stress being held in your muscles. Hoping that translates to all the little eye muscles as well. Dandelion also helps the type A's who jam pack their life beyond the point where they function well. 

If you're picking essences, you need to look at your particular hangups and brand of stress. The above four are a pretty good start, but we're all different. Vision Quest has the Queen Anne's, Hawkweed and Speedwell. Stress Less has the Dandelion and Speedwell, if you're looking for a pre-mixed blend.

My takeaway from all of this is that fixing your eyes is definitely possible with patience and minor but consistent changes. I've also learned just how much glasses contribute to the problem resulting in higher and higher prescriptions. I wear mine for driving only and they do help me spot wildflowers at quite a distance. I'm planning to not need them in about a year. 

Update: 6 months, no glasses. Definitely head over to endmyopia.org and join the facebook group.

Image credit: © Can Stock Photo / arsija/ PeterHermesFurian