Five years ago in the summer of 2019, my colleague Barry Auchettl and I were driving from Crater Lake, Oregon to San Francisco, California in the process of filming our documentary Vision 2020: From Eyesight To Insight. Our director Craig Leith was crouching in the backseat to avoid being captured by the cameras mounted on the windshield. We thought it would be neat to get some footage on the road to convey part of the journey we took while creating the film, but this scene didn’t end up making it into the final cut.
However, the conversation between Barry and I was one of my favorites from the entire documentary filming experience. We were asking each other what we thought is the #1 cause of vision problems around the world. After giving my somewhat long-winded answer about the increase of eye strain due to the stresses of modern-day life like excessive screen time, it was Barry’s turn to answer.
His response was simply one word: disconnection.
Disconnection can be interpreted in many ways. Disconnection from the eyes. Disconnection from Mother Earth. Disconnection from the Self. Disconnection from Spirit. Disconnection from Others. Disconnection from Community. This conversation was happening mere months before we would experience a worldwide shutdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which would only increase the sense of disconnection in so many ways. However, this pause in my “normal” life led to lots of introspection and reassessments.
When I reflected on my own natural vision improvement journey, three distinct geographical regions seemed crystallized in my mind’s eye: Iceland, Yogaville, and Central America.
It was in the Boston airport on my way to study abroad in Iceland where I was first introduced to natural vision improvement in the autumn of 2010. One of my new classmates was wearing a pair of pinhole glasses, which I had never seen before. When I asked him about them, it sparked an eye-opening and mind-opening conversation about how it is possible to reverse vision problems naturally.
Not only did I spend the following 3 months nascently nurturing my very first experiences of natural clarity without glasses, but I was lucky enough to be in the supportive container of the Solheimar Ecovillage in southeast Iceland. I was availed of my normal everyday responsibilities like driving, working, cooking, cleaning, etc. so I could actually spend significant amounts of time with my glasses off. My eyes were opening up to new ways of seeing, while my mind was opening up to new ways of living. In this Ecovillage they were teaching us concepts like self-sufficiency, voluntary simplicity, regenerative agriculture, intentional community building, governance and conflict resolution, renewable energy production, and ecological living. It was a full-on paradigm shift.
After 3 months at a self-sustainable, off-the-grid Ecovillage in Iceland, I had to return to the United States to finish my university degree, which forced me to put my glasses back on and fit back into the “old mold” that I was used to in America.
Luckily, I only had one semester left before graduating in 2011, at which point I took a pilgrimage to central Virginia to partake in a one month immersive Yoga teacher training program at Satchidananda Ashram, also known as Yogaville. Just like when I was in Iceland, I was back in a more experimental and participatory learning environment that did not necessarily require me to wear glasses all the time. Once again, no driving, computer work, cooking, or cleaning. My eyes were continuing to clear up more, and my mind was expanding to learn even more new ways of living according to the ancient Yogic traditions and philosophies like non-harming, pure diet, cleansing practices, and healthy lifestyle choices.
After graduating from UNCW with a degree in Anthropology, and graduating from Yogaville with a certification in Yoga and Meditation, I moved to Asheville, North Carolina to teach yoga part time and work a series of other random part time jobs to make ends meet. This manifested in teaching “Yoga For Your Eyes” classes in the Blue Ridge Mountains, although I was not officially a certified natural vision teacher yet.
After spending the year of 2012 in that routine, I took a six week backpacking trip to Central America in 2013. Once again, my normal responsibilities were skirted and I found myself spending the majority of my days with my glasses off, allowing my vision to adjust to a clearer state. It was on this exploration through the jungles and cities of Nicaragua and Costa Rica that my life purpose became evidently clear to me: I was meant to become a natural vision teacher.
Immediately upon returning to the USA and having seen the measurable improvements in my own eyesight, I eagerly entered into a natural vision teacher training program under the guidance of Dr. Jerriann Taber through the Vision Training Institute to start carving out my new career and life path.
Fast forward 10 years to 2023 and I have accomplished quite a lot since becoming a Certified Bates Method Teacher, from creating YouTube videos and podcasts, to authoring a book, to formulating online courses, to leading weekend retreats, to co-producing a documentary film. Most recently, I have even begun my own Natural Vision Teacher Training program to begin certifying more Natural Vision Teachers.
Despite growing a vibrant online community around natural vision improvement work over the past decade, I was starting to feel a gap emerge within. I was still feeling some sense of disconnection. I was craving connection. The missing piece in my case was an in-person local community. The Coronavirus pandemic certainly had not helped on that front. I was spit out on the other end of the pandemic feeling isolated and disconnected from other humans. I began to feel a strong urge to not only return to Central America, but specifically to reconnect with the Ecovillage ideology.
