How to improve eyesight with a yogic technique

Dear Deepak,

Meditation certainly can be a help to anything which is wrong with our bodies. But there are other meditative healing techinques which might be of help to you also.

Below I include a section from Swami Kriyananda’s book The Art and Science of Raja Yoga. This book contain a great deal of information healing weaknesses in just about every part of the body.

The eyes have often been called “the windows of the soul…” Everything one does should be a conscious and heart-felt expression of what one is. The eyes should express the vibrations of the heart and mind. The energy in the eyes should be developed to its full potential. One exercise for developing this potential is amazingly effective also in curing weak vision. It strengthens the flow of energy through the nerves to the eyes. Indeed, this exercise is primarily a cure for faulty vision. Here is how it is to be practiced:

When the sun is close to the horizon – within half an hour of sunrise or sunset – gaze into it deeply. (At this time its harmful rays are filtered out, and the tremendous healing power may be drawn into the eyes without injury.) Gaze unblinking for one minute to start with, gradually increasing the time over several weeks to a maximum of 9 minutes. By the force of your will, draw the sun’s healing rays into your eyes.

Then turn your back to the sun, and blink your eyes fairly rapidly for about one minute. Close the eyes, and cover them first with the right hand, then with the left (so that the left hand covers the right), and gaze into the after-image that you see. The sun’s rays should strike on the area of the medulla oblongata. The light that you see in the after-image will be partly due to the energy flowing into the eyes from the medulla oblongata. The more deeply you concentrate, the more this flow of energy will be strengthened.

Gaze into the after-image as long as it lasts. Then turn your eyes far to the left, up, right, and down. Repeat this rotation three times. Then squeeze the eyes tightly, sending energy to them as you were taught to do in the lesson on energization. Open the eyes, and stare at an object. Repeat this squeezing and staring process three times.

You will be amazed to see how, in a comparatively brief time, your vision improves, and also how much more alive your eyes feel….

When you gaze into the sun while practicing the eye exercises, try to be sensitively aware of its ability to heal on levels more subtle than merely physical. Brahmins in India, while gazing into the sun at sunrise, mentally recite the Gayatri Mantra.

It is also helpful to gaze upward toward the point between the eyebrows – not with the eyes crossed, but rather converged gently as if on the thumb when the hand is extended to a point about 18 inches in front of, and slightly above, the head. This position is extremely beneficial for the eyes if practiced with complete relaxation, not with visual strain.