Yoga of Perfect Sight

Questions and Answers

What do you mean by anatomy and physiology of the eye?

Description of the form of the eye is called anatomy, description of the functioning of the eye is called physiology.

You advised me to use glasses when necessary. I thought you were totally against them.

In your case I found that the best way to help you was to advise the use of glasses for distance but their disuse in reading as the near sight was quite normal.

My has developed defective vision for distance as well as for near things. She often gets a headache. What do you advise?

She can become all right. Apply Resolvent 200 to her eyes and let her face the morning sun with closed eyes for a few minutes. Then she should practise palming and run around a chair, bouncing a ball on the ground. then read the Eye Chart at 5 to 10 ft. She should be taught how to blink frequently.

I am seventeen, my eyesight began to deteriorate when I was seven. Ever, year the number of the glasses increased too much so that now 1 use 9 in the right eve, and 5 in the left. Can my eyes be benefited?

Yes, the improvement will be evident in a week's time if you can follow the proper course of treatment.

My teacher says that I don't blink but wink. How to get the habit of blinking?

Practise with concentration the simple rhythms of blinking. The following natural exercises may be employed:

1. Walk slowly step by step and blink gently at each step.

2. Play with a ball, move it from hand to hand. To follow the movement of the ball the eyes will begin to blink in a normal way.

3. Take a book of small type, shift the sight on the white lines in between the lines of print, blink once or twice on each white line.

4. Take a mirror. Look at the right eye and then at the left, blink on each side. It will keep you aware of wrong blinking.

Your treatment has done much good to my eyes, now I want to extend the benefit to others. Is there any course to learn, or do you impart training?

You can attend the four-year medical course in Ophthalmic Science. This will be a sort of synthesis of Allopathy, Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Bates Nature cure. Its study will enable the student to practise as an eye specialist.

What is accommodation?

When the eye focuses at 6 metres or more, it is said to be at rest. When it focuses at a nearer point, it is called accommodation. When the eye is out of focus, the condition is called 'error of refraction' and there is short sight (myopia) or long sight (hypermetropia) without or with change of the eyeball's curvature (astigmatism).

How to read? Is reading while lying in bed harmful to the eyes?

Hold the book at a distance from where the print is seen best. Usually it is about 10 inches. Then while reading move the head a little from side to side and blink gently once or twice in reading each line. Do not read in the sun or under bright artificial light because the glare reflected from the paper causes strain in the eyes. Reading while lying can also be done without any discomfort; for that, keep the head raised and blink.

My eyesight is all right but I often get a strain and a headache after reading. What do you advise?

Just measure the distance from the book to your eyes. It may be more than 10 inches. If so. correct it. Take a specimen of diamond type or fine print and read it daily in good light as well as in candlelight. By reading fine print the capacity to read ordinary print is vastly improved. Reading fine print daily cures many a discomfort of the eye and quickly relieves headache.

You recommend:

1. Reading fine print

2. Reading in candlelight

3. Reading at a close distance

All these instructions are diametrically opposite to all that we have been taught from childhood. How will you explain this fact?

The people who tell you to read big print in good light at an arm's length are mostly over forty. At this age the capacity to read fine print, to read in candlelight, to read at a close distance is usually lost. And if such persons attempt to read fine print, the eyes are strained. But if they had developed the habit of reading fine print from an earlier age, they could have maintained good eyesight in old age and prevented their eyes from deterioration. Then their advice would have been different. I on my part would advise even these people to take up fine print. They will not be able to read it at first, but they will be benefited by simply moving the sight in between the lines of fine print on the white lines. Fine print reading helps the eyes to relax while large print causes strain because the eye tries to see a large area at a time.

A friend advises me to do some gymnastic eye exercises, that is, while keeping the head fixed move the eye-balls in various directions. Can I practise such exercises for the improvement of my eyesight?

Usually such exercises cause great strain. The fundamental principle is to move the head and eyes together in the same direction.