Selective vision obstruction (or occlusion) allows the eyes to develop desired vision skills by intentionally choosing the stimuli that the eye is exposed to and eliminating unwanted stimuli or distractions. It also helps to create a deeper connection between the unobstructed part of the eye and the brain.

TYPES OF SELECTIVE VISION OCCLUSION

Selective vision occlusion can be intermittent or continuous, affecting both eyes or a single eye.

Intermittent occlusion limits the amount of light coming into the obstructed area, but the covered part of the eye still receives some visual input. An example of intermittent occlusion would be any practice with the pinhole glasses or strobing devices.

Continuous vision occlusion is used to ensure that the covered area does not get visual stimuli from a selected direction, such as an eye patch (no stimuli at all), or any Clarity Eyesight Trainer shield (allows for the presence of the peripheral vision to various degrees).

Binocular occlusion, as the name suggests, limits the vision field of both eyes (usually equally), while Monocular occlusion keeps one eye fully open and selectively limits the vision of the other eye.

Binocular occlusion eliminates a part of view of both eyes either equally or unequally. It can be very narrow, covering just the edges of central vision, or it can be quite wide, reaching past the outer corners of the eyes and blocking the majority of one’s vision field.

SKILLS TRAINED

Binocular occlusion is most often used for an expansion of the field of view, for training of peripheral vision, awareness of relative movement, left and right eye coordination, eye-body coordination, and 3D vision, or when addressing double vision.

Shields #1, #2, and #3. If you have more than one, a gradual increase of difficulty is recommended, unless noted otherwise. Start with shield #1 to learn a skill, then progress to #2 and #3.

Pay special attention to safety when practicing with binocular occlusion shields, review and follow Overbound Safety Guidelines.

Swiveling Septum and Binasal Occluders serve the purpose of separating the field of view and therefore the eyes in various manners.

Skill development that requires building new neural path connections between the body and the brain often benefits from a step by step approach. Take for example a pianist learning a new piece of music. They practice the part played by the right hand first, then the part played by the left hand. Only when each hand is familiar with the moves can the pianist play with both hands. Another example is a taekwondo form. Each form is composed of a series of moves that must flow seamlessly one after the next, so that if and when they are used in real life self-defense situation, they happen nearly automatically. The student of the art practices each move on its own before putting the form together. In fact the whole idea of the belt levels (from white to black and beyond) is based on building upon previously learned skills.

Vision training is no exception to this rule. One of the critical principles of eyesight improvement is to give each eye a chance to engage with the world and connect with the visual cortex on its own. That way each eye can develop the desired interpretation of the visual signals (new neural pathways) independently before being confronted with the need to work in harmony with the other eye.

SKILLS TRAINED

The majority of eyesight development and improvement techniques benefit from monocular practice followed by binocular practice.

Occluding one eye at a time is often indispensable for certain types of training of eye engagement, improvement of acuity at various distances, addressing astigmatism, and teaching hard-to-grasp skills of all kinds.

THE ORDER OF THE EYES

The general direction for monocular practice is to start with the dominant eye. However, sometimes the eye that needs more learning is trained first, whether it is dominant or not.

Follow the recommendation of your vision training specialist to choose the correct approach.

Minus rare exceptions, each person has one eye that leads and one that follows. The leading eye is called the Dominant Eye.

Dominant eye does not necessarily mean one that sees better, but it often does determine the way the two eyes work together. Knowing which eye is your dominant eye is useful for single-eye practice, as it is often easier to practice with the dominant eye first, and only then practice with the other eye. The dominant eye may be able to grasp the practice faster and through the use of imagination show the other eye the way to improvement.

DETERMINE YOUR DOMINANT EYE

In general, both eyes should be practiced during a single training session. Depending on a situation, you may adjust the length of practice with each eye as needed. You can practice each eye for the same amount of time or you can give one eye a longer session (for example the eye with the higher correction/diopters may require longer practice than the eye with the lower correction). If the technique you practice is overwhelming, then practice with one eye during one session and with the other eye in the following session. Keep alternating until your eyes can perform the skill easier, then practice both eyes in the same session.

At the end of each single eye practice, bring the eyes together and practice the same technique without the mono shields. Do this even if your eyes cannot perform the technique individually, but keep the dual eye practice short. Increase the dual eye practice once each of your eyes can perform the technique on their own.

Watch out for strain, be gentle with your eyes. Be patient, give them time to perform the skill you are learning.

Use shield “L” to cover your left eye and shield “R” to cover your right eye.

KEEP YOUR PERIPHERAL VISION OPEN

There are very few benefits in covering an eye completely, such as with an eye patch, and therefore eliminating its full vision field (central vision and all periphery). Refrain from doing so, unless specifically instructed by your training specialist or coach. Peripheral vision provides much information to the visual system even when central vision is blocked. Always use shields that keep your periphery open in order to keep your spatial perception intact and your total vision engaged. Due to the shape and size of its shields your Clarity Eyesight Trainer provides this experience with the highest precision and efficiency.