How to Do Yoga for Eyes to Reduce Eye Strain and Improve Eyesight

Reduce eye strain with yoga

In the age of computers, eye strain is becoming more common. Performing certain yoga exercises for with your eyes can reduce eyestrain and can often improve your vision as well.

Instructions

1. Eye strain caused is caused by constant use of the eyes for one repetitive task, such as staring at the computer monitor, for hours on end. Eye strain can cause headaches, vision problems, migraines, eye fatigue, and eye pain. Just as yoga can help tone, relax, and strengthen the muscles of the body, eye exercises can help tone, strengthen, and relax the muscles of the eyes. Strengthening these muscles can also lead to better eye sight. Here are some exercises you can do to reduce strain. Sitting comfortably and breathing normally, all of these exercises should be performed by moving only the eyes. Head and neck remain still.

2. Look up to the ceiling (or as high as you comfortably can). Hold for a count of five seconds. Look down as far as you can, and hold for five seconds. Do this a total of five times. Blink several times to rest the eyes.

3. Look to the left as far as you can, and hold for five seconds. Repeat on the right side. Blink several times to rest the eye muscles.

4. Look up and to the right, diagonally, and hold for five seconds. Now look down and to the left, diagonally, and hold for five seconds. Blink a few times, then reverse the movement, looking to the upper left corner, then the lower right corner. Blink several times, to reduce the eye strain.

5. After 5 or 6 days of performing the first three eye exercises, you can move on to include the following exercises in your eye yoga routine. From here on out, you'll be performing all seven each day.

6. Slowly roll your eyes in a clockwise circle. Begin by looking down, circling slowly to the left, upwards, then down to the right. Reverse, and do the same wide circle in a counter-clockwise motion. Do five times each way. Blink to alleviate the eye strain you might feel.

7. Hold your finger in front of your face, as close as you can get it with it being in focus. Focus on your finger, then immediately focus on something considerably further away. Alternate this near-and-far focusing for one minute, switching your focus every three seconds. Squeeze your eyes shut tightly to relax them, then blink several times.

8. To deeply relax your eyes after all those eye exercises, shut them very tightly, feeling the eye muscles contract. This is very beneficial to eye strain caused by working at a computer monitor. Release, and repeat.

9. Rub your palms together quickly, creating heat. Cup your hands over your eyes. To block out all light, overlap the fingers of your right hand over the fingers of your left hand, on your forehead. Not only is this relaxing, but it helps bring proper blood flow to the eyes.

Tips & Warnings

• Never work at the computer for longer than two hours without a break. Every so often, step away from your desk to do other tasks that require you to use your eyes in different ways. Gardening. Exercising. Crafts. Even just closing your eyes to relax them will help.