Do you ever feel like you are living life on a deadline? Maybe you do and that's why it's fast-paced. Not to mention, the eyes are mostly fixated on a computer screen or any screen for work or leisure. But that takes a toll on your eyes leading to issues associated with stress and vision on your eyeballs. So, you must protect your eyes all the time. Just as you'd prioritize full-body workouts, you need to look after your eyes too.

A lot of the eye-related issues happen from inhibited eye muscle functioning - that begets a routine to keep your eyesight healthy. Start a routine to relax your eyes and eye yoga can help you reclaim the lost strength and condition your eye muscles to function properly. Eye Yoga is practiced with the primary aim of improving vision and also to treat symptoms like dry eyes. It also has effectively decreased eye strain in some cases.

Although there is no evidence to back the claim of eye yoga fixing conditions farsightedness, nearsightedness, astigmatism - it does have benefits. At least that’s what Swami Sitaramananda, director of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center of San Francisco has to say "The fastest way to bring the mind into concentration is through the eyes."

What are the benefits of eye yoga?

Swami Sivananda, the late physician, considered a sight to be the most abused amongst the five senses. Yoga Asanas, his treatise describes eye exercises in its first chapter. But the purpose of this practice doesn't contain itself to the aspects of health. There is a fanciful correlation between our mind and eyes which has a profound psychological basis. Vision is responsible for occupying about 40% of your brain's capacity - which is why you close your eyes to fall asleep and relax. Four out of 12 cranial nerves are dedicated to vision exclusively.

So, insight is one of the primary purposes of eye asanas but vision improvement is also a part of its benefits. It’s just not the stretching of muscles that seems to have more effect, but relaxation also carries an important role in the context of your eye health.

Can Eye Yoga replace the need for lenses and surgery?

There are certain conditions in which eye yoga can be of assistance when you intend to alleviate them but the research to back up the claims of corrective cases is limited and incomplete still. It is always best to consult a physician and assess further course of diagnosis.

What has science to say about Eye Yoga?

There remains the necessity of conducting more research to 'back up' eye yoga as a form of practice. Eye Yoga mostly centres around focusing on objects that are both away and close. It also involves your eyes to move to all possible directions, respectively. Such extensive movements and muscle training can have two primary purposes:

• Small and purposeful movements when tended via yogic practices can calm your body. It can bring inner peace by providing a healthy coping mechanism - that treats hypertension which is often linked to anxiety, glaucoma, and headache. These can aggravate your optical conditions and make your eyes strain.

• Focus on practices can help your brain's response - furthering the way you interpret the things you see. This helps when you are experiencing a refractive error, making it difficult to comprehend the images. Although it won't improve your vision it can help you feel more attentive.

Wrapping Up

There are benefits to eye yoga that ranges from increased concentration to better vision and even spiritual insight. The eye asanas will enhance your dedicated yogic practice. This piece can be treated as an overview of the way you can approach eye yoga and what entails the real-world implications of it. Along with the exercises, you can follow a healthy diet to have better optical health. And, with age and the eventual wisdom that you will absorb alongside, these exercises will help you in self-assessment and provide you the insight you need to navigate in the world.