Yoga for Eye Exercise

Yoga for Eyes: Eye Exercises to Improve eyesight

Regular practice of yoga eye exercises helps to relax eyesight and facilitate normal functioning of our eyes.

*** 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.

1. Palming 

• Sit quietly with your eyes closed and take a few deep breaths to relax.
• Rub the palms of your hands vigorously until they become warm and place them gently over your eyelids.
• Feel the warmth of the palms being transferred onto the eyes and the eye muscles. You will feel instant relaxation.
• Keeping the eyes closed, lower your hands and feel the dryness fade away gradually.
• Once again rub the palms and repeat the process at least three times.

2. Blinking

• Sit comfortably with your eyes open.
• Blink around 10 times very quickly.
• Close your eyes and relax for 20 seconds while taking your attention to your breath.
• Repeat this exercise about five times.

3. Side-ways viewing 

• Sit with legs straight in front of the body.
• Now lift the arms, with fists closed and your thumbs pointing upward.
• Look at a point straight in front of you in level with your eyes.
• Keep the head in this fixed position, focus on the following one after the other, by shifting your vision to the:
  • Space between the eyebrows
  • Left thumb
  • Space between the eyebrows
  • Right thumb
  • Space between the eyebrows
  • Left thumb
• Repeat this exercise 10 to 20 times
• After completing this exercise, close your eyes and rest.

Observe the following breathing pattern as you perform the above exercise:

• Inhale in a neutral position.
• Exhale while looking to the side.
• Inhale and come back to the center.

4. Front and sideways viewing

• Sit with legs straight in front of the body.
• Now, close the left fist and place it on the left knee ensuring that the thumb points upwards.
• Look at a point straight in front of you and in level with your eyes.
• Keep the head fixed in this position.
• Breathing out, focus your eyes on the left thumb.
• Breathing in, focus your eyes at a point in front of you and in level with your eyes.
• Repeat the same process with the right thumb.
• Close your eyes and rest.

5. Rotational viewing

• Sit with legs straight in front of your body.
• Place the left hand on the left knee.
• Hold the right fist above the right knee, with the thumb pointing upwards. Keep the elbow straight.
• Now keeping the head still, focus your eyes on the thumb.
• Make a circle with the thumb, keeping the elbow straight.
• Repeat this exercise five times each in a clockwise and anti-clockwise direction.
• Repeat the process with the left thumb.
• Close your eyes and rest.

Observe the following breathing pattern during this exercise:

• Inhale while completing the upper arc of the circle.
• Exhale while completing the lower arc.

6. Up and down viewing

• Sit with legs straight in front of your body.
• With both the thumbs pointing upwards, place both the fists on the knees.
• Slowly raise the right thumb keeping the arms straight. Follow the motion of the thumb upwards with the eyes.
• When the thumb is raised to the maximum, gradually bring it down to the starting position. Continue to keep the eyes focused on the thumb while keeping the head still throughout.
• Repeat the same process with the left thumb.
• Practice these five times with each thumb.
• The head and the spine should be kept straight throughout.
• Close the eyes and relax.

Observe the following breathing pattern as you perform the above exercise:

• Inhale while raising the eyes.
• Exhale while lowering the eyes.

7. Preliminary nose tip gazing

• Sit in a cross-legged pose.
• Lift the right arm straight directly in front of the nose.
• Making a fist with the right hand, keep your thumb pointing upward.
• Focus both eyes on the tip of the thumb.
• Now bend the arm and gradually bring the thumb to the tip of the nose, all the while having the eyes focused on the tip of the thumb.
• Remain in this position for a while with the thumb held at the tip of the nose with the eyes focused there.
• Continuing to gaze at the tip of the thumb, gradually straighten the arm.
• This constitutes a single round.
• Perform at least five such rounds.

Observe the following breathing pattern as you perform the above exercise:

• Breathe in while the thumb is pulled to the tip of the nose.
• Retain inside while holding the thumb at the tip of the nose.
• Breathe out as the arm is straightened.

8. Near and distant viewing

• Stand or sit by an open window with a clear view of the horizon. Keep the arms by your side.
• Focus on the tip of the nose for 5-10 seconds.
• Repeat this about 10-20 times.
• Close and relax the eyes.

