Naturally
Like any other muscles, the eye muscles also need exercise to be healthy and strong. By moving the eyes in every direction, without turning your head at all, these Yoga Eye Exercises will strengthen the eye muscles, help prevent eyestrain, and improve eyesight.
Yoga provides a series of eye exercises that improves the functioning of the eyes and helps to overcome various eye-related problems, such as:
•Myopia or short sightedness,
•Hypermetropia or long sightedness, and
•Various other eye-related disorders.
In the older days, our descendants get to see a horizon of blue sky and unlimited peripheral vision. Today, we are blocked by high-rise buildings and live in small spaces that limit our chances to use our distance vision. And, we spent most of our time doing close up work and staring at the 15-inch computer screen that further limits our eye movement and creates a lot of near-point stress.
Presently, about 35 % of the world population suffers from myopia and hypermetropia. These refractive errors of the eye are typically corrected using glasses and lenses; however, glasses never cure bad eyesight. In fact, they can worsen eye problems. So, glasses should only be worn when absolutely necessary.
Apart from a few diseases such as cataract and glaucoma that occur due to bacterial infections, many eye illnesses are related to the malfunctioning of the ocular muscles caused by chronic mental and emotional tensions. Yoga techniques help to improve various conditions related to defects in the eye muscles such as myopia and hypermetropia.
When people depend on glasses, their eyes become lazy which eventually leads to weakening in accommodation ability and their eye muscles. This eye yoga exercise rectifies that.
Eye yoga exercises had existed for centuries and helped many people regain back their natural eyesight. They are easy to do and can be done anywhere and anytime. It helps us to use our eyes to their fullest capability.
Eye yoga exercises aim to return our eyes to its natural state. Eye exercises let you learn how to maintain optimal eye health such as avoiding eyestrain and excessive near-point stress; and keeping the eye moist. These are probably the biggest factors in causing bad eyesight.
Yoga practitioners emphasize on eye exercises, for these two reasons:
•A lot of eye problems in later life are due to a loss of tone in the eye muscles. These muscles become rigid, which reduces the ability of the lens of the eye to focus at different distances, and causes the eyesight to become weaker. Yoga exercises tone the eye muscles up and keep them elastic. If you already have eye problems when you begin these exercises, you will find your eyesight improving after a few months.
•Any eye tension present will tend to produce a general feeling of tension due to the eye's connection to the brain via the optic nerve. What happens is that eye tension produces an increase in the nerve impulses in the eye muscles. This increase in nerve impulses travels along the optic nerve and bombards the brain, causing a general feeling of tension and anxiety. The eye exercises will reduce tension in the eye muscles, as well as reduce general tension.
Note: Before starting these exercises, it is always recommended to splash your eyes with cold water a few times. Remember to keep the head and spine straight throughout the exercises. Try not to use corrective lens during all these exercises.
•When doing the eye exercises keep your eyes open and don't move your head.
•Sitting, open your eyes and check on your posture: Is your spine erect? Hands on the knees? Body relaxed? Head straight? That is how you should always remain while doing eye exercises. The whole body must be stationary; nothing must move except the eyes.
A typical set of eye exercises routine maybe something like the following. It’ll give you a feel of how an eye exercise program will be like. Practicing these yoga eye exercises regularly for a few months can rectify the functioning of our eyes.
One: Palming
Palming is very relaxing to the eyes, important for preserving the eyesight, and has a beneficial, relaxing effect on your nervous system.
1.Sit quietly and comfortably with eyes closed and take some deep breaths to relax yourself completely.
2.Vigorously rub your palms together to create a warm sensation till they’re hot.
3.Close your eyes and place your hot palms over your eyelids. Do not press your hands against your eyes. Don't bend your head. Take a deep breath while palming your eyes.
4.Feel the warmth of the palms being transferred onto the eyes and the eye muscles relaxing. Your eyes are being bathed in soothing darkness.
5.Imagine yourself looking into the dark and if you see flashes of light, ignore it as it will eventually go away.
6.Hold this position until the heat from the hands has been completely absorbed by the eyes.
7.Lower the hands while they eyes are still closed.
8.Repeat the process at least three times.
You should to do palming repeatedly throughout the day to provide your eyes with sufficient rest.
Two: Blinking
1.Sit comfortably with your eyes open.
2.Blink around 10 times very quickly.
3.Close your eyes and relax for 20 seconds. Slowly take your attention to your breath.
4.Repeat this exercise about 5 times.
Three: Stretching
Warm up is important for all sorts of exercises. By increasing circulation to the eyes, we reduce the risk of the aches and pains that may come with exercise. Before we start the eye exercises, we have to stretch our eye ocular muscles first. Remember to keep your head stationary throughout the exercise.
1.Look straight ahead and look all the way up.
2.Count 2 seconds, then look all the way down.
3.Count 2 seconds, then look to the extreme left.
4.Count 2 seconds, then look to the extreme right.
5.Now move your eyes to the four diagonal corners like the letter ‘X.’ Begin with looking to the extreme top-right corner, bottom-left, top-left and end with bottom-right for one whole cycle.
6.Repeat the cycle for one minute. Remember to keep your head stationary.
Four: Flexing
This eye yoga exercise aims to improve your eyes flexibility. You can either do it with eyes open or close:
1.Relax and look up.
2.Rotate your eyes in clockwise direction covering all the corners.
