Yoga For Tired Eyes And Strained Vision
So you're forty something now, and you notice that the writing on everything keeps getting more and more microscopic...
or could that be your tired eyes finally aging? Oh the horror, as you give in and attempt to find a fashionable set of +1.
25 readers at the drugstore.
Now, you have them and you think it's great at first...
until your eyes come to heavily rely on them, and you have to remember where you put them every time you take them off, and by the time you do find them, you don't even get a chance to read what you were attempting to that whole hour ago.
High maintenance.
Well, not exactly zen.
And girls, the last straw is when you buy a decorative chain for keeping your glasses around your neck.
Tragic.
After about a month or two with the drugstore magnifying readers, for me, the thrill was gone, and I began to notice even more strain, probably because of hazy, cheap plastic lenses, and astigmatism that I thought might need a customized prescription.
The fact that I might also be entering "bifocal territory" dropped another unpleasant bomb on me.
Since I've been studying so many interesting things (worth many more articles for another day,) it occurred to me that not only did I not want to spend money on this situation, I didn't want to accept any kind of eye deterioration at all.
Surely it wasn't the only option in all the world.
My mother calls it stubborn, but I decided that since my condition wasn't exactly severe, mind over matter and some eye exercises would fix me right up.
I'm sure my attitude helped, but so did these yoga exercises for eyes.
All of these exercises can be done once or twice a day, as long as you don't feel any muscular strain.
If you do feel strain, ease up a little and adjust your "workout" accordingly.
First, sit comfortably, and breathe deeply, only through the nose if possible.
Focus for a minute on relaxing shoulders, neck, jaw and all facial muscles.
Move your chin to your shoulder, left and right, especially if you've been sitting still for a long time.
Close your eyes gently, feel gratitude and appreciation for your eyesight.
Open your eyes normally - not wide - and slowly look left and right 5 times, then close your eyes and breathe.
Open your eyes again and look up and down 5 times, followed by gently closing your eyes again and a few deep breaths.
Do the same exercises looking diagonally up/left to down/right 5 times, and then the opposite direction diagonally.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply.
Open your eyes again, look up, and begin a slow clockwise circle.
Do this 5 times, close your eyes and breathe.
Do the same in a counterclockwise direction, then close your eyes and breathe.
When you open your eyes slowly again, raise one arm out in front of you with your thumb up.
A large room or a window nearby will help, because you need to focus on something distant, then your thumb, then your nose.
Repeat 5 times; distance, thumb, nose, and again follow with closed eyes and deep breathing.
Take note of the different eye muscles that are getting used.
Next, rub your palms together until they become warm from the friction.
Even include your fingers and the backs of your hands in this rubbing.
This is to release the life force of your hand chakras so you can channel the energy into eye relaxation.
When your hands are warm, place the palms gently over your eyes - do not press hard on the brow or cheek bones - just lay your palms over your closed eyes and enjoy the darkness for as long as it is comfortable.
or possible.
Continue the deep breathing through the nose only, and visualize a few specific parts of your body (starting from the top down) expanding when you inhale, and shrinking when you exhale.
With your eyes still closed, imagine a boat on water moving slowly closer, then further away from you in a figure 8, left and right.
You are increasing optic nerve awareness by having this darkness without sleep.
Understand that any time you rub your hands like this and place them over your eyes, you are bringing energy to your eyes, and you can repeat this several times a day without the other exercises.
Just remember that being as relaxed as possible while doing it is very important.
Now, people might look at you funny if you're doing this in the office, but they also might be looking at you through lenses thicker than soda bottles, even with some embedded, progressive trifocal action going on, so don't worry about it, and just let them have a free show.
There are also some habits you can include to support your vision.
Snack on carrots, celery, berries.
Dark chocolate and red wine (in moderation!) offer flavonoids to protect the eyes.
Avocados are rich in lutein to support eye health, and Bilberry extract is known to help improve eyesight naturally.
Sufficient amounts of rest (at least 7 or 8 hours a night) are also paramount for healthy eyes, and even though we tend to think we don't have enough time for resting, we would all be wise to make time for it.
A 20 or 30 minute break with slow abdominal breathing right in the middle of the day can do wonders.
It provides far more benefits than just supporting eye health, and the same goes for smoking.
You know it would benefit all of your health to quit, but many smokers don't realize how much they are hurting their eyesight, and even how well they see color, with smoking.
The eyeball is full of tiny capillaries that constrict with the use of nicotine, and those capillaries are how the eyes receive the blood and oxygen they need to work normally.
Be nice to your eyes; sight is precious.
Consider how important it is to step away from the computer and look into the distance for at least one minute every 20 minutes.
The rest of your body greatly appreciates the circulation as well.