Observe the following breathing pattern:

• Inhale during close viewing.
• Exhale during distant viewing.

After completing all the above exercises

Swami Sivananda Articles

 

Physical Obstacles in Meditation

MENTAL OBSTACLES

Instructions to Aspirants

Lessons in Analogies on the Mind

Practical Sadhana-A Discussion II

Change Your Habits

Method of Self-Analysis

Prerequisites of Spiritual Sadhana

How to Cultivate Right Thinking

CONTROL OF THE WANDERING MIND

Science of Relaxation

How to Develop the Will-Power

Mind-Conquest by Pranayama

Thought-Culture (Watch your thoughts, Autosuggestion for thought control)

The Power Of Thought

Pranayama

Pranayama Exercises

Pranayama

Pranayama Techniques

Pranayama in Savasana

Sivananda's Pranayama

Prana and Pranayama

Rhythmical Breathing

Sadhana for Controlling Anger

Concentration in Every Walk of Life

Regularity in Meditation

Pranic Healing

Psychic Influence

Flexibility

Mind Conquest by a Simple Sadhana

Some Secrets of Sadhana

Higher Methods for Mind Conquest

Pratyahara

Guide to Concentration

Concentration Tests

Questions & Answers on Concentration

Japa Yoga

Mantra Yoga Sadhana

Japa Yoga, The Easy Sadhana

The Psychic States

Daily Routine for Night-Duty People

Importance of Keeping a Spiritual Diary -- Spiritual Diary

Spiritual Diary [Printout form]]

Dharana or Concentration

Twenty Hints on Meditation

Power

Secret of Raja Yoga

Yogic Discipline

For Quick Spiritual Progress - Resolves

To sum up the fundamental requisites for the practice of Yoga: You should have absolute fearlessness, regard for every creature that breathes, respect for truth, continence, absence of greed, a life of contentment, austerity, absence of anger and hypocrisy. Moral excellence is not the final goal of life but is only the means to that end. When the Yogi is established in these virtues, he gets some powers such as effectiveness of speech, arrival of unsought wealth, vigour of body and mind, clear and lucid undertaking of life�s events, clarity of thought, steadiness of attention, control of the senses, immense joy and intuition.

EFFORTLESS PRACTICE

ATTENTION without TENSION

WAY TO SUCCESS

Whenever I take up any work,
I finish it at any cost.
Whenever I start writing a book,
I complete it somehow or other.
Whenever I take up a book for study,
I complete it before taking up another work.
I never leave anything half done.
I concentrate on the subject and
Think intensely without distraction.
I am firm, steadfast and steady.
I have intense application to work.
I have tenacity and intensity of purpose.

Yoga Sadhana

The four paths are: 

1) the path of work (Karma-Yoga), 

2) the path of devotion or love (Bhakti-Yoga), 

3) the path of psychic control (Raja-Yoga) and 

4) the path of self-analysis and knowledge (Jnana-Yoga).

Those who follow the path of Karma-Yoga should do work for work's sake, without any motive. Two things are indispensable requisite in the practice of Karma-Yoga. A Karma-Yogi should have extreme non-attachment for the fruits of his works and secondly he should dedicate all his actions at the Altar of God with the feeling of Isvararpana (self-surrender). Non-attachment brings freedom and immortality. Attachment is death. Non-attachment is eternal life. Non-attachment makes a man absolutely fearless.

In Bhakti-Yoga the devotee makes absolute and unreserved self-surrender. He depends upon the Lord for everything. He is extremely humble and meek. He develops devotion to the Lord gradually to a very high degree by repeating the Name of the Lord, studying the Holy Scriptures and practicing the nine modes of devotion. Hearing the Name of the Lord, singing His praises, remembering His presence, serving His Lotus-Feet, worshipping Him, bowing before Him, attending on Him, loving Him as a Friend and surrendering of the self entirely to Him are the nine modes of devotion. The devotee will observe austerities, pray frequently to Him and offer mental worship to Him.

