Yoga of Perfect Sight

Eye Strain and Eye Education

1) First understand how to see with an effort and without effort. It is a subtle point. Let the image come by itself to the eye, don't try to see. This is effortless seeing. The habit of making an effort to see is called eye strain. The normal eye ceases to be normal as soon as it makes an effort to see.

2) How to make an effort:

a. Look intently or fix your gaze at a letter on the Snellen Eye Chart at 20 ft. distance.

b. Try to read the letters of the chart at 20 ft. when it is placed in a dim light.

c. Fix your gaze on a letter or a word at 10 inches.

d. Try to read when the book is placed in dim light.

3) The pain to see at a distance causes lengthening of the eye-ball or myopia. Therefore, an effort to see at a distance will cause short sightedness or we can say like this:

a. The normal eye will become myopic.

b. The hypermetropic eye will become less hypermetropic or normal.

c. The myopic eye will become more myopic.

4) The strain to see at a near point causes shortening or flattening of the eye-ball or hypermetropia. Therefore an effort to see at a near point will cause hypermetropia or we can say like this:

a. The normal eye will become hypermetropic.

b. The hypermetropic eye will become more hypermetropic.

c. The myopic eye will become less myopic or normal.

5) When there is an effort to see or when one strains, the eye does not blink in a normal way, usual blinking stops, or blinking turns into winking. Central fixation is disturbed, the capacity to see best is lessened. The look of the patient's eye is changed; it usually indicates strain.

6) Seeing unfamiliar objects, such as a map, unknown handwriting or script, always causes strain.