Are your eyes healthy? Do they get enough exercise? Exercising the eyes stimulates the muscles and nerves of the optical system. Sounds like a good idea doesn’t it?
In my work, I recommend using the Tibetan Eye Chart for exercising the muscles of the eyes. I even use it myself. Recently, I have recommended using the Tibetan Eye Chart to a woman who was diagnosed with Glaucoma (beginning stages). I suggest its use for any eye issue with promising results.
I remember the first time I recommended using the eye chart. Back in the 1970’s I was teaching a yoga class to a group of women at a local college when Alice came to class one night and let us know she’d been diagnosed with the beginning stages of glaucoma. She asked me if there was anything in yoga that could help her. It was the perfect class to talk about eye health and exercises with yoga to maintain the health of their eyes. The next week, I brought in Tibetan Eye Charts for everyone to have a tangible as well as visible guide for exercising the eyes.
We continued eye exercises for several more classes and then didn’t revisit them until a year later when Alice arrived for class quite excited. She announced that her Glaucoma had improved and she owed the improvement to the eye exercises she continued to do daily for the entire year. She told us her Tibetan Eye Chart hung on a wall so she was reminded every day to exercise her eyes. We celebrated her improved health and her persistence in continuing all year.
Over the years I have recommended eye exercises to many others to maintain eye health.
Fast forward to 2017… A regular client came in who had just been diagnosed with early onset Glaucoma (a buildup of pressure in the eye that can damage the optic nerve over time). Yup! Out came the Tibetan Eye Chart! I used part of our time together to teach her how to exercise her eyes using the chart. She went home and practiced every day, sometimes several times a day. (I do love those with persistent personalities!)
Earlier this week (only two months later) she called thanking me for teaching her about exercising her eyes – she was ecstatic! Her eye pressure has improved and she attributes the improvement directly to the eye chart. She will continue to exercise her eyes and I am inspired to renewed exercising my own eyes (even though I don’t have glaucoma, I do experience tired eyes) with the Tibetan Eye Chart!
Note: Now it is true that there has been no research to confirm the benefit of exercising the eyes with the Tibetan Eye chart, however, hundreds of years ago there was only testimonial through practice. I certainly recommend that clients get their eyes checked by their eye doctor and not rely solely on an ancient practice.
Instructions for the Tibetan Eye Chart:
Stand facing the chart (hang it at eye level) with your nose aligned with the center spot.
Place your palms on your eyes for a few moments.
By moving only your eyes, follow the arms out to the dots at the end of each one, beginning with the top dot. Follow the dots around the chart clockwise. Repeat following the dots around counterclockwise as well.
Repeat twice again.
Rub your palms together and place them over your eyes for several moments when finished.
For eye health, do this exercise daily.
** You can print your own chart from a simple Google search. **
Oh yes, be sure to check back on Monday for another recorded meditation as part of Meditation Monday!
Happy, Healthy, & The Prepared Mind 