Meet Claudia Muehlenweg | Holistic Vision Improvement Expert

We had the good fortune of connecting with Claudia Muehlenweg and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Claudia, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
The unusual aspect of my “industry” is that 99% of people don’t even know it exists! That number is not an actual statistic. It’s meant to say that almost no one out there has ever heard of the possibility of improving one’s eyesight naturally. Most people believe that the only way to see clearly when your eyesight is not perfect is wearing glasses or contacts or undergoing risky surgery such as Lasik. And none of those actually improve your eyesight! Almost every potential client I speak to agrees that those bandaids made their vision worse long term. I like to compare to breaking an arm. Imagine you are going to the doctor and after they put the cast on they tell you “Hey, good news, we fixed your broken arm! This will help your bones connect properly. And if it feels uncomfortable, don’t worry! You will get used to it.

After all, you will have to wear this for the rest of your life and the cast will have to get thicker over the years”. We would all run away and find another doctor. But for some reason we have accepted these two myths when it comes to eyesight:

1. Even if you are born with perfect eyesight, you will inevitably end up in glasses by the time you hit your 40s.

2. The only solution to fix imperfect sight are glasses, contacts or surgery. My response to the first myth is this: There are countless people who don’t need glasses in their 60s, 70s, 80s and even older. A close friend of mine had perfect vision until this death at age 101. And he is not an exception. Yes, he was exercising and eating well but even more important was his mindset. He didn’t believe that one is over the hill at a certain age. He was always finding joy in life, every single day. He was as curious about things like a small child. And that’s the difference between someone who has no “vision for their life” and is counting the days down to retirement.

As for the second myth, I already shared that glasses, contacts and elective eye surgeries are bandaids that only address the symptom of blurry vision, but not the root cause. Vision is 90% brain, 10% eyeball. Neuroplasticity has been around for four decades, if not longer. Not only can we train the brain but we also know that optimal health is based on relaxation. Only if your central nervous system is the parasympathetic state (rest & digest), can body and brain run like a well oiled machine.

The majority of people nowadays are stuck in a chronic stress response which leads to health issues and cognitive decline including visual decline. Everything I teach my students is based on eye anatomy, neuroscience, diet, lifestyle and mindset. A lot of what we now “discover” has been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years. There’s a lot more to it than what I can explain in this short article. I am always happy to share more in a private consultation or on a podcast, summit, or other public medium.

Please tell us more about your business. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today business-wise. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I am most excited about continuing to expand my practice online. For the first decade I was only working with local students one on one. That limited both my income and the impact I am making in the world.

My mission is so much bigger than just helping a handful of locals: I want to empower one million people to see clearly without glasses in the next decade. Two years ago I invested in a business mentorship program to learn how to start teaching online. I had had that preconceived notion that doing this work online as not as good than seeing someone in person.

With my high standards I couldn’t see how I could achieve this goal with an online course and even with private coaching via Zoom video chat. So my mindset was the really biggest obstacle to overcome. Of course I had to learn strategies on marketing, course design, and technology. And yes, it was work and a lot of testing to see what worked and what didn’t. With each level I am reaching in terms of income and impact there’s also new mindset to implement, a new fear that showed up.

Having a clear mission and a clear vision for your business is absolutely crucial to navigate those inevitable roadblocks in building any business. My vision is my North Star that helps me to take the leap into unchartered territory: “A world where everyone can enjoy natural, unaided vision” When I first started my business in 2009, I had no vision and mission statements and was just working with people that contacted me. I had no private session packages, didn’t have my students set empowering goals or other options than private coaching. Only when I created my vision and mission statements was I able to let go of the fear of failure, the fear being “out there”, the fear of opposition.

I am most proud of two things I have accomplished in only one year:

1. I revamped my online program from an “info” product to an “experience” product that dramatically increased completion and success rates. It’s a lot more than “gamification”. My new Naturally Clear Vision 8 week online program helps my students create a vision for their eyesight that keeps them motivated, engaged and able to succeed.

2. As a shy, glasses wearing nerdy kid one of my biggest fear was speaking in front of others. Book reports in school gave me weeklong nightmares. So when I won a speaking contest on a big actual stage last year, with several professional speakers in the line up, I knew that I am unstoppable and that my mission has become much bigger than me. Conquering my fears by creating a clear vision and mission helped me to start a big tribe which is growing daily.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Since we are in lockdown for seven months going out to eat and drink seems like a faint memory. LA has so many amazing areas to discover. Depending on what my friend is interested in I would one or all of the following:

1. An architecture tour through DTLA and finish with drinks on the Standard Hotel rooftop
2. An early morning beach walk from the Venice Pier to the SM Pier and back and finishing with lunch at the Venice Whaler. Before the walk, get coffee or a smoothie at The Cow’s End.
3. A two day camping trip to Joshua Tree (between October and April). One of my favorite hikes is the Pine City trail there. Of if they are not the camping type, book one of the unique rooms at the 29 Palms Inn. My favorite is the Hermitage room.
4. Racing at the Porsche Experience Center (still haven’t done it but would love to)
5. Night time drive along Mulholland
6. Concert at the Hollywood Bowl
7. Drive up north to Santa Barbara and Ojai.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people I would love to give credit to. The first one goes to Dr. William H. Bates, an ophthalmologist and Columbia professor who wrote the ground breaking book “Perfect Sight Without Glasses” exactly hundred years ago in 1920. He dedicated his life to research and helping his patient regain naturally perfect vision, which was 20/10 in his opinion. All natural eyesight improvement is based on this work and discoveries.

My second credit goes to my health coach and mentor Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo who has opened my eyes to the connection of blood sugar and vision. We all know that diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in the US but I hadn’t connected the dots in terms of prevention of all those “age-related” eye diseases that are really lifestyle and diet related. I didn’t know that diabetes takes 20-30 years to develop and that many people with diabetes related eye diseases had normal or only slightly elevated fasting blood sugar levels.

Traditional medicine doesn’t consider this dangerous and they don’t teach prevention or reversal through diet. Only when someone shows up with full blown diabetes do they address the issue, and only with medication. And they never check your so-called post prandial blood sugars which is the level after eating a meal. I completely changed my “healthy” diet when I began to measure my blood sugars before and after eating. Many so called healthy foods brought my blood sugar into diabetic levels. It made me realize that all “food religions” are dangerous and that each person needs to find their optimal diet through a combination of symptoms, lab results and genetics.

I am now studying Nutritional Endocrinology with Dr. Ritamarie to help more people live a healthy life with perfect vision. Because poor health and poor eyesight effects your freedom like nothing else!

Website: http://myholisticvision.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holisticvisioncoach/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudiamuehlenweg/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/batesvision
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClaudiaMuehlenweg
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/holistic-vision-los-angeles
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/BatesvisionLosAngeles
Other: Get my free guide to vision improvement “10 Habits for Healthy & Happy Eyes” and a complimentary consultation: https://www.naturallyclearvision.com/10habits

Image Credits
Claudia Muehlenweg, Petra Bouwer