Himalayan Yoga Academy

Education & research Foundation

Eye Exercises

24 Aug 2021 HYN Himalayan Yoga Academy

Eye Exercises

Yoga is a very effective exercise not only for your body but also for the most important organ our EYES. These supplemental Yoga exercises are for strengthening the eye muscles and purifying the optic nerves. The effects are more profound than Fixed Gazing, which should be mastered first. This series should be sequenced after the joint Freeing poses or Pavanmuktasana, described in Structural Yoga Therapy. Begin sitting in the easy Pose (Sukhasana) with your eyes closed. Steady your breathing until your inhale and exhale are of even duration. Concentrate on holding your bodymotionless, particularly your head. When stillness and comfort have been attained, open your eyes and gaze softly straight ahead in the following ways-

  1. DISTANT TO CLOSE: Sit in the front of window that affords the greater distant view possible. Slowly move your focus to closer and progressively closer objects until your attention is three feet ahead. Then place your forefinger at the eye level and gaze at the tip of that finger. Slowly move your hand inward until your fingertip is resting on the tip of your nose. Reverse your visual focus until you are looking at the distant horizon. Repeat three times.
  2. SIDE TO SIDE: Move your eyes in the straight line to the far right without moving your body. Keeping your eyes focused, nothing the farthest point that you can see without distortion. Then move your eyes in a smooth steady line to the left, again finding the most distant focal point without turning your head. Repeat 3x each direction, then close and relax your eyes.
  3. TOP TO BOTTOM: Move your eyes up to the highest focal point the down to the lowest focal point, without moving your head. Repeat 3x, then close your eyes and rest them.
  4. DIAGONAL: Look up and to the right, at a 45-degree angle. Move your eyes in a diagonal line opposite lower corner. Repeat 3x, and then rest your eyes. Then do the same exercise, beginning at upper left moving to lower right. Repeat 3x.
  5. CIRCLES: Open your eyes, focusing at top center and slowly moving in a smooth clockwise manner to the extreme of each focal point. Repeat 3x. Close your eyes for one complete breath the repeat 3x counterclockwise.
  6. PLAMING: Close your eyes and rub your palms briskly together until they become warm. Place your palms directly over the eyes with your fingers in your hair. Do not touch your eyelids but cup your hands close enough to feel the warmth of your palms. Your hands should be placed in such a manner as to shut out all light. Then open your eyes and focus on the blackness so your muscles and optic nerves obtain a deep rest. Direct the Adya prana into its subtker form as vyana prana. This change will permit you to shift from being receptive to sensory input to perceptive to intuition.

This exercise is one of the best methods for relieving eyestrain and securing relaxation to improve eyesight. If it is difficult to “see” blackness with your eyes closed then lay a piece of black felt, velvet,or black”sleep mask” over your eyes aftr palming. An ideal tool for this purpose is an eye bag made up of silk with rice or flax seed inside, scented or not, available in most health food stores. This is done while lying supine in the yoga relaxation exercise called Savasana.

  1. “ When palming is perfect, the color of any object remembered is remembered perfectly and one feels perfectly relaxed and sees a perfect black field before the eyes when they are closed and covered.
  2. “When the eyes are opened, perfect sight comes instantaneously and the letters on the eye chart seem perfectly black and are easily recognized”.
  3. “The white centers of the letters called halos seem to be  whiter than the margin of the chart”.

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