Good Habits for Better Vision

Good Habits for Better Vision

The following are some good habits for better vision:

Mental Habits

Make no comparison between vision without glasses and vision with glasses. Learn to be comfortable with blur. Do not strive to see clearly. Clear vision will automatically come with improved vision.

Clear vision has to do with the strength of the eye muscles, and the shape of the eye. Mind power has this capability.

Harness your mind power for self-affirmations and positive visualization for vision improvement.

Visual Habits

Develop good visual habits to enhance your vision improvement.

Blinking: Blink constantly to relax the eye. Blinking has to be soft and complete, not rapid.

Shifting: Shift your eyes constantly (the healthy eye sends more than 50 images per second to the brain) and rapidly by changing your eye focus frequently. Your eyes move more rapidly when they are relaxed.

Peripheral vision: Be aware of your total field of vision whenever you focus your eyes. Use BOTH central vision and peripheral vision at the same time.

Natural sunlight: Spend more time outdoors instead of indoors to reap the health benefits of sunlight in nourishing your visual system.

Palming: Relaxation of the eye cures all vision problems. The eye rests completely only in total darkness. Practice palming (covering your eyes with your palms but without touching them), and visualize blackness even for as little as 1 to 2 minutes per session. Of course, the longer you palm, the more relaxed your eyes become.

Vision without glasses: See without glasses to bring back your eye’s natural “accommodation” for better vision. However, remember not to strain to see without glasses. Reduce your time of wearing glasses, and delay the time you put on glasses in the morning. Use under-corrected prescription to slowly and gradually wean yourself from wearing corrective lenses.

Vision Awareness

Vision health is all about awareness—awareness of what you should do and what you should not do. Your conscious mind may want to change the bad vision habits that continue to impair your vision, but it is constantly held back by your subconscious mind.

Form the habit of awareness. Always be aware of the following good vision habits:

To heal the eye, change your vision habit!

Your mind determines how your eyes see!

Use your subconscious mind to change your vision with affirmations and visualization!

Breathe right to relax both the mind and the mind!

Consciously train your eyes for distant vision!

Regularly look up from your computer or your book!

The shape of the eyeball determines the power of vision. The relaxation level of the eye predetermines the shape of the eyeball.

See only selectively! Never STRAIN your eyes in order to see better! A blurry image is OK!

Look without blinking (soft vision) for 10 seconds or so!

Do not STARE! Blink to stop frozen gaze!

Do not let a day pass by without palming your eyes!

Always BLINK—soft and complete! Form the habit of constant blinking!

Always train your eyes for peripheral vision to see what is on both sides of your eyes!.

Swing and shift your body with clear and soft vision of your eyes!

Edge and track a distant object with your eyes anytime and anywhere!

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Breathe Right for Better Vision

Vision deteriorates with age, especially if you are wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses.

How well you see is dependent on the amount of light passing through the lens in front of your eyeball that focuses the image on the retina at the back of the eyeball, and thus instrumental in sending the visual information to your brain. The human eyeball is held by ciliary muscles in the eye. When the ciliary muscles are weak, the eyeball becomes slightly distorted or out of shape, and thus affecting the focal image on the retina. This is how vision deteriorates, and this is why wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses does not improve vision because these vision aids precondition the focus of the eye.

To improve vision, strengthen your eye muscles through constant eye relaxation. To remember doing this regularly, you must be mindful of it. Eye relaxation begins with the body, and not just the eyes. If your body does not relax, neither can your eyes relax. So relax your body through mindfulness. Relaxing your eye muscles means you do not “stare” or fixate” at an object, and you must constantly shift your vision focus from close proximity to distance. In addition, you must also constantly blink your eyes in order to relax them. To remember doing all these requires mindfulness.

Mindfulness is conscious awareness, which often begins with mindful breathing. Mindfulness is total awareness of what is going on inside the mind. Mindfulness occurs only when the mind is quiet and relaxed. Mindfulness is moment-to-moment awareness that requires training; it does not happen naturally. Begin with your mindful breath; that is, consciously aware of your breathing in and your breathing out. Breathing has become so natural to us that we are totally unaware of it, and mindful breath is deliberately bringing back awareness to your inhalation and exhalation. 

The human breath is most important because without it we die in minutes. But most of us take it for granted because we are not mindful of it. If we have mindful breathing, we breathe right—that is, breathing with the diaphragm (the muscle between the lungs and the tummy)—and we breathe completely—that is, the air fills up the upper lungs, not just the lower lungs, and the breathing out is slightly longer than the breathing in. Mindful breathing is full awareness of how we breathe in and breathe out. You don’t have to have mindful breathing throughout the day, but you need to cultivate mindfulness of your breath every now and then in order to enhance your mindfulness. Mindful breathing enables correct breathing that opens the many doors to relaxation, clear thinking, and self-healing.

