Achieve INCREDIBLE Eyesight Naturally Using an Eye Chart
Eye charts trigger fear for most people. That makes sense. We associate them with eye doctor visits where we sit in that uncomfortable chair, lights dim, and someone asks to read the ever smaller letters on the screen. The pressure builds. We squint, tilt our heads, hold our breath, and lock into a deer-in-the-headlights stare.
But here’s what I want you to know: that chart on the wall isn’t just for testing. It’s actually one of the most powerful tools you can use to improve your eyesight naturally. The trick is learning to use it differently.
Understanding Different Chart Types
Eye doctors use ETDRS charts. These were originally designed in 1982 for the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study to test patients with low vision more accurately. These charts can check up to 20/800 or worse visual acuity, compared to the traditional Snellen test card which usually ends with 20/200 as the worst eyesight measurable and cannot assess exactly how “low vision” someone is beyond that.
The EDRDS charts have five letters sans-serif “Sloan” letters per row, using only ten letters: C, D, H, K, N, O, R, S, V, and Z. The spacing between rows and letters is precise and consistent and letters scale down at an exact 1.25 ratio. The letter type is called Sloan because they were designed in 1959 by Dr. Louise Sloan, an influential ophthalmologist and vision researcher. The so-called Arizona chart has been approved for in-home testing since the pandemic. We will use it in our upcoming longitudinal study.
You probably have seen the traditional Snellen eye test, most commonly with the largest letter E on top. All these letters were designed in 1862 by Herman Snellen, a Dutch eye doctor. They fit into an exact 5×5 grid and are called “octotypes”.
Think of each letter being five pixels high, five across and five down. The white spaces inside letters are also one pixel wide. The scaling varies slightly between rows, unlike ETDRS charts.
Both types are designed for either 10-foot or 20-foot distances. That red line you see marks the “10/10” vision line (or “20/20” if you’re measuring at 20 feet). The good news is both work equally well. I double-checked. The 10/10 line on a Snellen card is exactly the same 18-point type size as the ETDRS version.
Why Chart Quality Matters
The print quality of the letters on your eye chart is super important. They have to look black, crisp and sharp and the background snow white. If they look fuzzy and gray instead of crisp black and white you cannot see them as clearly and the test card will not be accurate for testing or useful as a vision improvement tool.
Get a quality printed chart. If your home printer isn’t great, get it printed professionally or purchase one online by searching for Snellen or eye chart.
They also come in different sizes. The 10-foot version is more useful unless you have a big space that allows you to look at it from 20 feet. That said, I usually recommend getting a 20 foot chart but use it at 10 feet distance. If your 20 foot version doesn’t have the measurements listed for 10 feet, you can easily do that yourself.
All the measurements will be double what they were at 20 feet. So 20/40 would be 20/80 at 10 feet (technically 10/40 as the first number indicates the distance, but that’s really not that important to understand in order to use it effectively).
Think of Letters as “Shapes”
The letters on the eye chart are really just shapes on a background. In fact, children’s test cards have object shapes like an apple, bird, horse or similar. They are symbols for objects, just like letters are symbols for language. Which often causes us more stress since it’s associated with intellectual skills, reading, performing and more.
So switch your thinking from letters and reading to looking shapes. Shapes are fun and playful.
My late colleague Esther Joy van der Werf created her charts with messages built in. When you read them, the letters spell “relax into seeing central clarity….” or “blink often receive light….” That can make practice even more fun.
You can also draw your own black shapes or buy black letter and shape stickers and place them on white paper and make your own chart. There are even websites where you can create custom charts.
Shape-based charts work beautifully, especially with children. The “illiterate chart” uses only four letter shapes that are easy to distinguish from each other:
- H: square shape with an open structure
- O: circle shape
- T: shape with a one horizontal and one vertical line
- V: triangle shape
Tumbling E or C charts use just one letter rotated different directions. All you identify is which way the letter faces. Less scary than traditional ones.
White letters on black background can be easier to see, especially with cataracts or nearsightedness. Black absorbs light, creating less reflection and less fuzziness. We usually use black-on-white because that’s how books are printed, but screens now offer dark mode for this exact reason.
Finding a black background chart with white letters is harder to find. Trisha Kirby, our “Inner Game” Coach and Intuitive Energy Healer makes these high quality white letters on black charts so you don’t have to!
