Want to know the main reason most people are reading much slower than they should be? We get tunnel vision! When reading, our eyes get a workout, moving fast and taking in all the information. As our eyes move faster they become stressed and the muscles that control the eyes fight against each other, leading to eyestrain, fatigue, and even headaches in some cases. At this point your vision also becomes more tunneled and you need to take more time to cover the same text. You are seeing less after all, so your eyes move slower.

You may have heard that you can tell if a person is lying by looking at their eyes. This is due to the fact that our eyes respond to stress automatically and there is not much we can do about it normally. However, I do have a solution for you. In my programs I take people through several exercises that stretch their vision so they do not fight the natural reading motion. You achieve what I call “fluid motion.” Once this happens, the eyes don’t fight the reading process, they enjoy it, and you are freed up to read faster. The following is a simple exercise to get you started.

Exercise: Look a point on the wall or object in front of you. It doesn’t matter what point you choose but just pick anything and don’t move your eyes from it. Place your hands in front of you to the right and left of the point you are focusing on. Don’t look at your hands directly but see them in the peripheral of your vision. Just see them in the background. Spread them out to the right and left slowly until you reach the edge of your peripheral vision, then move them back. Don’t move your eyes from looking straight ahead at any time. Repeat this exercise several times. Your physical limit never changes of course (you don’t have lizard eyes) but your mind may open up from focusing on tunnel vision. Try this before you read next time. Many say it makes reading more comfortable and easy.

You deserve a better read!
Dave Farrow  (You won’t forget my name! Get it?… Pharaoh!)