“You don’t need eye glasses”

Tijn Touber | Jan/Feb 2006 issue
Everyone knows glasses are the only way to improve eyesight, right?
Jacob Liberman: “Not true! That’s what every doctor is being taught in school, but I have a direct experience. I always had trouble reading as a child—I thought I was stupid and eventually became nearsighted from straining my eyes so much. It wasn’t until I was an adult and studying optometry that I finally learned that my problem wasn’t poor eyesight, but poor eye teaming.”
What’s “eye teaming”?
“Vision is a lot more than just the ability to see. Eyesight is just a small part of seeing. Your eyes also need to work together as a team. You also need to be able to aim and focus them accurately, because when things become clear, they become understandable.”
So declining eyesight isn’t inevitable over time?
“Vision deterioration is the biggest health epidemic in the world. Two-thirds of the world’s population wear glasses and less than one percent of children are born with bad eyes. So what happens? One of the problems in our modern world is that we spend a lot of time in confined environments reading and staring at computers. So we become near-sighted because our focusing system becomes stiff and cramped. Instead of exercising the eyes, doctors usually prescribe glasses for seeing far away, which unfortunately makes the problem worse. You see, glasses only treat the effect of the problem, not the cause.”
You can actually improve your vision?
“I started doing eye exercises, and now I can read and see comfortably for hours at a time, and my visual performance has never been better. Because I want everyone to experience this I developed the Exercise Your Eyes Total Vision Workout.”
How does it work?
“It is really quite simple. You do five 90-second exercises per day, where your eyes follow a programmed series of alternating red and blue lights, horizontally, vertically, diagonally and from far to near. Basically, your eyes react differently to red and blue lights. Your focusing system contracts when it sees red and relaxes looking at blue. By combining eye exercises with specific-coloured lights your vision skills are trained and strengthened.”
Jacob Liberman is the American inventor of the Exercise Your Eyes Total Vision Workout System, designed to improve visual performance, and author of Light: Medicine of the Future (Bear & Company, 1990) and Take Off Your Glasses and See (Three Rivers Press/Crown, 1995). More information: www.exerciseyoureyes.com.