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

Practicing with one eye at a time is much more beneficial, so that acuity develops for each of them. Only bring both eyes together after you have practiced with both mono lenses.

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.

In traditional optometry the Snellen Chart is used to measure distance acuity of one’s vision, one eye at a time. 20:20 has been long set as an indication of perfect vision.
In the process of eyesight development, the chart is not viewed as a test, but as a tool that one can get so familiar with, that looking at it becomes possible while keeping the eyes relaxed.

This practice requires the use of your memory and imagination

• Place the chart on a wall at your eye level. Look at the chart and find a distance from which you can see the 3rd line of letters clearly (point of clarity). If you can only see the top line 1 or 2, then work with those letters instead.

• Once you know what line of letters you will be working with, keep looking at those letters and step away until those letters become slightly blurry (point of blur).

• Stand at the point of clarity, look at one letter on line 3 (or line 1 or 2 if needed), then close your eyes, remember the letter, how clear it is. Remember the contrast between the black letter and the paper on which it is printed.

• When you see the letter clearly in your mind, step away to the point of blur, and with your eyes still closed imagine that you can still see that letter clearly.

• Then open your eyes and look at that letter, with interest, with curiosity. Tell yourself (out loud works great) what letter you are looking at. “I am looking at a letter O”.

Repeat many times. Look at different letters.

Look for a flash of clarity. If your letter clears, even for a micro second, celebrate! Do not try to hold it clear. If it stays blurry, keep practicing, without any expectation of success. It will come, but it may not be in the first session.

Practice Lenses: L and R

Practicing with one eye at a time is much more beneficial, so that acuity develops for each of them. Only bring both eyes together after you have practiced with both mono lenses.

Tips & Watchouts:

• Our eyes can only see one little point at any given time, so it is OK to remember and imagine only a part of the letter

• Get intimately familiar with the chart. Memorize it, if you would like. Memory and seeing are practically one and the same thing and knowing what letters you are looking at at any given time will help you see them clearly in reality, by which a new neural pathway will be formed in your brain for letter interpretation at that distance. Knowing what you are looking at is NOT CHEATING! You still know whether the letters came out clear when you looked at them.

• For those who cannot see up close (i.e. people with presbyopia), you can use this practice by printing the Snellen chart very small (1/4 or 1/8 of the original size), or by using a reading chart. Instead of stepping away, you will move the chart closer to your face to reach the point of blur.

Resources:

• Download your Snellen Chart here.

Reading charts serve the purpose of close-up acuity development, and as the name suggests, they are copies of reading texts organized in an intentional manner suitable for the practice of seeing close objects. As reaching close-up acuity may be tricky especially for those with presbyopia and hyperopia, or those with high myopia, reading charts come in many different variations.

The chart used in this practice leverages the technique of Study of the White Lines.

• Hold the chart in your hand at your eye level and about 12 inches from your face, or at a distance at which you can see the paragraph written in N22 font.

• Start your practice with the last font size that you can read (let’s say it is N16). Read it out loud.

• Then instead of trying to read the next paragraph (most likely with a lot of effort), look at the white lines in that paragraph (N14) and the paragraph after that (N12) instead. By white lines we mean the white spaces between the rows of letters in the paragraph and even the white spaces between individual words and letters.

• Study the white lines in those two paragraphs. Do not try to read anything, only look at the white space in between the lines of the black text. Notice the irregularity of each white line as it copies the letters.

• When you get to the end, close your eyes, imagine black letters on white paper, then open your eyes and look at the text in paragraph N14. Can you read it now?

• If not, then do it again. If yes, then repeat the process by always studying the white lines of the next two paragraphs, then going back up.

Do not scan the lines, study them!

Practice Lenses: L and R

Practicing with one eye at a time is much more beneficial, so that acuity develops for each of them. Only bring both eyes together after you have practiced with both mono lenses.

Tips & Watchouts:

• Just scanning the lines will bring you no progress. You must be looking with interest in order for your focus to sharpen.

• After you have learned to read at least N8, consider changing your reading distance. If you are myopic, move the chart one inch further away. If you are presbyopic, bring it closer.

• Use a pointer if it makes it easier to follow the lines.

Resources:

• Download your reading chart here.