Every so often someone who has experienced the benefits of behavioral vision care feels inspired to share their feelings in writing.  This is always a gratifying experience for me since, in many cases, the changes that take place are gradual and subtle.  This means that people do not always notice even obvious improvement.  For example, many people have eliminated frequent, severe headaches without even noticing that something was different until I asked them.  It is a privilege to be able to be a part of such a process whether the results are obvious to the individual or not.  I am grateful to have the knowledge to act as a guide for those with the desire and courage to pursue the path of personal growth.  However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy finding out that my work has really been powerful and appreciated.  I thought I’d share some letters that I found particularly gratifying and inspirational.

December 12, 1997

 Dear Steve:

 I am forever grateful to you and the wonderful service you have provided.  My vision therapy has had an amazing impact on my life, on so many levels.  As I have learned to rely less on my “overprescribed” glasses, and I have reached much clarity and direction with which to move forward.  I am able to “see” and understand myself as well as all my interactions more clearly.  I feel more trusting of myself and the universe I am so connected to.  My inner self has more fully blossomed, I seem to be more balanced, peaceful, content, helpful; and less indecisive, anxious, and attached!  I miss my sessions already; they were great fun.

 Take care,

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

 Mindy A., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

September 13, 1995

 Some thoughts on my visual therapy…

When I first talked with Dr. Gallop about doing visual therapy he asked me what my goals were.  I was asking myself those same questions.  I had been having trouble with my eyes on and off over the past three years.  But it wasn’t dramatic - I could certainly get by day to day.  And this was a big commitment, even just to try if for a few weeks.  But I had a strong feeling inside that I would learn something very important, that the healing would go way beyond my eyes.  And I was right.

At first I was just thrilled with how much I learned about how my eyes work.  That in and of itself was healing.  I had a sense that I could help heal my eyes and that they were supposed to be working much better than they were and , most important, that it was possible.

I definitely noticed progress early on.  But after a series of weeks I had to take a break from the sessions because of my work schedule.  After a few weeks away from the sessions my eyes, or I guess it was actually my eyelids began to get irritated.  It was mild enough for a few weeks, but after a while I couldn’t wear my contacts and people were asking me what was wrong with my eyes.  I tried all kinds of things to see if I had developed and allergic reaction to my makeup or soap or whatever.  But nothing helped.  So I called Dr. Gallop. He had me try different contacts, different solutions.  In the meantime I started up session again.  After we had exhausted all ideas and he was ready to refer me to someone else, I mentioned that I had an odd sort of feeling that I was having this reaction so that I would come back and begin therapy again.  Dr. Gallop thought it was worth following that instinct and met it head on by reducing my prescription again.  Within a week my eyes cleared up.  They have been fine ever since.

The sessions that I had at that point were the most powerful.  I made what I consider to be huge progress both with my eyes and with some personal learning.  There was one learning that stands way out for me.  I was doing an exerciser that I really never liked.  I had done it enough to understand how I was limiting what I could see.  But try as I might, and with all Dr. Gallop’s coaching, I hadn’t been able to see all the images.  Then one day I was doing the exercise again.  I had this strong sense that I was looking at myself, straight at myself and not through the lenses of other peoples’ eyes.  I started to shake inside.  I knew I was about to get it.  And then I did.  I could see the new images.  I was so excited.  I felt so relieved - like I had made a huge breakthrough.  I cried a lot on the way home.  This was a huge learning for me.  And it made a big difference in how I have interacted with people.  I have been able to act much more on my own instincts and stopped filtering what I say through a series of “but what will the think?” lenses.  I make much more powerful suggestions and there have been numerous times when I can tell that by me offering the comment or asking the question, that before I would have held back on, that the meeting has been tremendously more effective.  Usually because we deal more with the direct issues instead of skirting around them.

I can tell a lot of difference in the way I see things.  In terms of my eyes, I can see better with a weaker prescription.  I have better peripheral vision.  I can see more of the big picture all at once rather than focusing on specific things and darting all over the place.  I can tell when I am straining my eyes and can consciously relax them.  There are a lot of other ways I see things differently.  I tend to look more at the it picture when working to solve problems.  I can see how things relate.  I am more conscious of when I am getting tense and am getting better at consciously relaxing.  And just as I am less dependent on my glasses and contacts, I am less dependent on other people in terms of feeling good about myself.  I feel much more independent and then can approach other people in a much more effective way.  I also have a much clearer vision about my life, my purpose and direction.

I had taken another break for a few months.  I just started another set of sessions.  I still feel like I have a lot to learn. But I feel like even after I have completed my sessions with Dr. Gallop, I will continue to learn.  Because now I have the skill to be conscious of how I am looking at things and can determine if there are other options.  I believe I will be continuing this journey of visual healing growth through my whole like.

I hope this gives you some idea of how valuable this has been for me.  Thank you!!!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth G., West Chester, Pennsylvania

April 15, 1998

Dear Dr. Gallop:

As a holistic practitioner, I am quite impressed with the behavioral optometric philosophy and especially your specific approach.  The reduction of my eyeglass prescription has enabled me to accomplish the following:

1. I am moving toward a level of eye compensation which allows me to see adequately without the over-prescribing which I was subject to previously.  The over-prescribing caused undue eye fatigue and stress.  I only realized this once the prescription was reduced and I experienced the absence of symptoms I became use to (relative normalcy).

2. In addition, it was made apparent to me through the exercises I performed at your office that my spatial perception was compromised as the result of the over-prescribing and unnecessary astigmatism correction.  My accuracy dramatically increased with minimal corrective lenses, and was even better with no lenses at all.

3. I now use my vision as a self-diagnosing tool in regards to my general level of health.  Even if other symptoms are subclinical, I am aware that I am not up to par when I need stronger lenses for reading.  In this case I merely return temporarily to an old pair of glasses for reading purposes only.  I also take other precautionary measures in light of my compromised health status.  It is like having a built-in highly sensitive "idiot light."

4. Being self-reliant and more in harmony with nature and my environment are extremely important to me as a chiropractor.  The outside-in philosophy of allopathic medicine should be a last resort or a heroic measure, not a first course.  Relying on the body's own inherent curative and compensatory abilities is the most logical way of approaching health.  Anything else is an overkill with heavy prices to be paid.

Thank you for making this most important service available.

Sincerely,

Dr. Melvin R., New Castle, Delaware