Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Yoga for the eye

Here's an ancient yoga exercise that you can use to stretch your eyes.

1 . Close your eyes, and relax your eyelids, forehead and face. Keep your neck and head still. Breathe easily and regularly.
2. Imagine you're facing a clock, with your nose at its centre. As you stretch your eyes all the way up, you can just barely see the number 12 at the top of this imaginary clock. (Remember, your eyes are closed.) Starting at 12, rotate your eyes clockwise in a circular motion, around the clock. Stretch your eyes as you rotate them, but don't strain or force the movements.
3. Repeat for 10 to 20 clockwise circles.
4. Change direction and make 10 to 20 circles in a counter-clockwise direction.

Most people carry at least some tension and rigidity in these muscles. You can tell this when:

* Your eyes unconsciously jump out of your control.
* During sections of the rotation, the movements feel stiffer, more tense or stuck.

Holding your breath is a sign of tension. Remember to breathe! Where in the movements did your muscles tense up? When did they jump out of control? What parts of the movements were not smooth? With practice, you'll be able to make all parts of the circular movement smooth and easy.

By itself, this eye stretch won't give you perfect vision, but it definitely has its place in a total system of vision improvement.