We are not made to be static creatures, and the use of computers has made a tremendous impact on reducing how much we move.
Record increases in chronic back pain alone speak volumes on that, including circulation issues.
Always consider that what you do with your eyes repeatedly will have consequences.
If you're staring at a computer screen all day, for example, you're looking at everything about 20 inches away for a large percentage of your time awake.
Artists experience this too, but they usually have more opportunity to look at other things than an office employee firmly planted in a cubicle with little more than a computer to look at.
The shape (and function) of the eyeball is affected by ocular muscles; some of them are overworked and fatigued while others are neglected.
You may find, as I did, that a relaxed, balanced eye will not have to strain for clear vision.
Try not to rely on glasses unless you absolutely have to.
(Yes, some of that writing IS insanely small!) An ophthalmologist would probably argue with me, but aside from specific diseases or injuries, physics tells me that it only makes sense that glasses are like using a crutch to support a weakened leg.
The crutch is not going to help the leg get stronger or better; it will only allow a person to move around (compensate) with a bum leg.
Meanwhile, the muscles of the leg atrophy over time with the use of the crutch.
Pretty soon, some other part of the body will need help as a result of the whole body compensation.
If you've worn prescription glasses for years, and you need a stronger prescription every few years, think about why that is...
The lenses of the glasses have been doing the work for the muscles of the eyes, and as a result, they will never become stronger again, and the opposite muscles will never relax again, unless a different approach is taken.
I believe that totally eliminating a need for glasses is possible, but you'll need to look into more involved exercises than the ones listed here.
Dr.
William H.
Bates pioneered a connection between the eyes and the mind, and of course I agree with the approach because the best treatment does not always isolate a problem to one area, and furthermore, there's a lot more about the shape and mechanics of the eye to learn than demonstrated here.
If you're interested, Dr.
Bates' "Snellen Chart" exercises are, in my opinion, the absolute best place to start.
Do a search for Dr.
Meir Schneider as well, who was legally blind as a child, and had to learn everything by reading braille.
He can see and drive now, and he does so without glasses.
He is a fine example of what Dr.
Bates studied, and he is very generous with his education.
If you're forty something, and just introducing your eyes to readers, I encourage you to decline the "aging" excuse for degenerating eyesight.
You're in the beginning stages of experiencing perhaps years of repeated fatigue and/or neglect, and this is the best time to learn eye relaxation and exercises.
So...
join me in getting away from this article now, and flex your eyes on so many other things.
or could that be your tired eyes finally aging? Oh the horror, as you give in and attempt to find a fashionable set of +1.
25 readers at the drugstore.
Now, you have them and you think it's great at first...
until your eyes come to heavily rely on them, and you have to remember where you put them every time you take them off, and by the time you do find them, you don't even get a chance to read what you were attempting to that whole hour ago.
High maintenance.
Well, not exactly zen.
And girls, the last straw is when you buy a decorative chain for keeping your glasses around your neck.
Tragic.
After about a month or two with the drugstore magnifying readers, for me, the thrill was gone, and I began to notice even more strain, probably because of hazy, cheap plastic lenses, and astigmatism that I thought might need a customized prescription.
The fact that I might also be entering "bifocal territory" dropped another unpleasant bomb on me.
Since I've been studying so many interesting things (worth many more articles for another day,) it occurred to me that not only did I not want to spend money on this situation, I didn't want to accept any kind of eye deterioration at all.
Surely it wasn't the only option in all the world.
My mother calls it stubborn, but I decided that since my condition wasn't exactly severe, mind over matter and some eye exercises would fix me right up.
I'm sure my attitude helped, but so did these yoga exercises for eyes.
All of these exercises can be done once or twice a day, as long as you don't feel any muscular strain.
If you do feel strain, ease up a little and adjust your "workout" accordingly.
First, sit comfortably, and breathe deeply, only through the nose if possible.
Focus for a minute on relaxing shoulders, neck, jaw and all facial muscles.
Move your chin to your shoulder, left and right, especially if you've been sitting still for a long time.
Close your eyes gently, feel gratitude and appreciation for your eyesight.
Open your eyes normally - not wide - and slowly look left and right 5 times, then close your eyes and breathe.
Open your eyes again and look up and down 5 times, followed by gently closing your eyes again and a few deep breaths.
Do the same exercises looking diagonally up/left to down/right 5 times, and then the opposite direction diagonally.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply.
Open your eyes again, look up, and begin a slow clockwise circle.
Do this 5 times, close your eyes and breathe.
Do the same in a counterclockwise direction, then close your eyes and breathe.
When you open your eyes slowly again, raise one arm out in front of you with your thumb up.
A large room or a window nearby will help, because you need to focus on something distant, then your thumb, then your nose.
