Improving Vision Naturally with Eye Exercises

The kit came three pairs of glasses. Basically they were large sized reading glasses that could fit over top of another pair of glasses. So I started out by wearing a pair of reading glasses over my regular glasses to reduce the regular glasses' strength. I wore the extra pair of glasses around the house, and eventually got brave enough to go without glasses around the house. Now, I go around the house, in stores, and in the mall without glasses, without even giving it a second thought.

Since then, I have also learned some more techniques and have worked my way out of several pairs of glasses and continue to improve my vision.

I like seeing naturally and that my vision is better now.

Our eyes are surrounded by muscles. As with any other kind of muscle, they improve with use. So if you are doing a lot of close up work, then pause every so often and look at something farther away. It doesn't matter if the something farther away comes in clearly or not. The point is to give your eyes muscles some exercise and some change. So change it up by changing the distance.

Another way to change the distance is by adjusting the distance of the book or the paper that you are reading. Take the material a little bit out of focus; read for a minute, bring it back into focus for a minute, and then repeat.

Please note that this exercise is best done when one is not reading for comprehension. I found it helpful to read numbers, i.e. 47823908, for doing this exercise, because then my eyes are actually looking at the details instead of automatically using spelling rules to help figure out what comes next. It's also easier to remember to change the distance when I am not caught up into what I am reading.

Later I learned the benefits of palming, as well as doing some other relaxing exercises for my eyes. Palming in general is a way to relax your eyes, more so than what sleep can do. You can do palming by rubbing your hands together briskly, and then placing your cupped palms over your eyes. (With glasses and contacts off.) Then periodically open and close your eyes, while looking all around, and let them relax in the darkness. You can do this for a minute or two throughout the day, or even for hours if you want.

It is also beneficial to periodically smile and think pleasant thoughts while you do palming. Especially helpful is to also periodically visualize seeing things clearly at multiple distances while doing this exercise. I also find it helpful to open my eyes first before removing my hands, when I am done.

Blinking is not only a way to relax your eyes, it also moisturizes your eyes. Take a minute here and there, and blink. How fast can you blink?

A study was done with eye charts. An eye chart was created that went from smaller print to larger print.

Participants started out reading the smaller print at the top to the larger print at the bottom.

The print got progressively larger instead of smaller, and became easier to read.

The participants after vision scores were higher after reading this chart.

than when the chart started out larger and got smaller.

Hmmmm. Why is that?

Perhaps because the eyes were adjusting to the size of the print and the mind was thinking, this is getting easier.

With my head facing forward, I look around in a circular pattern with my eyes. So basically I am moving my eyes in a clockwise pattern, looking up, then to the right, then down, then to the left, and then back up. Then I change the direction and look to left, then down, then to the right, and then back up.

I also do this when looking over my shoulder. I turn my head to look over my right shoulder. Once my head is turned, I look all around with my eyes as in the above paragraph. Then I look over my left shoulder and again look all around with my eyes. It's also a nice neck stretch.

I find it helpful that when I'm already doing a stretch, to also look around.

One of the easiest ways to get into the mind set of seeing more is by looking further. While out walking or riding, or wherever; look further. Look out into the distance. If there is a horizon to see, look at the horizon. Clarity does not matter. Just look and gaze. Give yourself permission to look further, beyond the comfort zone of what is currently seen clearly.

While looking at a sign or text, or whatever it is, notice what you do see. For example, if the sign is farther away, notice the space between the letters, notice the space between the rows of words. Notice what you are seeing.

I give thanks for my eyes, vision exercise poster by Cherylsart

The improving of my vision naturally began with a desire. In my journey of improving my vision and creating better health for myself, I have learned to use affirmations, among other things; i.e. adding a pleasant ending to an experience, and talking more kindly to myself.