| Glasses, contacts, or surgery. These are the | | | | Designed to reverse the stresses placed upon |
| usual choices offered to those of us with bad | | | | the optical system, the vision-rebuilding |
| vision. Orlin Sorensen, though, needed an | | | | process fortifies your eyes in ways that |
| alternative. A commercial airline pilot who | | | | would never be achieved through normal daily |
| found himself in jeopardy of being downsized | | | | activities. |
| after the 9/11 tragedies, Sorensen decided to | | | | |
| go for broke and pursue his lifelong dream of | | | | Sorensen's Rebuild Your Vision program |
| becoming a Navy fighter pilot. The only catch | | | | provides multilevel goals and strengthening |
| was that Navy fighter candidates were | | | | tools that challenge and stimulate different |
| required to have near-perfect, uncorrected | | | | parts of the visual system. Customized |
| vision -- no surgery allowed. | | | | training programs are available for those |
| | | | suffering from nearsightedness, astigmatism, |
| As for so many who seek different medical | | | | and aging vision (presbyopia). The program's |
| options, it was word of mouth that led | | | | simple drills and exercises can be done at |
| Sorensen down a different path: a fellow | | | | home, in the office, or on the road, thus |
| pilot suggested eye exercises to naturally | | | | enabling the practitioner to integrate them |
| correct vision. Turns out, the exercises | | | | as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. It's |
| weren't so much the "road not taken" as the | | | | no accident that Sorensen is from Seattle, a |
| "road not taken in a while." Sorensen's | | | | city surrounded by natural beauty whose |
| research revealed that natural vision | | | | residents are perennially voted as some of |
| training, in fact, had been around for almost | | | | America's fittest. |
| a century. | | | | |
| | | | An idea takes flight |
| Natural vision correction involves performing | | | | |
| eye exercises and relaxation techniques daily | | | | Not only has Rebuild Your Vision become a |
| to increase optical muscle strength and | | | | success -- according to surveys from |
| coordination. With a 30-minute daily routine, | | | | customers worldwide, the program boasts over |
| after just a month Sorensen improved his | | | | a 90% success rate in improving vision |
| vision from 20/85 to 20/20; he went on to | | | | problems -- but the medical establishment has |
| pass the Navy's visual acuity test. In 2001, | | | | also done research supporting the theories |
| he founded a company, Rebuild Your Vision, to | | | | that the program is based upon, as in this |
| share his knowledge with the general public | | | | excerpt from the Journal of the American |
| and to challenge the widespread belief that | | | | Optometric Association describing the results |
| surgery is the only method of correcting | | | | of subjects who underwent natural vision |
| vision. As more and more people turn to | | | | training: "Subjects often stated that they |
| alternative medicine -- one in three people | | | | had experienced the ability to make eye |
| in the U.S., according to the New England | | | | contact (without correction) with people |
| Journal of Medicine -- Sorensen's company has | | | | across a room or street; they could see |
| proven to be visionary in more ways than one. | | | | buildings and windows clearly without glasses |
| | | | many miles across San Francisco Bay, or in |
| A wholistic orientation to health | | | | the case of high-diopter myopes (> -4.0 |
| | | | diopters) they were able to read books easily |
| Watching TV, computer use, reliance on | | | | at arm's length." |
| optical correction from glasses and contacts, | | | | |
| as well as the normal aging process, all | | | | Unlike eye surgery, natural vision correction |
| contribute to weak and distorted vision. | | | | is noninvasive and risk-free. And unlike |
| Integral components of the eye are not | | | | glasses or contacts, it an active process |
| stimulated but instead suffer from a narrow | | | | rather than a palliative measure. So it's no |
| range of use, in the same way that repetitive | | | | wonder vision rebuilding seems to strike a |
| mousing and typing tasks on the computer can | | | | chord with health-conscious people today, who |
| lead to tendonitis in the arm and, | | | | are increasingly choosing organic foods over |
| eventually, carpal tunnel. Just as you | | | | fast foods, meditation over confrontation, |
| exercise your body at the gym or practice | | | | and lifestyle changes over potentially |
| yoga in order to improve muscle tone, | | | | harmful quick fixes. Ironic, but sometimes we |
| agility, range of motion, and flexibility, so | | | | need to take the long view to really |
| too do the eyes benefit from daily exercise. | | | | appreciate what we're seeing. |