A New World of Seeing

Daniela Maťuchová has tried to get to the bottom of the problem with her book on methods of vision improvement, which is not only unique and much needed, but which will certainly prove beneficial for many. Written in an engaging way, it combines personal stories of people’s journeys to better vision with practical instructions for individual exercises, activities and principles which help improve eyesight.

People’s stories are usually an interesting way for others to approach an issue; we all like to read them. We can identify with some of them and thus be motivated and encouraged to work on solving our own difficulties. Through these stories, Daniela demonstrates that our eyesight can change for the better if only we give it enough attention and care.

It is good to see that more and more people are realising that the responsibility for their health is in their own hands. They can and are capable of doing a lot for themselves if they only look inside. You cannot solely rely on outside help from someone who solves others’ problems or ailments simply and quickly with medication, glasses or laser surgery. These solutions do not go into the depth of those problems and their cause remains unsolved.

As I have mentioned, when I discovered the Bates method, I was also shown a path which I had been missing in my work as an eye doctor. In the course of my practice, I have come to the realisation that glasses do not treat visual defects. They simply act as crutches: in other words, they are an aid which ensures vision that is considered normal. For a long time now, I have been interested in psychosomatic and holistic approaches in medicine and I found what I had been looking for in the method of natural vision improvement.

I am grateful to Daniela for bringing this system of vision support and eyesight hygiene, which is well-known and quite widespread abroad, to Slovakia. I think that such education is still woefully lacking in our country.

Dr Annamária Pavelová
Ophthalmologist
Slovak Republic

I was most excited about the stories about children. Parents should read this book to be able to make an informed decision about their child's vision treatment options. 

I felt sorry that many children suffer because they are forced to put strain on their eyes due to a lack of information from the doctors. All this is happening in the name of "good eyesight" with the reminder that their diopters will increase over time.

I also appreciated the expertise with which the author examines the vision problem from different angles. She is like a vision detective who is not satisfied with just ordinary testing, but looks for the connections behind the scenes.  

It is optimistic and encouraging that even in a two-hour consultation, she can discover the possibilities of how to properly connect the client's eyes with his brain, how her students experience flashes of sharp vision, how to find out which exercise is right for them. It is promising that children can quickly react to the exercises and develop new possibilities.

Michaela Ray de Witters
NLP coach & author
Belgium

Eyesight is invaluable and as such needs to be ‘respected and handled with care’, here is the very interesting book that will help you to do just that.

I’m guessing this will strike a chord with you, the reader, so here at last is a ‘down to earth’ practical handbook written by Daniela Matuchova, a compassionate, competent, experienced teacher in the growing worldwide field of ‘Natural Eyesight Improvement’. This book is for us all!

Here you have a ‘story book’ like no other, I couldn’t put it down! 

The writer brings us many real, well chosen accounts from her busy clinic, her central aim (I think) is to help us to really understand our eyesight, learn how it works and what our eyes need to keep them in ‘good working order’, to really ‘see’ your eyes, value and appreciate your eyesight, learn how to care and support your vision. To begin to appreciate that ‘seeing’ is about so much more than that which simply ‘meets the eye’, highlighting that what we usually call ‘our eyesight’ is in fact a vital part of our whole being.

This is a book for everyone regardless of age and the nature or condition of your sight.

The book opens with a powerful, challenging and very thought-provoking statement:

“Understanding Heals Better Than Medication”

In the words of the author:

“This understanding can come if we look at a problem from multiple angles.

And that is exactly what I am going to attempt in the following chapters. Through analysing the stories of my students, we are going to look at the most common mistakes and unhelpful habits which lead to impaired vision”.

The above statements reflect the ‘how and what’ of the true nature and process of ‘eyesight re-education’.

Yes, it is a story book for us all, even those of us that might say something like – “I’m so fortunate, I have perfect eyesight, yes, my eyes get tired, but that’s probably natural”. But is it? Read on to discover that ‘eye strain’ is neither natural or normal. 

This book is full of students accounts of their eyesight challenges. Without doubt there will be stories we can all relate to, each one with the authors’ professional reflections and analysis.

It is not a short read, more than 200 pages which introduce the reader to a wide range of the various usual and less common issues of eyesight and some of the natural approaches to understanding and treating them. It is organised in eight sections, each with a theme to guide the reader, supported by a glossary of terminology.

For example, the writer says a lot about the ready prescribing of glasses and contact lenses, a very common option in the wider world of vision care, but, a controversial one in natural eyesight education. However, I am sure as you read on you will become familiar with this ongoing debate.

You will find within every section there is always some overlap in the nature and content of the stories, eyesight difficulties are, by nature complex, very seldom simple or straight forward and as previously stated, contrary to popular belief, glasses and contact lenses are not usually the best answer. Optical correction may be part of the solution, but it is seldom the most advantageous first or only option! So do read on, don’t risk missing out on information that may be just what you’re looking for.

First of all, you will read Eve’s story, it’s not an unusual one, and ‘so what’! At best she got ‘very attractive designer glasses’, but sadly that was not the end of her tale! Meet Eve again later.

Within the content of these pages there are stories from people of all ages, from very young children, sometimes even babies to elderly, men and women still wanting ‘better eyesight’, explaining how they experience their many and various eyesight problems many of which are not so unusual but others very often coming with more complex, sometimes serious seeing difficulties.

So, the author carefully works with each individual, attentively hearing their ‘story’ so as to understand each problem as the student experiences it. There will be similarities in their difficulties but in fact they are never quite the same as the next person, but to the teacher each student’s difficulty is of equal importance and this is probably one of the most significant elements of this work. The writer ‘looks’ at every eyesight problem in the context of the individuals’ experience of their difficulty, but at the same time, in Daniela’s words, “understanding comes as I regard the person’s experience from multiple angles”.

