Eye yoga exercises to help your eye health and vision

As I sit here squinting at my computer screen, I am reminded to do my eye exercises. Although I resort to my glasses for very fine print, I find that if I’m diligent about my eye exercises, my eyesight improves.

Just like all the other muscles in our body, the eye muscles respond very well to a little exercise each day, especially if we strain them by spending a lot of time in front of screens.

Eye exercises are said to:

• strengthen the eye muscles

• improve focus

• stimulate the vision centre in the brain

• increase flexibility and movement of the eyeballs

• improve circulation

• relieve tension

How yoga poses can help our eyes

Scientific studies have shown that exercises like walking can lower pressure in the eyeball. This invites the suggestion that yoga poses - called ‘asanas’ - may have a similar effect.

Yoga asanas increase our circulation and so are beneficial by bringing nutrition to the eyes and clearing away waste products in our cells.

A simple inversion of the body, like downward-facing dog, increases circulation to our shoulders, neck and face, and of course the eyes. Exercise that increases the heart rate will also stimulate circulation, as will some of the stronger breathing practices like Bhastrika and Kahbalbati, which I often bring into my classes.

It is important to note, however, that there is limited scientific evidence that yoga in general can directly improve the age-related degeneration of our vision.

The importance of relaxation for eye health

Relaxation techniques such as those we use in yoga can help reduce stress and promote overall wellbeing, which can indirectly benefit eye health.

When you experience high stress or anxiety, your body releases certain hormones, including adrenaline, which cause your pupils to dilate and your facial muscles to tense up.

As a result, your eyes may become more sensitive to light and feel achy or strained. You may also experience blurry vision or difficulty focusing. Additionally, prolonged muscle tension in the face and neck can lead to tension headaches.

Practising relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation or a mindful yoga routine can all help reduce that anxiety and tension. This can include releasing tension around the eyes from stress, or from simply squinting at your screen.

The first step to improving our vision is simply relaxation. Just as an athlete or bodybuilder needs to give his muscles a rest for recovery, similarly our eyes also need a rest. Relaxing the eyes gives the nerves supplying the eyes a break, and also rests the visual cortex on the brain. It helps tired, strained eyes to recuperate and, as some experiments show, may even improve our vision.

Exercises for the eyes

I often bring eye exercises into my classes and my yogis carry on practising them at home. Here are a few I recommend.

Throughout all the following exercises keep your eyes relaxed, don’t strain.

Clock circles

1. imagine you’re looking at a large clock face in front of you

2. move your eyes all the way around the clock from 1 to 12, spending 5 seconds on each number

3. go back round anticlockwise

4. repeat a few times to work those eyes!

Clock adjustments

1. imagine you’re looking at a large clockface in front of you

2. look from the where the hands would start at the centre and go out to each of the 12 numbers

3. go back all round the clock again

Focusing on your thumb

1. place your thumb at the tip of your nose and focus on it, without straining

2. slowly extend your arm to full length in front of you, while still keeping your thumb gently in focus

3. move your arm out to one side while still gently focusing on your thumb and without moving your head

4. slowly bring your arm back to centre and your thumb back to the tip of your nose

5. repeat with your other hand

Writing on the wall

Imagine you are using your eyes to write letters on the wall while keeping your head still. The bigger the letters the better!

Head swings

Lightly focus on an object close to the floor in front of you as you swing your head from side to side. Don’t swing too fast or you might get dizzy.

Peripheral vision

This exercise helps strengthen our peripheral vision - how far we can see out of the corners of our eyes. Exercising our peripheral vision is not only important for our ability to see but also has a relaxing effect on the brain:

1. hold one finger up on each hand at full arms length and focus on an object between them

2. while still focusing on the object, slowly move your arms out to each side till you can no longer see them and then slowly bring them in again

3. while still focusing on the object, move one hand up and the other down until they move out of your peripheral vision and then repeat the other way

4. move your arms away from each other in diagonal directions and repeat the other way

5. make circles with each hand out and in

Blink and squeeze

This one can help relieve tension:

1. blink your eyes rapidly 20 times

2. squeeze tightly shut and hold for 2 deep breaths

3. relax your eyes

Palming

This is deliciously relaxing for tired eyes:

1. rub your palms together until they are very warm

2. place them over your eyes, block out any light from coming in

3. gaze with relaxed eyes at the blackness for 3 or more breaths

Palming is just lovely and feels so restorative. When I open my eyes I like to imagine the person I want to be, for example travelling around the world on a motorbike, strong and brave.

I have lots more ideas for helping with eye tension and headaches that I weave into my classes. Look forward to seeing you on the mat soon.

Love, Francesca x