Relearning to See – Review of Vision Without Glasses by Professor Duke Peterson

Vision Without Glasses by Professor Duke Peterson provides an easy guide to relearning to see even to the point of being able to throw glasses or contact lenses away! When I came across the Professor’s work I was skeptical and fascinated at the same time. However, I was impressed from the start, that his program for better vision was presented in a simple and easy-to-understand manner that could be quickly put into practice.

Prof Peterson’s work is based upon the extraordinary work of William Bates (1860-1931) who published Perfect Sight Without Glasses in 1920. Basically, Bates identified that the eye can actually be squeezed out of shape by the external muscles when the body is under stress and it subsequently loses its capacity to accommodate changes in distances. The person under stress then begins to develop bad habits to force the eyes to correct or to compensate. Bates was ahead of his time and drew much opposition from the traditional optical community because he taught that the eye could heal itself naturally, in preference to glasses which could, he declared, actually damage the eyes.

Another practitioner, Thomas Quackenbush is also a proponent of Bates and has written his own book, Relearning to See. He builds on the Bates method and gives lengthy, in-depth explanations of how the eye works. He considers that we should not have to carry out eye exercises as such, but rather to change our habits – the bad habits we slip into when we are subjected to stress eg squinting.

By contrast to Bates and Quackenbush, Professor Peterson seems to have taken a more condensed approach in his easy-to-read e-book: Vision Without Glasses. Recognising that stress and limited time is playing a huge role in impacting our lives today, the Professor has simplified re-training the eyes. Yes, it does involve exercises and does require some work in recognizing those bad habits. However, his methods are simple in both explanation and application. He provides easy instructions and charts to assist those of us who would not only enjoy being without the inconvenience of glasses, but also the expense.

Not surprisingly, all of these gentlemen would say it is not about the expense, nor the inconvenience; rather it is about preservation of one of our most precious gifts – the gift of sight! They insist that glasses and contact lenses actually damage the eyes. They teach instead, that our bodies have the capacity to heal the eyes, naturally. Professor Peterson teaches that depending on one’s determination, this can be achieved in a matter of weeks and he has clients who have attested to such achievement.

Professor Peterson seems to understand that we need help and we need it both quickly and simply. He provides easy-to-understand explanations of how the eye needs to be cared for, the habits that need correcting and the tools required in order to succeed.

The work of Professor Duke Peterson is superior in its simplicity, encouraging in its delivery and sound in its principles. By emphasizing the impact of stress on the eyes he succeeds in making one acutely aware of the long-term damage that may be inflicted unless those principles are followed.