How to Exercise Your Eyes

We all know how important it is to keep our bodies fit by doing things like going to the gym, jogging, and swimming. But, did you know that you can exercise your eyes as well? Not only will eye exercising keep your eyes healthy and minimize eyestrain, it could improve your vision.

Step:

1. Vision Improvement Exercises
2. Head Rolls - this exercise is to relax your neck, head and face muscles and reduce shoulder tension. Take a deep breath and close your eyes. On the exhale, slowly drop your chin to your chest. Relax your neck and shoulders. As you inhale deeply again, slowly and gently roll your head around to the left, then back, keeping your shoulders still and relaxed. Make your movements slowly, carefully and deliberately. Now exhale full as you roll your head to the other side and down to your chest again. Repeat this sequence twice then change directions and repeat twice more.
3. Sit comfortably on a chair. Rub your hands together until they feel warm. Close your eyes and cover them lightly with your cupped palms. Avoid applying pressure on your eyeballs. Place your palms so that the nose remains uncovered, and the eyes remain behind the slight hollow of the palms. Make sure that no light rays enter the eyes, and leave no gaps between fingers or between the edge of the palms and the nose. You may still see other lingering traces of colors. Imagine deep blackness and focus on the blackness. Take deep breaths slowly and evenly, while thinking of some happy incident; or visualize a distant scene. After your eyes see nothing but blackness, remove your palms from your eyes. Repeat the palming for 3 minutes or more.
4. Close your eyes tightly for 3-5 seconds, then open them for 3-5 seconds. Repeat this 7 or 8 times.
5. Close your eyes and massage them with circular movements of your fingers for 1-2 minutes. Make sure you press very lightly; otherwise, you could hurt your eyes.
6. a. Sit quietly and relax, feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent. Close the eyes gently. When you press each point, be gentle. Don't use too much force and avoid putting pressure on the eyeballs.
7. b. Put your thumbs below your eyebrows and above the inside corners of your eyes and place the other four fingers of each hand on your forehead. Press your thumbs into the point for four breaths.
8. c. Use the thumb and index finger of either hand to massage the bridge of your nose. Press the point and then squeeze with an upward motion. Press and squeeze four times for four breaths.
9. d. Place your middle fingers on your cheek bones, directly below the center of each eye. Massage the center part of your cheek for four breaths.
10. e. Massage a point starting at your temples right below the eyebrows and level with the outside end of your eyes. Then place your thumbs on the inside end of the eyebrows and massage. Move to the middle of the eyebrow and massage. Then massage the end of the eyebrow. Lastly, massage right below the middle of your eye.
11. Move your eyes upwards as far as you can, and then downwards as far as you can. Repeat four more times. Blink quickly a few times 1 to relax the eye muscles.
12. Now do the same using points to your right and to your left, at eye level. Keep your raised fingers or two pencils on each side as guides and adjust them so that you can see them clearly when moving the eyes to the right and to the left, but without straining. Keeping the fingers at eye level, and moving only the eyes, look to the right at your chosen point, then to the left. Repeat four times. Blink several times, then close your eyes and rest.
13. Sit and relax. Roll your eyes clockwise, then counter-clockwise. Repeat 5 times, and blink in between each time.
14. Choose a point you can see from the right corner of your eyes when you raise them, and another that you can see from the left corner of your eyes when you lower them, half closing the lids. Remember to retain your original posture: spine erect, hands on knees, head straight and motionless. Look at your chosen point in right corner up, then to the one in left corner down. Repeat four times. Blink several times. Close the eyes and rest.
15. Now do the same exercise in reverse. That is, first look to the left corner up, then to the right corner down. Repeat four times. Blink several times. Close the eyes and rest.
16. FIGURE EIGHTS This exercise increases the flexibility of your eye muscles in a relaxed way. Remember to breathe. Take two deep breaths. Either stand or sit with your feet shoulder width apart with your hands at your sides. Do not cross your hands. Let your knees bend slightly. Imagine a figure eight approximately ten feet from you lying horizontally (lying in the shape of an infinity sign) Let your eyes trace along the figure eight without moving your head. First trace in one direction, then in the opposite direction. Always remember to continue to breathe and blink as your eyes move effortlessly along the figure eight. Check for tension in the jaw and let it release.