Repeat 5 times; distance, thumb, nose, and again follow with closed eyes and deep breathing.
Take note of the different eye muscles that are getting used.
Next, rub your palms together until they become warm from the friction.
Even include your fingers and the backs of your hands in this rubbing.
This is to release the life force of your hand chakras so you can channel the energy into eye relaxation.
When your hands are warm, place the palms gently over your eyes - do not press hard on the brow or cheek bones - just lay your palms over your closed eyes and enjoy the darkness for as long as it is comfortable.
or possible.
Continue the deep breathing through the nose only, and visualize a few specific parts of your body (starting from the top down) expanding when you inhale, and shrinking when you exhale.
With your eyes still closed, imagine a boat on water moving slowly closer, then further away from you in a figure 8, left and right.
You are increasing optic nerve awareness by having this darkness without sleep.
Understand that any time you rub your hands like this and place them over your eyes, you are bringing energy to your eyes, and you can repeat this several times a day without the other exercises.
Just remember that being as relaxed as possible while doing it is very important.
Now, people might look at you funny if you're doing this in the office, but they also might be looking at you through lenses thicker than soda bottles, even with some embedded, progressive trifocal action going on, so don't worry about it, and just let them have a free show.
There are also some habits you can include to support your vision.
Snack on carrots, celery, berries.
Dark chocolate and red wine (in moderation!) offer flavonoids to protect the eyes.
Avocados are rich in lutein to support eye health, and Bilberry extract is known to help improve eyesight naturally.
Sufficient amounts of rest (at least 7 or 8 hours a night) are also paramount for healthy eyes, and even though we tend to think we don't have enough time for resting, we would all be wise to make time for it.
A 20 or 30 minute break with slow abdominal breathing right in the middle of the day can do wonders.
It provides far more benefits than just supporting eye health, and the same goes for smoking.
You know it would benefit all of your health to quit, but many smokers don't realize how much they are hurting their eyesight, and even how well they see color, with smoking.
The eyeball is full of tiny capillaries that constrict with the use of nicotine, and those capillaries are how the eyes receive the blood and oxygen they need to work normally.
Be nice to your eyes; sight is precious.
Consider how important it is to step away from the computer and look into the distance for at least one minute every 20 minutes.
The rest of your body greatly appreciates the circulation as well.
We are not made to be static creatures, and the use of computers has made a tremendous impact on reducing how much we move.
Record increases in chronic back pain alone speak volumes on that, including circulation issues.
Always consider that what you do with your eyes repeatedly will have consequences.
If you're staring at a computer screen all day, for example, you're looking at everything about 20 inches away for a large percentage of your time awake.
Artists experience this too, but they usually have more opportunity to look at other things than an office employee firmly planted in a cubicle with little more than a computer to look at.
The shape (and function) of the eyeball is affected by ocular muscles; some of them are overworked and fatigued while others are neglected.
You may find, as I did, that a relaxed, balanced eye will not have to strain for clear vision.
Try not to rely on glasses unless you absolutely have to.
(Yes, some of that writing IS insanely small!) An ophthalmologist would probably argue with me, but aside from specific diseases or injuries, physics tells me that it only makes sense that glasses are like using a crutch to support a weakened leg.
The crutch is not going to help the leg get stronger or better; it will only allow a person to move around (compensate) with a bum leg.
Meanwhile, the muscles of the leg atrophy over time with the use of the crutch.
Pretty soon, some other part of the body will need help as a result of the whole body compensation.
If you've worn prescription glasses for years, and you need a stronger prescription every few years, think about why that is...
The lenses of the glasses have been doing the work for the muscles of the eyes, and as a result, they will never become stronger again, and the opposite muscles will never relax again, unless a different approach is taken.
I believe that totally eliminating a need for glasses is possible, but you'll need to look into more involved exercises than the ones listed here.
Dr.
William H.
Bates pioneered a connection between the eyes and the mind, and of course I agree with the approach because the best treatment does not always isolate a problem to one area, and furthermore, there's a lot more about the shape and mechanics of the eye to learn than demonstrated here.
If you're interested, Dr.
Bates' "Snellen Chart" exercises are, in my opinion, the absolute best place to start.
Do a search for Dr.
Meir Schneider as well, who was legally blind as a child, and had to learn everything by reading braille.
He can see and drive now, and he does so without glasses.
He is a fine example of what Dr.
Bates studied, and he is very generous with his education.
If you're forty something, and just introducing your eyes to readers, I encourage you to decline the "aging" excuse for degenerating eyesight.
You're in the beginning stages of experiencing perhaps years of repeated fatigue and/or neglect, and this is the best time to learn eye relaxation and exercises.
So...
join me in getting away from this article now, and flex your eyes on so many other things.
Source...