This practice promotes activation of visual cones based on contrast. As there are no images or letters, it also teaches the eyes to stay relaxed while looking at a challenging distance.

Before you start, download and print a Striped Shifter.

• With your mono shield on, hold the Shifter in front of you and turn your head left and right to look from one end of the page to the other. Slide your gaze across the page

• Alternatively, hold your head straight and move the Shifter instead

• Practice in all directions - horizontally, vertically or diagonally

• Adjust distances. Practice at full clarity, as well as at full blur, but especially at slight blur - you may see that in a short time the blur disappears and your eyes will see clearly at that distance

Remember to breathe and blink. Moment of focus is often a moment when we hold our breath. Breathe regularly and slowly to provide oxygen to your eyes. Blink often.

Practice Lenses: L and R

Tips & Watchouts:

• Practice with your dominant eye first

• Engage with the shifter

• Feel free to adjust the speed in which you are looking. Going fast will improve your saccadic movement fluency

Downloadable Resources:

• Traditional Striped Shifter
  
  This Shifter can also be used for SHIFTING - UP CLOSE technique described below, as well as for an Astigmatism release practice described in Module 4.

The practice of Shifting ultimately means actively changing focus from object to object or from detail to detail. This provides two major benefits. First, it awakens visual receptors in the retina called cones, which are necessary for focus and clear seeing. Second, it helps improve microscopic movements of the eyes that allow for speedy adjustment of focus.

The first way to practice is to study an object of interest from up close.

• Find an object of interest. It can be a flower, a piece of fabric, a piece of art. Wear a mono shield.

• Look at the chosen object and move your gaze from one detail to the next. Explore the texture, the imperfection of edges, the details of the artist’s brush strokes, look for the veins in the petals of flowers. Count the petals of a daisy. Study the skin of your hand.

• Use a pointer if it helps you keep your gaze in the right place

• If you see the details clearly, well that is great. If you do not, it is great as well. Relax. Enjoy whatever it is that you do see. Let the object have impact on your eyes (one first, then the other). This will engage the visual receptors in the retina.

• Adjust the distance from which you are practicing. Study a heart of a flower from 6 inches away, 8 inches, then 10 inches. Find the distance at which the details are just slightly blurry, then simply look from detail to detail.

• Notice your eyes moving constantly

Remember to breathe. Moment of focus is often a moment when we hold our breath. Breathe regularly and slowly to provide oxygen to your eyes.

Practice Lenses: L and R

Tips & Watchouts:

• Practice with your dominant eye first

• Engage with the object. Look with interest. Study in a relaxed way. Blink often.

• Be in peace with what you see.

• If you do not see much of anything, notice the contrast instead. Seeing contrast is the essence of SHIFTING WITH STRIPED SHIFTER practice

The second way to practice Shifting is to study an object from a distance.

• Find an object of interest. It can be a wired fence, a picket fence, a brick wall with grout, leaves on a tree outside your window, or anything else with some sort of a pattern. Wear a mono shield.

• Look at the chosen object and move your gaze from one detail to the next. Look from one wire cross to the next, from plank to plank. Count the grout lines, or the leaves.

• Use a pointer if it helps you keep your gaze in the right place

• If you see them clearly, well that is great. If you do not, it is great as well. Relax. Enjoy whatever it is that you do see. Let the object have an impact on your eyes (one first, then the other). This will, again, engage the visual receptors in the retina.

• Adjust the distance from which you are practicing. 1 feet away or 10 and more feet away. Find the distance at which the details are clear, then slightly blurry.

• You can shift horizontally, vertically, diagonally, you can follow a circle, a figure eight or a spiral.

Remember to breathe. Moment of focus is often a moment when we hold our breath. Breathe regularly and slowly to provide oxygen to your eyes.

Practice Lenses: L and R

Tips & Watchouts:

• Practice with your dominant eye first

• Engage with the object. Look with interest. Study in a relaxed way. Blink often.

• Be in peace with what you see.

• If you do not see much of anything, notice the shapes instead.

• When practicing with a distant object, remember to let your head follow your eyes.

When it comes to adjusting the distance at which a person sees clearly, Tromboning is one of the most effective practices.

Before you start, find a practice object that you like to look at. It can be a flower, a colored pencil, a piece of jewelry, or a picture of someone you love. You can, of course, practice with just about anything, but practicing with an object that makes you happy, and that you want to see is more relaxing and much more enjoyable.

• With your mono shield on, hold the practice object at your eye level

• For a few minutes, move the object from your nose all the way to where your arm can reach and back in a slightly swinging motion

• Go slow, let your eyes follow the object

• After you finish a few minutes of the above movement, find a distance at which you can clearly see a detail of the object (let’s say a flower petal). Then find a distance at which the same detail is not as clear (distance of blur). Depending on your eye condition, the distance of blur can be closer to you or further away from you than the point at which you are able to see the detail clearly

• Look at the detail from where you can see it clearly, then close your eyes and imagine the detail

• With your eyes still closed, move the object just a few inches towards the distance of blur and imagine seeing it clearly there

• Once you see it with your eyes closed (through your imagination), open your eyes and look at the detail in reality. Repeat this practice. Palm if your eyes get tire

• Switch mono lenses and repeat the process. At the end, practice with both eyes together

Practice Lenses: L and R

Tips & Watchouts:

• Practice with your dominant eye first

• Follow with dual eye practice

Brock String is an extremely versatile practice used for acuity development and fusion of images coming from each eye. While Clarity Trainer is not needed for the teaching of fusion, it can be strongly leveraged for acuity expansion

• Prepare your string with beads, attach it in a way that the string is angled very slightly downwards in the direction away from your eyes. Distribute the beads on the string, so that they are placed at about the same distance from each other. If possible, place at least one bead at the distance at which you can see it clearly

• Put your mono lens on, sit or stand straight and bring the string to your nose

• Look from bead to bead back and forth. Rest your eyes on each bead before looking at the next one. You may notice that some beads are more clear than others

• Look at the bead that you see clearly, close your eyes, imagine what it looks like, then with your eyes closed, touch the bead and move it slightly in the direction where the other beads are blurry (towards the distance of blur). If you are nearsighted, you will most likely be moving the bead away. If you are presbyopic, you will bring it forward. If you are farsighted, you may be in either of the two camps, so look and see

• Imagine that the bead still looks clear, then open your eyes and look at the bead. Bring the bead back to the original position and repeat the process. After a few rounds the bead may start to clear when seen in the distance of blur. That means that your field of clarity has expanded and your distance of blur moved

• If the bead that can be seen clearly is out of your reach, then place other beads forward or behind as needed and instead of moving the bead, simply imagine the next bead being clear before opening your eyes and looking at it

Remember to breathe. Blink often.

Practice Lenses: L and R

Tips & Watchouts:

• Practice with your dominant eye first

• Practice outdoors for best light and the ability to extend the distance. You may initially only need a string that is 5 ft long, but may need a 30 ft string later. Unless you live in a palace with endless hallways, your back yard or a nearby park may be your best friends.

• If your string becomes too short, then just keep looking at objects further and further away, applying the same principle. Sky is the limit for how far you can see.

DO NOT lean forward to meet the string, let the string slide in your hand until it is long enough to meet your nose.

DO NOT lean back, shorten the string, so that you can practice with the right posture

Resources:

• To make a brock string, use a flexible clothing line (10-20 ft long) and 3-5 beads of the same size. Color may vary or you can use beads of the same color. Distribute the beads at equal distance from each other with at least one bead placed at the point of clarity, at least one bead at the point of blur and at least one at the distance where it is significantly blurry.