Bates Method 101: How To Make a Half Patch

In this video, Certified Bates Method Teacher, Nathan Oxenfeld, demonstrates how to make a half patch and how to use it to isolate one eye at a time during vision training practices or throughout the day.

Instead of using a full eye patch to completely cover one eye, you can cut a regular eye patch in half to partially cover one eye and allow the peripheral vision to remain.

You may also partially palm your eye instead of completely palming your eye.

Some people like to make their own "occluder glasses", where one lens is covered up with paper, but the periphery remains around the edges of the frames.

A super simple alternative is to use a Post-It note over one eye, either full size or cut in half.

All of these are ways to isolate one eye at a time, which can allow for improvements in coordination, eye teaming, fusion, depth perception, visual acuity, and more. This is especially important if you have a dominant eye.

Spend time during your vision building practices (swinging, fusion, reading, eye charts, etc.) with one eye covered completely or partially, or simply wear an eye patch or a half patch while doing everyday activities (cooking, cleaning, yoga, watching TV, etc.)

Thanks for watching!

[LiveSounds]

The first letter i see after putting on a patch is I had to...) smile for the day. Thanks for the vids and healing work.

[CyBORGBOY]

Hey Nathan, I was listening to your first podcast and I identified a lot with your story, especially with the school part and the way people said about what the teacher would be like. I experienced the same thing. Maybe I learned to diffuse the images to avoid seeing the teacher. Maybe I learned that thing too, so as not to see other things. As far as we can tell, this is a human "ability" to prevent the mind (which is something sophisticated) from being impacted by unwanted scenes.

Over time - and with the use of glasses - I lost the notion of fusing the images, creating more lazy eye.

These days I have been practicing, recording myself with my smartphone (selfie) and after a while I could see that my left eye was seeing better when I brought it to the "center" (and the change was not so noticeable in the recording, it appears that the change is not necessarily in the eyes, it appears that it is a change in the brain / optic nerve / other areas of the brain).

I could see better with the weaker eye and with both eyes I was seeing perfectly as if I had glasses.

Another thing I noticed, when I touched the left side of my forehead, I could feel a certain discomfort, a slight pain, now after training my left eye I no longer feel any pain.

As Dr Liberman says in his book: "two become one".
This skill is perhaps the most important. This ability does not appear to be a physical thing directly in the eyeballs, this ability appears to be something related to "intent" to fuse the images in the mind.

I believe that "two become one" is another way of explaining the "central fixation" of the Bates method.

[paulcookies]

I find your explanation to be perfectly understandable.

[doyouknowme]

Hey Nathan.I have been trying the bates method for a month now but still there is no improvement.In my schedule I do Long swing, Palming, Vision Stretching, Central Fixation with Snellen chart and Accupressure points.However I think the reason for no improvement is the amount I spend in front of screen since everything’s online.What are your thoughts?And please what extra can I do?

[sriramgovindarajan]

Hi Nathan I have one request for you.can you make a video explaining central and peripheral vision and how does it work anatomically and how bates method helps to improve both central and peripheral vision

[ayushidaga]

Hey nathan,
I just wanted to ask that does the myopic eyeball size decreases after doing bates method.?
You have also reduced your eye power, so is your eyeball size back to the normal size??

Please reply.
Thanks alot for the vedios and inspiration.

[johnsonjan]

Ooh. Interesting. I’ve been messing about while watching the video. I’m Bedbound. Lots of physical and cognitive problems. My eyes tire very quickly, especially with close work. And I’m very sensitive to light sources. So I use my smart tv a lot. I was watching the video on my smart tv. It’s on the wall to the front left of my bed, next to my window. I like the light from my window. It’s a kind and gentle light. But I didn’t realise how much it affected my vision when viewing my tv. As soon as I blocked my right eye I could see the tv more clearly. And when I blocked a bit of my left eye, too it meant I was able to see better without having to twist my neck of body as much.

I think I will especially use this technique for my tv viewing. (When my carers aren’t here!). I think it might be more restful for me

I’m 66 and have recently given in and now wear reading glasses. Sometimes I can read without them outdoors in summer. But the rest of the time I just can’t read stuff anymore without them. Your eye exercises have helped quite a bit but I just can’t read without my glasses now.

I had laser eye treatment many years ago. I have mono vision. Left eye for reading. Right eye for distance. My right eye (distance) is still ok. My tv on my wall to the front left of my bed seems to be close enough for my left eye to see it ok

[andreatrutin]

What kind of exercises i have to do.first...cause i have hyperopia..presbiopia and astigmatism?
Thanks a lot ☀️

[kdmq]

I have found my vision in each individual eye is fairly bad but I see quite clearly when both eyes are open. Any reason why this happens? It's not like one eye is better than the other, so I'm kind of confused as to what kind of strains might be causing this.

[freedomfreedomfreedom]

Interesting concept. Half an eye patch.
Why not perhaps make 1/3 of a patch as well.

[LovepowerGracehoney]

So if I have left eye peripheral deficit due to stroke, do I patch my whole right or half my right or half my left?

[pamelaf.]

I read somewhere on the interwebs that the eye that is covered by the eye patch will get worse. Nathan, is this true? I’m trying to improve my severe myopia especially the left eye by covering my right. Will my right eye now get worse?