Yoga for the Eyes

Watching, reading, scanning, searching, gazing . . . our eyes are working hard, all our waking hours. The muscles around them get tired and strained. Yoga can help.

Here are some exercises to strengthen eye muscles and relieve eye strain.

They can be done anywhere, any time and only take a few moments.

1.     Close your eyes as tightly as possible for 5 seconds. Open them and close them again. Repeat 6 times.

2.     Shut your eyes and roll your eyeballs around for a minute.

3.     Palming: rub your hands together and place them over your closed eyes. Give your eyes the occasional darkness they need to rejuvenate. Can be done anytime the eyes feel tired and in need of a break.

4.     Imagine a huge clock in front of you. Gaze up at number 12 for around 10 seconds. Then down to 6. Alternate looking at 12 and 6 rapidly several times. Then do the same with numbers 3 and 9. Then move them diagonally from 2 to 7, and 10 to 4.

5.     Sambhavi mudra: Look up to the 3rd eye (middle of the eyebrows). Then move your gaze down towards your nose. Hold for a few seconds there.

6.     Imagine an infinity sign or horizontal figure eight in front of you. Trace the eight with only your eyes slowly, about ten times, without moving your head. Blink between repetitions.

Be kind to your eyes.

1.     If you spend long times in front of a screen give your eyes a 2 minute break every half hour. Getting up and moving around will rest your eyes, and feel good for your whole body

2.     Exercising your body reduces pressure on the eyes so keep exercising.

3.     Make a conscious effort to blink more to lubricate your eyes.

4.     Dim the lights to reduce eye strain, including on your computer screen.

5.     Massage your eyes. It relieves tension or stress because it helps stimulate increased blood flow to targeted areas. Begin by gently massaging your upper eyelids for 10 seconds. Then, gently massage your lower eyelids.