Lo and behold, towards the end of 2023 I received an invitation to join a brand new Ecovillage Tour going to Costa Rica in January 2024. My prayers had been answered!
11 years after my first trip to Costa Rica, I was going back! The last time I visited Central America, I received some major realizations regarding my life purpose of becoming a natural vision teacher. Now that I had already actualized that goal, what will I realize this time on my return journey?
Well, I can confidently say that it can be boiled down to that one word: community.
This Ecovillage Tour was obviously going to be bringing me around to various intentional communities throughout Costa Rica, as was clearly outlined in the pre-planned itinerary. What I didn’t expect was to be left with a powerful urge to wish to connect with intentional communities upon my return home to Vermont, for the simple fact that I remembered how important the role of community was in my overall vision of life. And it’s not just me. Three out of the nine stipulations for the “Blue Zones” around the world, where people tend to live longer and healthier lives, involve the role of connection or community (Belonging, Loved Ones First, Right Tribe).
While visiting so many different conscious communities, a dormant memory popped back into my head from when I originally considered the possibility of living in an intentional community many years ago. It was a thought of wanting to contribute, to be a valued member of a community, and not just a freeloader. How could I make myself of use? How could I serve the community? Maybe I could be the “eye guy”, the village vision healer. Maybe the community I live in won’t have easy access to conventional eye care. Maybe the other members of my community wouldn’t need to rely on an eye doctor in a city as much, if I could help them take care of their own eyes and their family’s eyes at home with the help of the type of holistic eye care that I teach. Not only would this fulfill my role and purpose in the community, but it would boost the eye health and wellbeing of everyone in the community.
If eyesight is the individual, then vision is the community.
I associate eyesight more with the individual experience, whereas I associate vision with the wider community, the shared collective vision that a multitude of individuals can work together toward.
The Costa Rican Ecovillage tour in January took us to 7 different intentional communities in 9 days. All of these intentional communities were unique, but what they all had in common was a shared vision. A shared vision of connection. A shared vision of stewardship. A shared vision of greater good. Not only do the people involved in these intentional communities tend to have clearer visions of a better future, but they very likely have better than average eyesight, evidenced by the lack of glasses I saw people wearing down there. In my own case, the more I focused on community-driven vision, the clearer my eyesight seemed to become.
Over a week and a half, we toured the various Ecovillage grounds and permaculture gardens, learned of their efforts in regenerative agriculture, met the community founders, ate home-cooked meals with community members, swam in their sacred waterfalls, and sometimes even got to stay overnight in their cob houses. We got to see how their communities were organized, how they dealt with disputes and conflict resolution, as well as how they integrate into their surrounding communities. Honestly, that last part was one of the most unexpected aspects for me to see. Prior to the trip, part of me envisioned these completely off-the-grid Ecovillages being disconnected from the “real world” and living in their own isolated oases. To my delight, all of these communities were quite embedded with their Costa Rican neighbors, as well as with the wider world in the form of educational programs and goods production. For example, the folks at VerdEnergia grow organic turmeric and create powders and tinctures to sell worldwide online. While just up the road, Rancho Mastatal hosts short term and long term natural building workshops where they teach people from around the world how to create natural structures by hand, and even offer college accreditation.
This trip instilled deep hope in me and reminded me that there are plenty of courageous people out there pursuing the dream of a simpler way of living; one that resonates more harmoniously with the planet we happen to find ourselves on. In many ways, that is what natural vision improvement aims to accomplish as well. I often joke saying, “that’s why it’s called ‘natural’ vision improvement”, because we are working with nature, not against it. We are allowing our own built-in visual systems to harmonize with nature and heal. Continually wearing visual crutches like glasses and contacts pushes back against nature, disconnects us from one another, and keeps the eyes stuck in a state of strain, often leading to continued deterioration of sight over time. Taking glasses off and relaxing into the natural rhythms of nature, inviting full spectrum sunlight into the eyes, synching with the constant motion of the universe, and seeing the interconnectedness of all life on the planet can lead to some major transformations in not only how we see, but how we live. Who knows, maybe you’ll take the opportunity to join an Ecovillage Tour, reconnect with community, and maybe even take your glasses off along the way.
If you want to learn more about Ecovillage Tours, and their upcoming trips to Costa Rica, Slovenia, Vermont, Virginia, and North Carolina, India, and Portugal go to https://www.ecovillagetours.com/integral-eyesight and use the promo code VISION to get $100 off.