Throughout her reflections and towards the end of the book you will find out more about some of the ‘why and how’ of many of the activities she uses in her ‘detective work‘ to better understand the students experience and how best to approach the problem, based on her analyses. You will notice that many of the same activities are utilised for many different conditions of eyesight. The common thread is always rest and relaxation, attending to what ‘you do see’ and not primarily what is hard to see. This attitude will quickly shed positive light on seeing and enhances relaxation.

Daniela provides many helpful descriptions and instructions about activities you can use.

However, as you read on you will notice that throughout, as Daniela gives us her analyses and reflections there is one outstanding theme, ‘Rest and relaxation’, a fundamental essential to seeing better in all of its dimensions, body, mind and spirit! ‘Glasses alone will never achieve this’.

In eight relatively short sections with many and varied stories Daniela’s observations and analyses tell us much about the extensive and varied spectrum of seeing challenges she encounters in her clinic. We learn that every individual awareness and description of their sight is unique to that person regardless of any similarity in their prescriptions. Often discovering that glasses are not always the right or necessarily the best solution. 

In natural vision education there is a fundamental protocol which applies in every case, so within the chapters you will notice the writer makes you familiar these essential activities.

Natural Eyesight Methods emphasise the need for good light, sunlight, absolute darkness and colour as primary resources for all vision challenges, providing the reader with information and directions about how you can take advantage of these essential ‘good vision (habits) activities’ at home. 

In this relatively short text the author knowledgeably and skilfully relates some amazing stories and how she thinks about each one of them. 

When I reached the end of the book I was especially heartened by the concluding stories, ‘Me’ and ‘Eve’, as the ‘clear’ message that ‘given understanding, care and support, for most people vision will improve naturally regardless of the nature of the condition’.

This is an invaluable ‘story book’, inspiring and heart-warming, a text full of well founded, tried and tested knowledge and practical applications. A sound and safe natural approach to recovering and preserving good sight. 

A valid alternative to glasses, contact lenses and laser surgery, none of which come with assurance that eyesight will not continue to deteriorate over time.

Aileen Whiteford
MSc Ed. (Advanced Education)
Humanistic Psychotherapist
Natural Eyesight Educator
Scotland

"The Miracle of Sight: Stories from my Clinic" is Daniela Mat'uchová's second book in which she shares her experiences of the last 7 years practising as a Bates Method natural eyesight teacher in the Slovak Republic. The title is a conscious echo of her inspiration, Emily Lierman's "Stories from the Clinic". Emily Lierman worked with W.H. Bates in New York writing Better Eyesight magazine together from 1919 to 1930. This documented their work helping people's eyesight without using glasses or surgery. Lierman's articles were then collected together in one volume as "Stories from the Clinic". 

What is clear from the very beginning of "The Miracle of Sight" is the care and attention that Daniela Mat'uchová shows to each person coming to her looking for help. This directly echoes for me the work of Emily Lierman in which there is a similar resonance of kindness and rapport that she has with the people who come to see her. What shines through in both Emily Lierman and Daniela Mat'uchová's writing is that each person they work with is unique and has their own story to tell.

This individuality, as Mat'uchová shows again and again, will be reflected in a person's eyesight and she illustrates how people's vision will often differ from expectation. She shows us how this is especially true of children and shares her fascination in the differences between adults' and children's vision. This is a valuable reminder to me to make no assumptions about how someone sees but to listen and observe and take each person on their own individual terms.  

Throughout "The Miracle of Sight" the stories are always told in the holistic context of life situations, illustrating the point that a person's life and the way they see are inextricably linked. I like the lightness of touch in the way she tells her stories. She doesn't shy away from the fact that life and vision problems are often complex and there are no quick fixes. She makes no false promises. There is, however, a dedication to the reality that in most cases that she comes across, applying the principles of the Bates Method works. Attending to rest and relaxation, to light and movement usually brings about clearer eyesight.

"The Miracle of Sight" is, however, much more than a collection of stories. As well as being sensitive to the humanity of her clients Mat'uchová is a diligent eyesight teacher and meticulous in taking the chart measurements of people's sight. This means that her work includes well documented data of the changes that her clients experience in their eyesight through working with her. It is also brought up to date with a section on Laser Eye Surgery.

The fundamental ideas of the Bates Method are woven through the book and there are practical explanations of things that anybody can do to start exploring the capacities of their own eyesight. Whilst firmly rooted in the fundamentals of eyesight improvement as practised by Bates and Lierman, Mat'uchová breathes fresh air and vitality into the work making it alive and deeply relevant for the present day.

Reading this book I find myself inspired to be more sensitive, inventive and playful with my vision clients; to think up new games for them to bring the Bates Method alive in a way that suits each of them. There is always something new to learn and Mat'uchová teaches us to have an open mind and to embrace possibilities. There are many things that can be discovered with gentleness and patience. It is the Bates Method that Mat'uchová uses but she also brings her own experience, wisdom and special qualities to her work. "The Miracle of Eyesight" invites us in to share some time with her and that is well worth doing. 

 

Anna Bambridge BA, MA (Cantab) MPhil
Natural Vision Teacher
Scotland

"Your book is worth much more than the price you are selling it for, I love the story form and the ease with which you have integrated all the practices needed to work towards better eye sight. I have read a few books and yours has come out to be most intuitive and relatable. I still have not finished reading the entire book but I am thoroughly enjoying the work that you have put in."

Sameer Mehta, Saudi Arabia