Yoga of Perfect Sight

Astigmatism

In all cases of astigmatism one meridian of the cornea is more convex or less convex than all the other meridians. The astigmatic eye is not able to focus the light from any object correctly.

School children are often nervous and when the nervousness is considerable, a large amount of astigmatism may be produced by a strain of the eyes and mind. When rest is secured the astigmatism in school children promptly disappears. Closing the eyes and palming. with the help of a nearly perfect memory of some letter or other object. secures a considerable amount of rest. The more perfect the memory the greater is the rest and relaxation. Rest of the eyes and mind is also obtained after the child has practised long swing or central fixation or seeing best where the eyes were looking.

It is very helpful to demonstrate to the patient that astigmatism is caused by a stare or strain and that rest or relaxation of the eyes will bring about a cure of astigmatism. The memory of familiar objects with the eyes closed is a great help in obtaining relaxation and lessening the amount of astigmatism. It often happens that patients of astigmatism find it difficult to obtain relaxation, because they try to see too much of any one object at once and try to see several letters of the chart at a time. The mere act of seeing one side of a letter at a time makes it easier to imagine the vision of each part of a letter.

One very successful method to improve the sight in astigmatic patients is to look at the white spaces in between the lines of print and imagine them whiter, first with eyes closed, then with eyes open. Imagine as if the bottoms of the letters are resting upon the upper part of the white spaces. When the sight is shifted on the white lines, the lines of letters appear to move in the opposite direction. Reading of fine print in good light and in candlelight alternately proves very beneficial in the treatment of astigmatism.

Often patients tell us; "How can I remember black? It is impossible for me to remember black." One person tried to remember a small black dot and failed and a number of his friends tried and failed. When people try to see one dot of a colon blacker than the other and fail, the cause of failure is a strain. This strain is a mental strain. By an effort, sight, memory and imagination are lost. It is astonishing to know that the memory of imperfect sight is so difficult and that it requires considerable time and patience to help a patient realize the facts. Most people believe that to do wrong is easy and are very much surprised when someone tells them the contrary and still more surprised when the facts are demonstrated.

When the largest letter of the Snellen test card is regarded, the blackness of it, the clearness of it, are so much better that people erroneously believe that the imagination of a large letter is much easier than the imagination of one half of the letter. When one half of the letter is covered, some people can imagine successfully that one half of a largest letter on the card is just as black, clear, and distinct as the same letter very much smaller. By continued practice the size of the letter can be reduced to a very small area.

Once a father brought his daughter for eye testing and her vision was found quite normal. The father said to the child: "Can you tell that the largest letter on the test card is blacker than the very small letters." The child intelligently declared that the large letter was not blacker or clearer than the smaller letters. The father then asked his daughter how she explained that she could see the small letters better than the large ones. She replied that the reason she saw small letters better than large ones was because there was not so much to see.

Having good eyesight the child could very readily produce a considerable amount of astigmatism by an effort of which she was conscious. She could also relieve the strain quickly and see a small letter at fifteen feet moving from side to side. The moment she tried to stop the movement of the letter, she felt discomfort and showed the symptoms of astigmatism.