Yoga of Perfect Sight

Art of Writing

"Doctor, my eyes get tired soon in writing and it becomes difficult to finish even a page. I have not written a letter to my father for a long time due to the pain and headache which manifest when I start writing. Look, I have so many pairs of glasses though I see well, and here are so many medicines prescribed by eminent eye specialists, but none helps to relieve my troubles. This chronic redness persists in my eyes for a long time." This is the story of the princess, the daughter of the late Maharaja of Nepal, whom I had treated earlier for high myopia.

I found her vision normal both for distance and near. After a little thought, I asked the princess to write something in my presence. After a few lines she stopped as the pain and heaviness had started. I understood the cause of their trouble, so I told her that she would be all right on the third day. She was very happy to hear such words of assurance but questioned the cause of her trouble. I told her that she herself would know during the course of her treatment.

The fact is this, that she had adopted the wrong way of writing. While writing she had the habit of reading the words already written. To correct this wrong habit I advised her to draw straight lines and shift the sight with the movement of the pen. As there was nothing to read she could easily draw lines while shifting the sight with the movement of the pen. Then she began to draw angular lines and then began to write. While writing she used a piece of blotting paper to hide the written matter. Then on the third day she wrote about ten pages without any discomfort and without the help of the blotting paper. To convince her that her trouble was due to improper use of the eyes in writing, I told her to write a page in the wrong way, that is, while writing trying to read the already written words. Very soon she began to feel the discomfort and her handwriting became unsteady. Again she started writing in the right way and she could write pages with ease and comfort, she just shifted the sight with the movement of the pen without any attempt to read the already written words.