Yoga of Perfect Sight

See the Natural Way

Khorshed while on an educational tour to the U.S.A. was experiencing some difficulty in reading and writing. Her eyes quickly tired and became prominent as if protruding from the bony socket, a horrible appearance quite disfiguring the face. At times while reading the words appeared double and often she made mistakes in transcription. She had to give up the work of stitching as sewing was very uncomfortable. There was a constant feeling of dryness and heaviness in the eyes. Often her lady friends laughed at her inability to match the colours while selecting some cloth. She had developed the habit of staring while reading or seeing different objects. At times the pain and headache became severe and she had to rest long hours. The glare of the sun was very unpleasant and when she moved to an unknown place she got knocks as her field of vision contracted.

When Khorshed put these visual difficulties before the eye specialists in the U.S.A. they found her eyes quite normal. They could not think that these visual defects could he due to mental strain and wrong use of the eyes. They put her through different tests and the conclusion was that her eye troubles were due to hyperthyroidism. When she returned to India, Bombay doctors supported the diagnosis and treatment of the U.S.A. doctors and gave thyroid medicine orally but there was no relief to her eye troubles.

Finally Khorshed left herself at the mercy of the Divine Grace. One morning she was on a visit to Sri Aurobindo Ashram and had an opportunity to visit the School for Perfect Eyesight. She is an intelligent and charming personality hence it was necessary to tell her frankly that it was a mistake of our specialists to connect the visual defects with thyroid disorder. Both were quite separate troubles. Hence the treatment of thyroid failed to give any relief. I explained to her that the eye being a sense organ was closely associated with the mind in its functioning. The strain of the mind would immediately affect the eyesight, while the relaxation of the mind would benefit the eyes. To demonstrate this fact she was asked to stand before a window with vertical bars in it. When she moved the body, head and eyes to the right while raising the left heel she observed that the bars of the window appeared to be moving to the left and vice versa. As soon as she practised this swing in the right way she felt greatly relaxed but when she practised the swing in the wrong way, she felt a great strain in the eyes and head.

Another great difficulty was that she did not blink. She did not know how necessary it was to blink gently to keep the eyes at rest all the time. It was difficult at first to adopt the right habit of blinking but by the application of different relaxation exercises and bandaging she could train her eyelids to blink in a normal way.

When the sight is perfect the subject is able to observe that all objects regarded appear to be moving. A letter seen at the near or at the distance appears to move slightly in various directions. The pavement comes towards the person while walking, and the side houses appear to move in the opposite direction. In reading, the page appears to move in a direction opposite to the movement of the eyes. If one tries to imagine things stationary, the vision is lowered and discomfort and pain may be produced. By observing the movement of lines while shifting the sight on white lines in between the lines of print, Khorshed felt great relief and could read and write for a long period without any discomfort. In sewing she shifted the sight with the movement of the needle. To overcome the glare of the sun she faced the sun for a few minutes daily.

Whenever Khorshed looked intently at a letter or an object she felt fatigue and discomfort and the object blurred or became double. There was a feeling of tension in the eyes and head. To break this habit of staring she was taught the following:

1. Shift consciously from one part to another of all objects regarded, and imagine that these objects appear to move in a direction contrary to the movement of the eye.

2. Look at the blackness of the letter for a second and close the eyes for half a minute while recalling the memory of black. When she practised successfully, the memory of blackness increased. Then she did palming for sufficient time till she felt her eyes greatly relaxed.

3. Looking towards the candle flame while counting one hundred respirations soothed her nerves greatly. While reading Fine Print she moved her body forward and backward.