With mindfulness, you will not forget to blink your eyes regularly to relax them; you will remember to shift your focus (that is, blinking before you shift your focus from a near object to a distant object), instead of staring; you will be more aware of your vision health.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Mind Relaxation to Relax the Eyes

MIND RELAXATION

The eye conditions are constantly changing such that they can be adversely affected by any emotional or mental stress, resulting in eyestrain that can cause vision blur. By the same token, you can significantly improve your vision if you relax your eyes completely through relaxation

Using a Relaxed Mind to Relax the Body

It is almost impossible to relax just your eyes, while the rest of your body remains tense and stressed. Total relaxation begins with the mind first, and then the rest of the body, including the eyes. Use your mind to relax your body, and then your eyes. The best way to achieve mental relaxation is by meditation.

Meditation to relax the mind

Meditation is a proven mind-body therapy for body-mind relaxation.

The healing power of meditation lies in its capability to focus the mind solely on the very present moment, thereby removing memories of the past and worries of the future. Meditation helps you focus your mind on the present moment to the exclusion of past and future thoughts. The mind in its natural and perfect stillness relaxes completely.

In contemporary living, your mind is often riddled with thoughts of what you just did, what you will do, or should have done. Nearly all your thoughts, including your desires and fears, are based on either the past or the future. Your desires are no more than recollections of the past pleasures and hopes of repeating them in the future. Fears are also memories of past pain, and your efforts to avoid the pain in the future. All these rambling thoughts in your subconscious mind indirectly affect your conscious mind, and hence your body and your eyes.

In the present, your mind is always preoccupied with the past or the future, leaving little or no room for the present moment, which, ironically enough, is the only reality. The past was gone, and the future is unknown; only the present is “real.” The present is a gift, and that is why it is called “present.” But, unfortunately, most of us do not live in the present, not to mention appreciate it, because the present is interlaced with the past and the future. Meditation is about re-focusing on the present moment.

The mental focus of meditation is not quite the same as the mental concentration, such as solving a difficult math problem or while performing a complex mental task. Meditation is focusing on something seemingly insignificant (such as your breathing) or spontaneous (such as eating and even driving) such that your mind can be conditioned to focusing on only the present moment. In this way, your mind concentration excludes all past and future thoughts, thereby instrumental in giving your mind a meaningful break. It is in this sublime mental state that you are capable of understanding the true nature of things, and their relativity to the meaning of life and existence. Meditation awakens you to what is real or what is quasi real.

Points to remember when you meditate:

·       Focus on an object as your focal point of concentration: your own breathing; looking at a candle flame; listening to a sound (such as the sound of running water from a fountain); watching your footsteps when you are walking, or just about anything that can easily draw you back to your meditation.

·       Palming is an excellent exercise not just for vision improvement, but also for deep meditation.

·       During your meditation, if your mind wanders away (which is quite common), gently direct your mind to re-focus on the same object of your concentration. Learn how to focus through your act of noticing that your mind has wandered off, as well as through your repetitive efforts. Meditation is all about focusing on the present moment. Make focusing a habit of relaxation for your eyes 

·       Keep yourself in full consciousness: you must be fully aware of what is going on around you. That explains why in meditation (except in the walking meditation) you need to sit erect in order to keep your body in full consciousness. Do not lie down (or else you may fall asleep); do not slouch (this may not help you focus).

A full lotus position is not required. However, it is important that you maintain a consistent position or posture with your thumb tip and forefinger tip of each hand touching very lightly, while the other fingers are either curled or extended out. A consistent posture and hand position will promote a meditative mind to practice your meditation techniques.

Breathing right to relax and to meditate

Breathing is important in meditation because it is the focal point of the mind. In addition, breathing out is associated with “letting go” and “body detoxification”—essential components to relax the body and the mind.

In meditation, focus on your natural breath as it flows in and out. Notice how you inhale and exhale. You will begin to feel yourself becoming relaxed and soothed.

Diaphragm breathing

Diaphragm breathing is the complete breath. Consciously change your breathing pattern. Use your diaphragm to breathe (the diaphragm muscle separating your chest from your abdomen). If you place one hand on your breastbone, feeling that it is raised, with the other hand above your waist, feeling the diaphragm muscle moving up and down, then you are practicing diaphragm breathing correctly. Deep breathing with your diaphragm gives you complete breath.

This is how you do diaphragm breathing:

·       Sit comfortably.

·       Begin your slow exhalation through your nose.

·       Contract your abdomen to empty your lungs.

·       Begin your slow inhalation and simultaneously make your belly bulge out.

·       Continuing your slow inhalation, now, slightly contract your abdomen and simultaneously lift your chest and hold.

·       Continue your slow inhalation, and slowly raise your shoulders. This allows the air to enter fully your lungs to attain the complete breath.

·       Retain your breath with your shoulders slightly raised for a count of 5.

·       Very slowly exhale the air.

·       Repeat the process.

Stephen Lau

Copyright©2018 by Stephen Lau