One of Dr. Bates’ principal vision exercises, so simple a small child can do it, is called Sunning. Close your eyes while you face the sun, and turn your head slowly and gently from left to right, then back to the left, while the sun plays over your closed eyelids. This is like a loving massage for the visual system, and feels very relaxing. You may find yourself sighing as you let go of stress you hadn’t even realized you were carrying. Following is a video with a demonstration, more quickly than I’d like to see it done, but it will give you the idea.
A variation of Sunning, called Strobing, was taught to me by Esther van der Werf. You splay your fingers wide on both hands, and with eyes closed facing the sun, hold your hands in front of your face with the fingertips toward each other. Now moving your hands up and down repeatedly (keeping your eyes closed!) will cause finger-sized shadows, then slices of sunlight, to slide over your closed eyelids. It’s like being tickled by feathers of light!
Sunning will exercise the small muscles of the pupil of the eye, which closes and opens to let in less or more light. Some folks are extremely sensitive to bright light, because their pupil muscles aren’t as flexible and toned as they could be. You can ease yourself out of this gently, and it won’t take more than a few days. I helped a friend with this several years ago, and our experience may give you some tips for yourself. You can read about that here.
Even if you don’t have a light sensitivity problem, or aren’t particularly tense, you may still wish to try sunning, since it feels so good. It not only helps your vision, and your overall stress level, it’s a balm for your spirit. Drink in that healing sunlight energy!
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I wore strong glasses, then contact lenses, from age 5 into my 40s. While making many mistakes, eventually l learned how to improve the way I use my eyes and to see in a more relaxed, healthy manner. It is my pleasure to coach others to do the same. Visit me at https://NancyLNeff.com.