Seeing things clearly can be such an emotional issue — literally. That’s what I’ve learned from my holistic eye doctor, Marc Grossman. He’s the guy who taught me that my severe nearsightedness is all about letting go, while people who are farsighted have issues with focusing.
We first met back in the late ’90s. I was about to turn 40, in need of reading glasses, and resisting what seemed like a rite of passage to getting older. Squinting at cereal box labels and even the newspaper was so depressing! My hope was that a natural practitioner would have a magic solution.
Somehow, I heard about Marc and made an appointment. As someone who has been wearing thick glasses since the age of nine, I’ve been inside a lot of optometrist offices. At first glance, Marc’s set-up looked pretty ordinary. But after he did a fairly routine eye check-up, he said there actually was a way to avoid reading glasses.
“Oh, we can take care of it in a few months with eye exercises, no problem,” he said. “But what about your nearsightedness — do you want to do anything about that?”
What? Was he nuts? My vision was about 20/650, in the legally blind category. But over the next few years, I spent a few daily minutes on eye exercises at home. My routine also included a weekly visit to his office for an hour of vision therapy that involved specialized drills. Today, I’m in the 20/275 range. At age 56, I still don’t use reading glasses.
As a person with no guts, interest or money for laser eye surgery, holistic eye therapy has been a great gift. It’s not just the vision improvement but the self-discovery. Marc always says that eyes are the windows to the soul because they’re also an extension of our brains. The eye’s retina is actually made of a specialized form of brain tissue, creating a powerful interaction between seeing and thinking. No wonder sight is the most developed of the five human senses.
When my vision started improving, I shared with Marc my sadness — and fury — over how my parents forced me out of my natural left-handedness. While I write as a southpaw, they broke me in every over way. At that point in my mid-40s, I wanted my handedness back. But struggling to use my left hand to open doors and to eat with a fork or chopsticks was very awkward and tiring.
“Are you interested at all in drawing?” he asked, in what seemed like such a non-sequiter. But in fact, art was the solution! He said it would help if I could take a picture of something, turn it upside down — and then draw it. To learn how to do that, he recommended “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain,” 
That book led me to my inner artist. Drawing from illustrations that were upside down freed me from trying to copy a picture of someone’s face or a landscape. Instead, I was simply looking at the curve of lines and shapes. They were forms and nothing more. In other words, pure vision. Soon I was taking painting classes, drawing classes and recently, comic book illustration. After an emotionally crushing childhood where my parents forbid art classes, I was finally, in middle age, on the journey of my dreams.
It would be nice to brag that my eyesight has improved to 20/80 or even 20/200. But after my divorce in 2001, the vision recovery plateaued. I’ve let go of a lot and maybe it’s enough! To maintain my eyesight, I still do Marc’s eye exercises because like any good workout, they keep me limber and healthy.
For daily living, Marc has me outfitted in contact lenses that are slightly weaker than what I need. This means the edges of things are a wee bit blurry. Not seeing everything in sharp focus is a blessing. Think about it…is it really important to constantly focus? That’s a recipe for eye strain and emotional exhaustion.
Then there are the special prescription glasses that blur my vision even more. I wear them when I’m walking my dog Rosebud, doing the laundry or cooking simple dishes. Everything turns into true soft focus. And why not? Tell me, do I really need to see the edge of every letter in “S-T-O-P,” especially since me and Rosebud walk past that sign every day? When we get back from our stroll and I take off the glasses, magic happens. Everything suddenly looks naturally crisper and sharper, aha!
Marc works out of the Hudson Valley, which is the name for the ‘burbs just north of New York City. His offices are in Rye, Somers and New Paltz. Info about his philosophy, rates, etc. are at Dr.Grossman2020.com.
If you can’t get to him, he has books. My favorite one is “Magic Eye Beyond 3D: Improve Your Vision.”
If you’d like to practice the technique called for in that exercise, Marc has a free exercise e-booklet that he’ll email you from this link on NaturalEyeCare.com.
This website also features the following video with the three most basic exercises I initially learned. The hot dog is my favorite, because it’s fun and feels soooo good. All three exercises offer relief from hours of computer-weary eye strain.
I’ll leave you with a few parting thoughts…
Marc, who is a Queens boy, an acupuncturist and a Stuyvesant High School alum like me, has been around plenty of Asian folks. When I asked him why so many Asians are four-eyed from an early age, he said that the close detail work and the pressure to be a perfectionist are part of the reason. But wearing eyeglasses is also a form of armor, a physical shield that enables the wearer to keep the world at bay.
It’s a theory that makes total sense of my childhood. When I started with glasses, I was a miserable, vulnerable little kid under the tyranny of control freak tiger parents. They forced me to study, study, study and pursue the path they set for me. Clearly, those thick lenses were a way to literally get them outta my face.
So that’s my moment-by-moment challenge. As an adult, I can have my own vision for life. The control is in my hands.
And from there, it’s all about letting go. xo.