Yoga for the Eyes according to the Bates method


To improve your eyesight in a natural way, you have to take the time to change habits in order to look at the world differently because we have never been taught to use our eyes.

They open in the morning and close in the evening without even realizing the incredible work they have done throughout the day !

I invite you to discover your Eyes and your Vision!

Because the eyes are only sensors of light. Through the retina, they capture and transmit light to the brain, which transforms it into images. Thus, we do not see with our eyes but with our brain!

 Vision is therefore a much more complex mechanism than we think, which involves all the dimensions of being, physiological, mental, emotional, spiritual.

Eyes, body, mind, emotions, intention, everything is connected !


This was discovered by Dr. Bates, a New York ophthalmologist of the early 20th century, when at the age of 40, two events struck him: he lost his neareyesight (becomes presbyopic) and found that the eyesight of his patients did not improve even when wearing glasses ! Then he launched a challenge to cure his own vision, which he achieved in a few months, and thus built his method of natural vision education to see without glasses ! (Perfect eyesight without glasses, William Horatio Bates, 1919)


The Bates method in a nutshell

Two key principles:
- The central fixation : the fact that we can see, with the greatest acuteness, only what we look at, everything else is peripheral.
- Relaxation: The loss of Central Vision is due to stress on the muscles of the eyes, itself due to mental strain

 

5 major needs of the eyes:
- Light: tired eyes, stressed by too much nearsightness and artificial light, need natural light.
- Relaxation. The eyes need less exercising because it increases the stress and the loss of central vision, but even more regular rest and relaxation.
- Movement: to see well you have to move the head and the body, to discriminate the center of the periphery and to stimulate as much the saccades of the eyes as of the whole body.
- Memory: we always see better what is familiar. Regularly closing the eyes allows you to record what you have seen and boosts memory.
- Imagination: which is only the recombination of memories stored in our memory. Imagine, Visualize anticipates and stimulates vision.

 

 The main activities of the Bates method:
- Palming, or Apposition of the palms of the hands over the eyes, to rest the eyes.
- Sunning, to promote the flexibility of the pupil.
- Shiffting, or Moving the eyes on the object looked at, to see every detail.
- Swinging, or Swing of the body weight from left to right to widen the visual field and better discriminate the center and the periphery.
- Work on Eye chart,  to deepen the view from near and far.


Yoga for the Eyes in a nutshell


Eye yoga is an ancient practice of Tibetan yogis, but also ancient Chinese Taoist masters, which involves toning and relaxing the eyes. Today practiced in yoga class, it boils down to some exercises and rest for the eyes, often at the end of session. It is a sub-part of Yoga, which itself is based on two axes, Respiration and Postures.


My practice of Yoga for the Eyes according to the Bates method

 

Associated with the Bates method, Yoga for the Eyes, becomes a full-fledged activity incorporating Breathing and the spirit of Yoga, the Union between the body and the mind.

Certified Bates method teacher, but also psychologist, I especially believe in the subtle links between eyesight and insight...
With an empathic listening for everyone, I invite you to discover all the Bates method activities associated with the softness and the spirit of Yoga.
My two key words (to discover together in practice) : Breathe and Awareness !

 

 

 

This method is valid for everyone, at any age, and whatever the type of vision.


Finally, we always practice seriously but without taking ourselves seriously, waking our child's soul and having fun !


 
Welcome !

 

 

For Poets « The eyes are the mirror of the soul ».

 

« For if the face is the mirror of the soul, the eyes are the interpreters » Cicéron.