17. Sit about 6 inches (200 mm) from the window. Make a mark on the glass at your eye level (a small sticker, black or red, would be perfect). Look through this mark and focus on something far away for 10-15 seconds; then focus on the mark again.
18. Hold a pencil in front of you at arm's length. Move your arm slowly to your nose, and follow the pencil with your eyes until you can't keep it in focus. Repeat 10 times.
19. Take a pencil, or use your finger, and hold it under the tip of your nose. Then start moving it away, without raising it, until you have fixed it at the closest possible distance where you can see it clearly without any blur. Then raise your eyes a little, look straight into the distance and there find a small point which you can also see very clearly. Now look at the closer point-the pencil or your finger tip then shift to the farther point in the distance. Repeat several times, blink, close your eyes and squeeze them tight.
20. Look in front of you at the opposite wall and pretend that you are writing with your eyes, without turning your head. It may seem difficult at first, but with a bit of practice it is really fun. The bigger the letters, the better the effect.
21. Imagine that you are standing in front of a really big clock. Look at the middle of the clock. Then look at any hour mark, without turning your head. Look back at the center. Then look at another hour mark. Do this at least 12 times. You can also do this exercise with your eyes closed.
22. Focus on a distant object (over 150 feet or 50 m away) for several seconds and slowly refocus your eyes on a nearby object (less than 30 feet or 10 m away) that's in the same direction. Focus for several seconds and go back to the distant object. Do this 5 times.
23. THE HOT DOG This exercise is done to improve the flexibility of the inside muscles of your eyes (called the ciliary muscles). It is important to keep those muscles flexible. Remember to breathe. Take two deep breaths. Either stand or sit with your feet, shoulder width apart. If you are standing, make sure your knees are slightly bent. Aim your eyes on any target in the distance. While looking at your distant target, bring your index fingers, tips touching about eight inches in front of your eyes and into your line of sight. Still aiming your eyes at the distant target calmly notice a mini hot dog has appeared between the tips of your fingers. Remember to continue to breathe easily and deeply. Do not let the awesome beauty of the mini hot dog to distract you and to cause you to aim your eyes directly at it. Continue to aim your eyes toward the distant target. Pull the tips of your fingers apart slightly and observe the hot dog floating in the air. Now keep the hot dog for two breaths, then look directly at your fingers and the hot dog will disappear. Do not retrieve the hot dog for two breaths; then look again in the distance and find it once again. Switch back and forth for two minutes.
24. Scanning - this exercise helps you increase the flexibility of your eyes. Sitting or standing at one end of a room, let your eyes scan around the edges of objects in the room - clocks, televisions, doors, lights, computers, etc. The object of this exercise is to keep your eyes moving in a loose and fluid way. Do this exercise for two minutes. Remember to breathe.
25. Hydrotherapy Place a bowl of hot water and a bowl of cold water in front of you. The hot water should be hot but not so hot that it burns you. The cold water should be ice cold, so either put ice cubes in it or get it out of the refrigerator. Put a wash cloth in each bowl. Place the wash cloth from the bowl of hot water against your closed eyes for 30 seconds. Then do the same with the wash cloth from the bowl of cold water. Continue to alternate the hot and cold wash cloths. Finish by gently massaging your closed eyes with a dry towel. Do this for two minutes.
26. Focus on an object in the distance (as far as possible) with a low contrasting background. Do this for a few minutes every half hour or so. This does not improve your vision, nor does any other technique. It can, however, maintain your best eyesight level during the day and prevent significant further vision deterioration.
27. SUNNING This exercise is done without any glasses or contact lenses. The eyes are light-sensing organs, they are designed to receive and interpret light energy. Eyes need good, natural light in order to stay healthy and vibrant. Even though we have heard that the reduction in the ozone layer, we need to protect ourselves from ultra-violet radiation, it is still important to allow the eyes to receive natural sunlight at least 20 minutes per day. (full-spectrum lights can be used if it is not possible to experience natural light.) Remember to breathe. Take two deep breaths. Sit or stand in a place where the sun is shining on you or under a full spectrum light source. Close your eyes gently. Move your head slowly from side to side so that you go from an area of shade into an area of light falling on your closed eyelids. Remember to continue to breathe easily and deeply. Feel the light on your eyelids; visualize accepting the light energy. Alternate between five breaths of sunning and two breaths of palming