• In :
• Personal Growth

August 2009

By Sharukh Vazifdar

Can our eyes heal naturally? Can we be free of spectacles and headaches without laser surgery?

I still remember my first pair of glasses. It was after my sixth birthday and I was the only boy in my class wearing them. I recall how self-conscious and set apart I felt. The optometrist had told me that keeping them on all the time would prevent the number from going up. But that didn’t happen. Over the years my vision deteriorated and I was getting a new pair of glasses almost every 18 months! Today, my eyesight isn’t anywhere close to satisfactory. I have always wondered if I could cure my eyes. However, no one around me seemed to know how to do that. Some help materialised when I did a 10-day camp in my final year of school which had eye exercises that would improve my vision, but it required me to go through life without my glasses, something I was conditioned against.

For many years I have been trying to free myself of my glasses. My eyes are too sensitive for contact lenses, and laser surgery has had too many glitches to be considered safe. The only option left is to enable them to heal naturally. The allopathic viewpoint is discouraging. It views eye disorders as incurable, sees the eye as less than perfect and in need of crutches such as artificial lenses, which allow you to see well with your visual defect. You are therefore stuck on this level of defective vision. Whenever your eyes try to function normally, your vision will be blurred. Now you can see well only when your eyes malfunction, and the visual defect becomes permanent.

But is this view the gospel truth? I realised that all body parts have the ability to heal themselves. I recalled the camp I had attended. I clearly remembered two directives: Let your eyes soak in the sun, and do as much as you can without glasses. And I started following their advice. Sunning your eyes is best done early morning before 8 am. I try and use my eyes, in their natural form, as far as possible. Only while on the roads, reading or on the computer do I use my glasses. I found my eyes remain much more relaxed during the day, and that I don’t need glasses for so many things. Have you noticed that without glasses colours appear much brighter and objects much bigger? Yes, my spectacles power has not decreased but it hasn’t increased either. And as the information given below proves, there is hope for me. Perfect eyesight may still be mine.

Vision disorders

Some of the common eye disorders are myopia or short-sightedness, where the person struggles to see distant objects, hyperopia or far-sightedness where there is difficulty in seeing near objects. Astigmatism causes blurred vision because the light focuses on two points of the retina instead of one. Presbyopia is when the person has blurred vision at normal reading distance, and a tendency to hold reading material at arm’s length. The macula is a small circular arc in the centre of the retina, giving us our central and sharpest vision. In macular degeneration people start losing that central vision and start seeing a black spot in its place.

The vision of the eye is not constant or fixed, it varies as per the emotions of the person, the external environment, stress and light conditions. You can see better after a relaxing nap than at the end of a tiring routine. Natural light is better than artificial light for reading and other demanding activity.

Bates Method

W H Bates, an American physician, developed a method to improve eyesight by healing the eyes. His theory is that eye disorders are caused by stress. When this stress is removed, the eye returns to its natural healthy state. The Bates Method is well known and his book, Perfect Sight Without Glasses, is very popular.

A very important technique in his method is palming. This is a practice in which the hands are used to softly cover the eyes. The cheekbones rest on the heels of the hands, and the fingers cross above the eyes, with the eyes resting softly on the palms. The hands shut out all light. The complete darkness enables the eyes to relax completely. Rubbing your palms together before palming is also very effective.

Blinking is another technique to relax the eyes. Blink fast and then blink hard, squeezing the eyelids together. This lubricates the eyes and allows them a mini-rest. Splashing closed eyes with cold water also relaxes the eyes tremendously. Central fixation is simply an awareness of seeing best in the centre of our field of vision, while at the same time remaining aware of our peripheral vision.

Bates’ most important technique to improve eyesight is to carry on daily activities without glasses. This technique allows the eyes to change back to their original perfect state. However, since this is not an instant step, it needs to be consciously done over time.

Yoga

Yoga exercises for improving eyesight deal with eye movement. Move the eyes to their uppermost position without moving the head, and then to their lowermost position. Move the eyes to the left and then to the right in a horizontal direction. Move the eyes diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right corner; and then move them from the top right corner to bottom left corner. Move the eyes in a clockwise and anticlockwise manner.

Stretch out your hands in front of you at eye level and focus on your thumbs. Then slowly move the left hand to the left side and let the eyes follow it. Repeat this with the right arm. Then simultaneously move both arms outward and let the eyes follow them until they are out of sight. Repeat these exercises 10 times a day.

Focus on the thumb of your outstretched hand, then focus on an object more distant in the background. Keep shifting the focus between the two to exercise the eye muscles. Stand upright with your feet about one foot apart, and gently sway sideways like a pendulum. Breathing is very important too; the eyes require a lot of oxygen for proper functioning.

Each one will take his own time to heal as it depends more on psychological factors than on physical ones.

Acupressure

The acupressure points for improving eyesight are the bony structure around the eyes, the eye sockets. Pressure on these points helps the eye adjust and focus and makes you feel better instantly.

Louise Hay

The famous healer Louise L Hay says that all eye problems represent the inability to see the past, present or future clearly, or not liking what you see. Far-sightedness is because of fear of the present, near-sightedness because of fear of the future. Astigmatism is the fear of seeing the self. Corrective affirmations such as ‘I am safe in the here and now’, ‘I create my own beautiful future’, and ‘I am willing to see my own beauty and magnificence’, allow the eyes and mind to live in harmony. Rhonda Byrne, author of The Secret, healed her hyperopia in just three days, through visualisations and affirmations.

Remember, perfect eyesight is your birthright; do not stop till you achieve it.

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