ViewMaster Vision

The Feldenkrais training is about improving human functioning. That's a fairly general statement. And like lots of Feldenkrais stuff, one that can prompt you to ask, "what the heck does that mean?"

I'm not about to attempt a complete answer here. But I will offer an example of a startling functional improvement that I experienced during the first year of my Feldenkrais training, in a function that was working well enoughóor so I thought. As a bonus, it turns out that this improvement in one function is not isolated, but provides a window on total functioning.

The function that Iíll discuss here is my vision. It was working well enough before I started the training. I saw well enough to get around and do things, even if I did need eye glasses to compensate for a slight astigmatism.

During the first weeks of the training, we did a number of Awareness Through Movement (ATM) lessons centered on the use of the eyes. In one of these lessons I suddenly became aware of the kinesthetic sensations of converging and diverging my eyes to focus on objects in the foreground and background. The thing that probably helped the awareness to develop was using the eyes in nonhabitual positions. For example, one lesson had us keeping the eyes focused on a point on the wall ahead while we moved our heads up and down. Then we continued this up and down movement as we tilted our heads right and left. By taking the visual function out of habitual usage patterns, I had a much higher probability of becoming aware of how the mechanism worked.

It worked! This new awareness must have helped release my convergence ability into an easier and more effective way of functioning. Immediately after one of these eye lessons, I looked around the room to find what seemed like a brand new world. Everything was so vivid! In fact, the world looked every bit as vivid as one I'd remembered from childhood. Remember those View Master toys that looked like a miniature pair of binoculars and showed three-dimensional slides of fairly tales and the like? My new vision was almost like thatópeople and objects almost seemed to glow, so distinct were they from their backgrounds. And there was no View Master involved. I was suddenly using myself in a way that dramatically opened up my vision.

This new way of visual function was very pleasant. But it also helped me understand how my "unimproved" convergence function had been working.

I now realize that it's not so much that you can't function without easy, fast convergence of the eyes and the three-dimensional sensation that results. In fact, not only is it possible to function in this way, I realized that whole industries are built upon this illusion. Let me illustrate.

Not long after I noticed my improved visual function, I took the night off and attended a movie. The movie was one of those 70 mm big screen affairs with lots of scenes involving panoramic country vistas. There seemed to be so much depth in the scenes, with lush fields in the foreground and stunning, tree-covered mountains in the background.

"Man, these scenes are just magnificent! Iíll try out my new way of seeing while Iím watching," I thought.

But what I found that this vividness of the photographed scenery was an illusion. Whether I looked at foreground or background, there was no eye convergence or divergence involved. I merely needed to point my eyes to the place on the screen I wanted to see. As long as the lighting in the scene remained constant, there was no need to do anything else.

A sudden, blinding flash of the obvious hit me. "Ah, I understand now that photography is just a three-dimensional illusion! A photograph, even a motion picture or video one, is two-dimensional, having length and width, but no depth. So I never need to use much of my visual convergence/divergence function to view it. If I looked at a lot of photographed images, my convergence ability might shrink from itís full potential. Maybe my parents were rightótoo much television really is bad for you!"

And so, by paying attention during the ATMs, I improved a crucial aspect of my visual function. In short, I reintroduced myself to seeing in three-dimensions. Literally overnight, the world became a richer place. And unlike some other pleasant effects of ATMs or Functional Integration (FI) lessons, this one has remained. Even now, over a year later, the awareness and ability remain.

In fact, I often find that when my vision opens up, so does the rest of me. That is, the world sometimes looks flat to me. When I become aware of this flatness, it's a clue that I'm narrowing my awareness to the point that the way Iím using myself is somehow reducing my ability to converge my eyes. And if it's doing that to my tiny eye muscles, what else must be going on? I know then that it's time for me to literally widen my world view by increasing my somatic awareness.

Iím still not exactly sure what it means to improve human functioning. But I do know that individual functions (like those concerned with visual convergence) are not isolated; theyíre connected to general functioning. Improve one function while maintaining overall somatic awareness, and it can all improve. When I remember to do it, that is. And, who knows, maybe awareness is the key function to improve.