Tibet Eye Exercises

Tibetan monks created an eye chart with a snowflake image. The monks believed that corrective eye exercises would stimulate the optical system, resulting in clearer vision. While no clinical studies support the effectiveness of Tibetan eye exercises, it might be interesting to try the exercises and see if your vision improves, but doing these exercises repeatedly can cause eyestrain. If you're interested in eye exercises to improve your vision, talk to your eye doctor.

Palming

• Remove your contacts or glasses before performing this exercise. Sit in a comfortable chair with your back straight, and your head still. The Tibetan eye chart should be hanging about 6 inches in front of you, with the center level with your nose. (You can download and print the Tibetan eye chart from the Internet.) Each movement should last for 30 seconds, moving only your eyes.

  Before performing your eye exercises, cup your palms over your closed eyes for a few minutes to promote a relaxed feeling.

  Move your eyes in a clockwise direction around the dots on the outer circle of the snowflake.

  Repeat the exercise, moving your eyes in a counterclockwise direction.

  Shift your eyes back and forth between the dots at the two o'clock and eight o'clock positions. Repeat, shifting your eyes between the four o'clock and 10 o'clock dots.

  Blink your eyes, and when you're finished with your eye exercises, cup your palms over your eyes for a few minutes, until your eyes feel refreshed.

  According to Healthy-ojas.com, after you start performing Tibetan eye exercises, you should wear your eyeglasses or contacts as little as possible. Eventually, you should no longer have to depend on these aids.

Step Exercise

• Hold the snowflake about an inch from your eyes, lining your nose up with the center of the snowflake.

  You may not be able to see the snowflake clearly, but you should be concentrating on the movement, not on how clear your vision is during the exercise.

  You'll see a series of steps moving out of the center of the snowflake, which will lead you to a ball at the end. Take a deep breath in, and move your eyes up each series of steps until the ball comes into view. As you exhale, move your eyes down the series of steps until you're at the center.

  You'll also see straight spikes alternating from the ball part of the snowflake. When you finish the steps that lead to the ball, repeat the exercise with the spikes, taking deep breaths in as you move your eyes out, and exhaling as you move your eyes back to the center of the snowflake.

  Perform these exercises three times a day, but give your eyes a few hours of rest in between exercise sessions.