Yoga of Perfect Sight

Questions and Answers

I am a teacher. What instructions will you give so as to help the students?

1) Perfection is the aim of our life. Under the modern condition preservation of good eyesight is not possible without eye education. We recommend a plan of eye education for the schools.

2) How to test the sight? Keep the eye chart at 20 feet distance and read it with each eye separately. Write the results in the form of a fraction. The numerator of the fraction is always the distance of the chart from the eyes. The denominator always denotes the number of the line of the chart read. If you can read the line marked 20 feet at twenty feet distance with the right eye, the vision is 20/20 (Normal); if you can read the line marked 50 feet at twenty feet distance with the left eye, the vision is 20/50 (Defective).

To test the near vision take the Fundamentals chart and hold it at 10 inches. Note which number you are able to read. The normal eye can read the smallest type of the Fundamentals.

3) The teacher who holds the first period of the class will see that the students, after palming, read the eye chart from their seats silently, first with both eyes, then with each eye separately, avoiding any pressure on the eye-ball. Reading of the same familiar eye chart with gentle blinking is a wonderful eye education. Every home and every class should have the eye chart. Splendid results will be obtained if each teacher, before he holds the class, tells the students to do Palming.

4) What is Palming? Close the eyes and cover them with the palms of the hands avoiding any pressure on the eye-balls. Keep the eyes covered for about five minutes and imagine something interesting and familiar.

5) How to read? Hold the book within twelve inches. Blink gently at each line. Do not be in a hurry to finish the book. Reading very fast usually causes strain in the eyes and mind. Reading small print and reading at a close distance is good for the eyes.
6) Reading under bright electric light is harmful because the light reflected from the paper causes strain to the eyes. Light just sufficient to read is good for them.

7) For quick relief of pain in the eye-balls and headache, reading fine print under candlelight usually acts as a miracle. Get the habit of reading fine print daily and you will be saved from all eye troubles of old age.

8) Staring is bad. Tell the students to blink gently and frequently while seeing objects, reading books or watching the cinema. In wrong blinking the upper lid touches the lower lid with a jerk.

9) Students who find it difficult to get rid of eye strain or headache or defective vision may be sent to the School for Perfect Eyesight.

When I go out in the sun I often get a headache. Can I use dark glasses or goggles?

If you have a liking for sunglasses, you may use mild-coloured ones, but usually all such glasses make the eyes more sensitive and unhealthy.

When you go out in the sun, keep the lids lowered and blink frequently; then there will be natural protection from light and heat; imagine that the side objects and the road are moving backwards as one has the impression while travelling in a train—poles and trees appearing to rush past in the opposite direction. This also lessens the strain.

Every morning take a little sun-treatment. Face the sun with eyes closed for a few minutes. This will strengthen your eyes.

What is Snellen test card or eye chart?

The Snellen eye chart has letters printed in varying sizes. It is used to test the eyesight for distance. The smallest letter seen on the eye chart from 10 feet or 20 feet is a measure of your distance vision.

It is a very useful thing for eye education so as to prevent and cure defective eyesight for distance.

I suffer from hypermetropic astigmatism and feel quite comfortable with glasses. Do you advise me to take your treatment?

Better continue the use of glasses till you feel any discomfort or deterioration in eyesight.

I use glasses of -6 but I do not use them at the time of physical exercises. What causes pain in my eyes while doing physical exercises and how to cure it?

You are straining your eyes. Keep the lids a little lowered while doing any physical exercise and blink often.

What was the trouble with Krishna Roy, a friend of mine? She was "blind" in her left eye and now she sees quite normally with that eye. How did she get cured in your clinic?

She had been having amblyopia in her left eye since childhood. The word amblyopia means blindness, the eye cannot be helped by glasses and for this no apparent or sufficient cause can be found in the constitution of the eye. She was cured by eye education and mental relaxation exercises.

Previously I had the notion that reading under a bright light was good for my eyes. But now I find that reading in semi-darkness is helpful and avoids strain. Previously 20 minutes reading used to tire my eyes, now two hours reading produces no strain. Can you explain this fact?

In bright light the glare reflected from the paper creates strain in the eyes.

Why do you advise to read the same Snellen test card daily as a means of eye education? Children have learnt it by heart.

You cannot see anything perfectly unless you have seen it before. When the eye looks at an unfamiliar object it always strains more or less to see that object, and an error of refraction is always produced. When the eyes regard a familiar object, however, the effect is quite otherwise.

This is why I recommend reading the same familiar Snellen test card.

My father often tells me to stop watching the cinema. Is the cinema really harmful for the eves?

Cinematographic pictures can be made a means of improving the eyes. When they hurt the eyes, it is because the person strains to see them. If this tendency to strain can be overcome by gentle blinking, the vision is always improved and if the practice of viewing pictures is continued, many eye troubles are relieved.