What does Glaucoma, Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), Myopia (nearsightedness), Macular Degeneration (MD), and Strabismus have in common? They are all EYE DISEASES! What else do they all have in common? They can all be improved and eventually cured when one diligently enters the healing protocol of self-healing, eye exercise, relaxation, and nutrition. One such specific eye exercise is the Peripheral Vision Eye Exercise In The Dark which involves using flashing lights or holiday lights.
The exercise uses bright, flashing lights to stimulate (activate/awaken) peripheral rod cells. The rod cells are cells that receive light information in our peripheral visual field. They then send that information via the optic nerve to the brain which processes the information and allows us to see what we are seeing in our periphery. The periphery of our vision is the sides, top, bottom, and everything around the center of our sight. It’s pretty much everything that’s not in the center of your vision. For example, if you see something flash out of the corner of your eye, that’s using your peripheral vision.
However, often, due to poor lifestyle habits such as computers, phones, screens, books, and work, we tend to ignore our peripheral vision and underuse it. The principle, If you don’t use it, you lose it applies here. When our ancestors were constantly using their peripheral vision to survive in the jungles and forests in case a hungry lion came to attack them from their side, we now have little use of peripheral vision in our busy work environment. This is harmful to our visual system and creates a large imbalance in that we overuse our central vision and underuse our peripheral vision. Overtime, this underuse/”atrophy” of our peripheral rod cells may lead to problems such as eyestrain, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and even myopia. I will explain how lifestyle affects vision and eye diseases in later blogs. For now, know this: activating rod cells will help “strengthen” peripheral vision and improve your ability to percieve your peripheral vision, improve how much peripheral vision you have, relax the central vision by using more peripheral vision, and be beneficial to your visual (eye) system.
One way to improve your peripheral vision and relax your central vision is to perform the peripheral vision eye exercise in the dark with flashing lights daily or as often as you can.
Watch the video first for perfect understanding of this exercise here:
(Courtesy of Will Fuller at Envision Self Healing and envisionselfhealing.com)
You will need:
- Flashing lights
- Preferably a very dark, or dark room
- Tape
- 3 pieces of black paper to cover your central vision
The lights should preferably ones you can hold in your hand and wave/move around, such as flashing light wands/strobes or flashing kid toys. A simple search on Amazon or your local dollar store should provide what you need. The other option is probably better: flashing holiday lights – the kind that you wrap around your Christmas tree and plug into a wall outlet! Buy a set of LED, flashing lights on a strand. One short strand is good enough. Just make sure it’s long enough to cover you entire peripheral vision (about 3 feet up close to you is good). Anything longer is fine, too.
Note: I know the lights say something about California’s chemical cancer law thing, and I’m not sure exactly what chemicals are in the flashing lights, but you will have to weight the benefits to dangers. I think in this case it’s pretty safe to use the lights.
For best results, you will want a dark room, so close the blinds, close the doors, turn off the lights, switch off the alarm clocks, and anything that produces light. Do this after the sun sets or early early in the morning when it’s dark. If it’s daytime, it’s best to do Peripheral Vision Exercise With Hands which is also found in the website sourced at the bottom. Of course, you can still do the flashing lights exercise during the day if you want.
The 3 papers should be black colored or ones that will reflect the least light possible, like brown or something. But preferably black! Cut the paper into 3 different sizes-2 x 2, 2 x 4, and 2 x 6 —all in inches! You don’t have to be exact, just approximate. The point is for the papers to get bigger and cover more of your central vision as you go. Then roll up a piece of tape so that it is double sided and stick it on the back in the center of each piece of paper. This paper will then be stuck to the bridge of your nose! 😀 Don’t let anyone make fun of you! 🙂
Summary: 3 black papers of different sizes with tape so you can stick it on your nose. Then flashing lights will flash on the sides/top/bottom of your vision. This will stimulate your rod cells.