There are also three other forms of Yoga in addition to the four mentioned above. These are: 

1) Hatha-Yoga, 

2) Mantra-Yoga and 

3) Laya-Yoga or Kundalini-Yoga. Hatha-Yoga relates to the physical body, Asanas, Bandhas, Mudras, Pranayama, vow of silence, steady-gazing, crystal-gazing, standing on one leg, etc. Hatha-Yoga is not separate from Raja-Yoga. It prepares the student to take up Raja-Yoga. Hatha-Yoga and Raja-Yoga are, therefore, the necessary counterparts of each other. No one can become a Yogi of a perfect order without a clear knowledge of the practice of the two Yogas. Raja-Yoga begins where properly practiced Hatha-Yoga ends. A Hatha-Yogi starts his Sadhana with his body and Prana (breath); a Raja-Yogi with his mind. A Hatha-Yogi gets different powers when the mighty Kundalini-Sakti reaches the Sahasrara Chakra (at the top of the head); a Raja-Yogi gets psychic powers by the combined practice of concentration, meditation and Samadhi at one and the same time. Mantra-Yoga relates to the recitation of certain Mantras (sacred words to which definite powers are ascribed), such as Om Namo Narayana, Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya and Om Namah Sivaya. Laya-Yoga is Kundalini-Yoga. Concentration on the sound emanating from the heart-lotus is Laya-Yoga. Laya is dissolution. The mind is dissolved in God just as a lump of ice is dissolved in a tumbler of soda-water.

RAJA YOGA

The eight limbs of Raja Yoga are Yama (self-restraint), Niyama (religious observance), Asana (posture), Pranayama (restraint of breath), Pratyahara (abstraction of the senses), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (super-conscious state).

I. YAMA AND NIYAMA

Yama is the practice of non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, celibacy and non-covetousness in thought, word and deed. This is the foundation of Yoga.

Niyama is the observance of the five canons - internal and external purity, contentment, austerity, study of religious books and worship and surrender to the Lord.

Impure motives, lack of celibacy, overeating, indolence, oversleeping, false fears, building castles in the air, allurement of minor supernatural powers like clairaudience and clairvoyance are all obstacles in this path.

Any comfortable and steady pose is Asana. A steady pose gives concentration of mind. If you have mastery over the seat, the dualities of heat and cold and all other pairs of opposites will not disturb you. You must be able to sit in one Asana for three hours at a stretch. The pose becomes steady by thinking of the Infinite.

Prana is energy. It is life-breath. It is the life-principle. When Prana vibrates, the mind begins to think. Prana is expended in thinking, willing, acting, talking, etc. The excess of Prana is stored up in the brain and nerve-centres.

If you can control Prana, you can control all the forces in the universe.

Prana manifests as motion, gravitation, magnetism, electricity. The knowledge and control of Prana is what is really meant by Pranayama. Pranayama removes diseases of the body, steadies the mind and purifies it. It strengthens the intellect and augments the intellectual capacity. It increases the power of memory. When you practise Pranayama, you will have to be careful about your diet. You should avoid overloading the stomach. You should take light, easily digestible and nutritious food.

Concentration for students

You should always remember the maxim: "One thing at a time and that done well is a very good rule as many can tell." When you take up any work, apply your whole heart, full mind and sound to the work. Do it with perfect concentration. What another can do in six hours you can turn out within half an hour, smoothly and in a methodical and orderly manner. This is Yogic activity. You will be taken for an accomplished Yogi.

Even when you study, study the subject with perfect concentration. Do not allow the mind to wander. You must shut out all external sounds. Fix the gaze at one point. Do not allow the eyes to wander. When you study one subject, do not think of a talkie or sweetmeats or a friend. The whole world must be dead to you for the time being. Such must be the nature of concentration. It will come to you after some steady and constant endeavours. Be not troubled. Be not discouraged. There will be some delay. Wait coolly and patiently. Rome was not built in a day. It is all a question of time. Do not leave the practice even for a day, even when you are sick. In your failure lies the secret of your success and in your weakness the secret of your strength. Plod on. Push on. Gird up your loins. Nil desperandum. Be bold. March on courageously. Be cheerful. A brilliant future is awaiting thee. Practise. Feel. Rejoice.