The five senses of vision, taste, hearing, smelling and touch makes a human being complete. Imagine a life without one. It’s difficult. With present living conditions we care least for our body. Now, computer/Internet being the way of life, we have to ensure that our sense of vision is retained.

Thanks to all these fancy gadgets we yearn for. Children get glued to video games which has shifted the focus of our vision to arm’s length. The increase in the number of near visual tasks leads to changes such as night sightedness, suppressed vision in one eye, poor eye teaming and reduced efficiency at work and play. Major eye problems in later life are due to loss of tone in the eyes muscles. This ultimately results in eyesight to get weaker.
We do everything to keep our body fit and in shape. What is important is that we narrow our focus a little and take care of our eyes. Eye exercises have been used to help maintain healthy vision for years now. So, devote 5-10 minutes daily to keep this vital organ functioning problem free.

To begin with, we will first achieve our aim of improved vision. All you need to do is follow these rules to make you exercise routine enjoyable:

Breathe: As in yoga the importance of breathing is essential for eye care too. Breathing regularly will bring more oxygen to your eyes and reduce stress on your vision.
Blink: Blinking soothe and also moisturize the eyes.
Smile: Adding smile to your exercises will help reduce any tension you might be holding in your eyes. So smile as you go through life.
Have Fun: Do enjoy these exercises rather than treating it as a daunting task.
Commit: Be committed towards your goal.

Basic Eye exercises:
To stimulate your tear ducts squeeze your eyes tightly. Then blink normally a few times and squeeze again. Repeat a few times and your eyes will feel more relaxed and comfortable.

Near-far focus: Improves eyes flexibility.
Near point stress has been quoted as a cause of Myopia (Shortsightedness). It refers to the fact that people do too much near work e.g: reading and working on computer. Near work causes the eyeballs to strain as they try to focus. As a result, the eyeballs adapts by changing its shape, becoming fatter and more circular. The exercise will teach the eyeballs to return to their original shape.

Hold up a finger or a pencil in front of you, about six inches away. Choose a salient object, e.g- a chimney, tree, flag etc. at least 20 feet away. These will be your near and far points respectively. Alternate, between the near and far objects, looking at each for about two seconds at a time. Repeat until you feel your eyes really working, then persevere some more.

Swinging: Relaxes the eyes and reduces the strain.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and sway from side to side while keeping your eyes fixed on a point in the distance in front of you, Repeat 50 time, blinking left and right as you do.

Sunning: Improves circulation
Day should be bright with sun shine around or a good desk lamp with an incandescent bulb will serve the purpose too. Close your eyes. Look directly towards sun with eyes shut. While facing the sun, slowly rotate your head from side to side as far as you can.
This gets the sunlight on the peripheral vision, and it helps bring more blood circulation to your neck. Do this 3 to 5 minutes daily.
Exercises for Computer Users:

Scanning: Increases the eye flexibility
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. This ensures that your eyes move in a loose and fluid way. Do it for two minutes keeping breathing in mind at the same time.

Hydrotherapy: Improves circulation
Place two bowls of hot and cold water before you. The hot water should be not too hot that it burns your skin. The cold water should be ice cold. Take a clean towel and dip it in hot water and cover your eyes for 30 seconds. Repeat with cold water. Do this alternately for two minutes. Finish by gently massaging your closed eyes with dry towel.

Head Rolls: Relaxes your neck, head and face muscles and reduces shoulder tension
Take a deep breathes 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 to 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.

General Eye Exercises

Clock Rotation:
Research has shown that the extra ocular muscles play a role in the accommodation of the eye.
Imagine that you are aiming at the central point of a giant clock face straight ahead. Keeping your head still, look up as far as possible in a 12 ‘o’ clock position. Hold for two seconds, later return to the original position. You must really feel the stretch in your eyeballs.

Repeat for 1 ‘o’ clock position, then 2 ‘o’ clock and so on. Always return to the centre before moving to next hour. First do clockwise then repeat for anti-clockwise.

Visual Jumps:
This exercise will strengthen the outer muscles of your eyes. These muscles determine the ability of the eyes to move quickly from one point to another. The movement of the eye muscles will promote blood flow to the eyes thus bring more oxygen and nutrients there.

Make a big poster (probably 2’ * 3’) for larger eye movement. Place the chart at eye level about 2 ft from you (If you use letter size printout, keep the distance at 10-12 inches). Focus on point A to start. Jump to the next point following the path of point until you reach point B. When you reach each individual point, stay there for one second before you move onto the next point. After you reach point B, stay there for three seconds then reverse the movement from point B back to point A.

Yoga For Eyes:
Like any other muscles, the eye muscles also need exercise to be health and strong. Most of the time, we only shift our gaze minimally from left to right, as when reading, and turn our heads if we want to look elsewhere. By moving the eyes in every direction, without turning your head at all, the yoga Eye Exercises will strengthen the eye muscles, help prevent eyestrain and improve eyesight. Breathe normally while you practice.

Up and Down: Softly gaze center and forward. Draw imaginary line from the ceiling to the floor. Inhale slowly while you direct your gaze to the ceiling, exhale slowly while you lower your gaze to the floor. Slow down and please repeat five times. To finish, rapidly blink your eyes several times and close your eyes to relax. Until you get the hang of it, don’t forget to breathe!

Side to Side: Softly gaze center and forward. Inhale slowly rotating your gaze to the far left, exhale slowly rotating your gaze to the far right. Notice if you’re moving your head from side to side and try keeping your head still. Slow down and please repeat it five times. To finish, rapidly blink your eyes several times and then close your eyes to relax. Take a few long deep breaths.

Third Eye Meditation: Sit very tall gathering your attention to your breath. Begin to observe the character of each inhale and exhale. Examine your unique breath like each unique moment in time. Gently relax the soles of your feet into the floor and float the crown of your head towards the ceiling. Breathe naturally through your nose.

Now take a moment to close your eyes and direct your gaze to your third eye point (the space between your eyebrows.)
Place your hands in prayer pose, the knuckles of your thumbs gently pressing in to your chest. Bow your chin to your chest dropping your mind to your heart. Please take five long deep breaths, keeping your eyes focused. If you’re into it, this is a good pose for prayer, especially if you, like most people, experience your mind wandering.