Hanging Your Chart In Your House
This is crucial: put your charts all over your house, ideally in different sizes and different types: in your living room, hallway, bedroom. Make it part of your décor. That way it’s no longer this scary thing you see once yearly at the eye doctor. When it becomes a familiar object, it loses its power to create stress and fear.
Many clients have told me they hung it in the hallway and one day while walking past, everything suddenly looked super sharp. They weren’t even trying. They had movement around it, which helped their eyes relax.
Movement is essential for healthy vision. We have fast saccadic eye movements that happen constantly. but are often sluggish when you’ve worn glasses for a while. When you move your body, you automatically move your eyes. Walking past your chart (either sideways or toward it) creates that healthy movement and helps relaxation.
Hang it next to something you love looking at. Artwork, photos, whatever brings you joy. Here’s the practice: look at the picture you love, relax your eyes, use those happy emotions, then quickly blink and shift to one letter on the chart. Shift back to the pleasant picture.
You’re not taking a test. It’s just another object you’re looking at.
The White Space Technique
Looking at white spaces relaxes the eyes. When we read, we stare hard at the black letters. But when you let your attention move through the white spaces (between letters, between lines, inside letters), your eyes soften.
I call this “a river runs through it.” Think of your gaze as water drifting down the chart, doing little swirls, moving between lines. You’re not making effort to read anything. You’re just moving your attention around.
Before you know it, things sharpen up because you’re not straining. You can look at shapes inside letters, draw with your eyes. I always recommend moving your head a little bit when you do this.
Movement Practices With Your Chart
In my Naturally Clear Vision® method, we do something called “the swing.” Either moving your head in a 180-degree circle or moving your whole body in a half circle motion. It’s a Bates Method movement technique to improve those saccadic eye movements that get slow when you have poor vision or use glasses frequently.
Put your charts in that 180-degree environment where you’re doing the swing. You want interesting objects in that circle. If you do it in front of a white wall, your brain won’t be interested.
In a wide room with one chart, your eyes will get stuck on it because your brain wonders what it is. I recommend sticking it between other objects when doing the swing.
Removing The Scary Factor
Take the fear away by treating your chart as shapes. Literally just shapes on a background.
You can hang a chart upside down. Yes, the letters will be upside down, but you can cut it up and stick letters the right way. Turning it upside down removes conditioning. We’re so trained that “first row is easy, second row is really hard, I can’t see that one.”
When it’s literally flipped, it removes that scary association.
Hang charts next to pictures you love. Maybe get cute supplies from dollar stores with black shapes you can stick on. Make some charts for children using supplies from children’s stores with fun elements.
Chart Play Versus Assessment
For assessment, distance and chart size matter. You need exact measurements. When measuring at 10 feet versus 5 feet, you’re at different distances, so calculations change. The Arizona Eye Chart (approved for home measuring) shows different scales for 5 feet versus 10 feet.
For chart play (improvement techniques), exact distance doesn’t matter. We usually do it without glasses at a distance where you feel comfortable. It’s not about reading the last line but about recognizing about half the letters or shapes on the chart so you can see when things sharpen up.
How To Print Charts Properly
If you print the test cards for assessing vision, always print at 100% scale. Don’t select “fit to size” or “fit to printer” or “paper size.” That screws up assessments because you need exact letter size.
For chart play, it doesn’t matter. You can do big letters on the bottom, small ones, arrange them in a circle. Whatever works. It’s all about relaxing, adding movement, because that’s how you improve vision.
Over time, if you’re nearsighted, you’ll notice you can step further away and still recognize letters you initially saw only at 3 feet. Now you can see them at 6 feet. That’s actual measurable improvement in visual acuity.
Practical Implementation Tips
- Do chart play for a few minutes while your coffee is brewing
- Place charts around your house where you naturally see them daily
- Look at the chart without glasses to notice what changes
- Adjust distances based on comfort, not straining to be “perfect”
Your Next Steps
Charts are a magic, incredible tool to improve vision and eyesight. They’re not just useful for assessment. I want you to lose the fear and make them part of your decorations and environment.
When you’re ready to learn the complete approach to natural vision improvement, join us for Clear Vision Wednesday where we practice these techniques together live. You can also explore proven eye exercises that only take seconds to integrate into your daily routine.
It’s possible to improve your vision at any age. Using these tools properly is a fantastic way to do that.
Watch the episode of Achieve INCREDIBLE Eyesight Naturally Using This Tool!