To perform the exercise:
1. Stick the small paper (2×2) on your nose–this should cover up and block a little bit of your vision
2. Let the lights flash on both sides of your eyes
3. Move the lights up and down to get all parts of your periphery.
4. After 2 minutes or however long you wish to do this, take the small paper off and switch it with the medium size (2×4) onto your face
5. Repeat flashing with lights.
6. Use the large paper and continue flashing with the lights. Then, if you wish, palm for a few seconds or stop flashing the lights to see if you are more aware of your vision. Then continue flashing.
7. Drop down one size to the medium paper and flash the lights for about 2 minutes.
8. Finally drop down to the final, smallest sized paper and flash the lights for about 2 minutes or so.
9. When finished, everything should’ve taken about 10 minutes. Remove the papers and turn off the flashing lights. See if Body Awareness has increased and see if your peripheral vision is “awakened”, more alert and if your central vision or eyesight is more relaxed. NOtice if the room around you seems more visible – the wall higher, the floor lower, etc. See if the span of your peripheral vision has improved.
If no improvement was made, it’s OK this is your first time and I wouldn’t expect it to improve immediately either unless you have an extreme case. When combined with other eye exercises and healing protocols, slowly, within a few weeks and months, you will notice slow, but constant improvement.
Keep up with your eye exercises and don’t skip!!! The busiest times of your life are the ones that are most stressful and create the most strain in your eyes! These are some of the most important times to perform this exercise.
Tip: To keep this relaxed feeling in your eyes, try other exercises like Palming, breathe deeply, use less computers, books, and close up activities, and try to maintain a constant awareness of your peripheral vision throughout the day and night. For example, when using the computer, see if you can see your boss walking by, the bright window on the side of your vision, the ceiling above, your legs below, etc. It is difficult to do, but with practice, it becomes easier! Paying attention to your peripheral vision is extremely important and beneficial to your eye health, and is often overlooked by Bates teachers and nutritionists focusing on the eye.
Make sure to do the exercise anywhere from a few minutes to 20 minutes! 10 minutes is the best amount of time.
The video on how to do this exercise is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tSwJ5mKh7k
And the awesome website of Envision Self Healing and it’s page on peripheral vision exercises is here:
http://www.envisionselfhealing.com/exercises/peripheral-vision-eye-exercise
Remember: The reason why this helps conditions like RP and glaucoma is because it will help you increase your peripheral vision, which is what your are losing in these eye diseases. It will help MD by resting your central vision, which is what you’re losing. It will help myopia by relieving eye strain/stress which may cause myopia. Myopes are often “blind” to the periphery and only focus on things in front of them and never look out into the distance, which is an essential exercise for anyone wearing glasses due to nearsightedness. Practically all eye conditions can be helped with this exercise due to the fact that it is holistic medicine – balancing your visual system. Remember to always incorporate this exercise with the other exercises necessary to improve your specific condition and perform the exercise daily for at least 6 months and more like several years. Although this is the key exercise for conditions such as RP, this exercise alone will not cure your condition. You must utilize a holistic and complete protocol.
To see protocols for specific eye conditions, go here:
http://www.envisionselfhealing.com/conditions
If you are unsure about the safety of these exercises, please ask your eye doctor for information if you have Glaucoma or other other uncertainties. Remember though, they are not educated in holistic medicine and exercise and will not understand the effectiveness of exercises. Use your judgement as to whether these exercises work or not. Give them a try daily for 6 months before you make that decision.
Sources for this article include: http://www.envisionselfhealing.com
http://www.envisionselfhealing.com/exercises/peripheral-vision-eye-exercise
For more information go to http://www.envisionselfhealing.com or view my other blogs and patiently wait for my other blogs.
Disclaimer: As of this publishing date, I do not work for envision self healing nor its founders. This blog is for educational purposes only and it is not, in any sense, diagnosing or advising any medical treatment for any pathological condition and is not a replacement for advice or care from a qualified health care professional. Please contact a qualified health care professional or doctor before performing these exercises.
