Extending one's gaze to the horizon is a pleasure which, however trivial, for many it is very rare to try: buildings and constructions continually interrupt the visual spectrum, often reducing it to a handful of meters.
Still, having your eyes constantly glued on mobile phones, tablets and PCs further limits our visual capacity so much that their abuse can go to invalidate their efficiency even at a young age.
In fact, if we think about it, we are not even used to taking care of our eyes : unless we have pathologies or a pair of dark lenses in the summer, it is rare that our routine foresees a cuddle entirely dedicated to them.
Well, we want to give you some ideas with simple exercises to take care of your eyes with yoga .
For me the eyes, please: yoga exercises for ocular well-being
As mentioned at the beginning, often, the constant vision of screens can strain our eyes .
We offer you simple exercises that you can also practice in the office or library during a break from work or study.
Yoga exercise to relax the eyes: palming
The exercise takes place in a comfortable, sitting position, as relaxed as possible.
- Hands close in a cup and rest on closed eyes. At the same time, try to clear your mind of all thoughts by keeping your attention on the breath.
- To make this exercise more incisive, before bringing your hands close to your eyes, rub your palms vigorously between them: you will increase the perception of heat on your eyes that will be pleasantly relaxing.
This very simple practice is excellent to relax our eyes and give them relief, especially after a long effort.
The eyes in ayurveda, the remedies
Exercise for the mobility of the eye muscles
Another very famous and beneficial yoga exercise concerns the mobility of the eye muscles in various directions. This is the execution technique:
Start in a comfortable sitting position and stretch your arms in front of you, thumbs up.
- In exhalation, fix the right thumb and begin to move the arm in the direction of the opposite shoulder, keeping it always relaxed. The head is still, only the eyes move, very slowly.
- Bring the arm back to the center, continuing to fix the thumb without moving the head and performing on the other side.
- Finish with both arms together which open to the sides and the eyes that fix the respective thumbs, as long as possible.
A similar and complementary exercise sees the thumbs move not sideways, but up and down: similarly to what has just been explained, the head remains stationary and the eyes follow the movements of the arm up and down within the limits of the possibilities.
Eyes and concentration in yoga
In yoga the eyes are very important also for the purposes of concentration : it is essential that during practice do not wander in a vacuum and do not run from one point to another because this is very distracting.
Precisely to limit this wandering, the so-called drishti are very useful: fix the gaze on a point, for example the nose tip or the center between the eyebrows directing the gaze there with both open and closed eyes.
This technique (of which there are many variations) is really valuable not only to limit the distractions during the yoga class, but also to allow the execution of the most significant and engaging asanas .
At first it can be slightly tiring, with time it will become a pleasant automatism that will amplify your ability to concentrate.
