HOW TO FIX EYE STRESS SIMPLY BY DOING SIMPLE YOGA TECHNIQUES
Yoga, a 5,000-year-old discipline from India for holistic wellbeing, has found a spiritual home in USA. In 2016, over 36 million Americans – that is, 15 % of American adults — have been practicing the Yoga way of life, via meditation, breathing techniques and asanas (physical postures) to find natural solutions to mental stresses and physical illnesses.
Yoga movements are targeted at improving and optimizing specific organs of the body, and the discipline has an extremely effective repertoire of eye-related exercises to help overcome myopia (short-sightedness), hypermetropia (long-sightedness), and a host of other vision disorders.
On the King LASIK blog, we’re going to explore Yoga methods to improve eye health in several parts. We begin this series with some very effective movements you can easily fit into your daily schedule as they can be performed even while sitting at your office desk, or at times when you’re feeling tired and stressed and could use a quick pick-me-up.
Note: Before you start these exercises, splash your eyes with cold water.
Palming
Soothes the optic nerves
• Sit quietly for a couple of minutes. Try to empty your mind of all thoughts, and only notice the slow, deep breaths entering and leaving your body.
• When you feel ready, rub the palms of your hands together for 10-15 seconds until the friction makes them warm.
• Gently place your palms over your closed eyes. Feel the heat transferring to your eyelids, and the eye muscles slowly relaxing. Notice the calming darkness you see behind your closed eyes.
• Stay in this position until you feel the heat from your palms has been fully absorbed.
• Keeping your eyes closed, repeat the process 3 times.
Blinking
A relaxation technique that improves acuity of your distance vision
• Sit comfortably with your eyes open. Pause for a few seconds to focus your concentration on what you’re about to do next.
• Blink, 12-15 times, very quickly and deliberately.
• Now close your eyes for 20 seconds and just notice your breath entering and leaving your body.
• Repeat this exercise 5 times.
Eye Rolling
Excellent relaxation for the eyes, especially if you spend many hours staring at a computer screen
• Sit with your spine and head held upright. Relax your facial muscles and let your gaze de-focus and soften.
• Without moving your head, raise your glance at the ceiling.
• Now slowly move your eyes clockwise, as if drawing as large a circle as possible.
• Notice the objects in your peripheral vision as you do this, so the circular motion of your eyes stays true to its path.
• Repeat the exercise 3 times and then relax with your eyes closed for a few second.
• Do the same set of 3 in an anti-clockwise direction.
Distance Gazing
Assists with myopia (short-sightedness)
• Sit in a comfortable position and take a few deep breaths. Bring your focus to the present.
• Choose any object at a far corner of the room and transfer your concentration to it. Keep your eyes and face muscles relaxed as you focus on this object.
• Do this for 30-60 seconds and then gently shift your gaze to another object in the room.
• Repeat 6-8 times with different objects. Remember not hurry forward from one object to another. Take your time and do it slowly and deliberately to get the best benefits from this exercise.
(Look out for a different set of Yoga eye exercises in a forthcoming blog this month.)