Yoga for Your Eyes: Natural Vision Improvement Exercises

"This is yoga because this is union with the eyes," explains Meir Schneider in the introduction to Yoga for Your Eyes. Born legally blind, Schneider underwent many operations as a child but was unable to see more than light and shadow; he had to do all of his schoolwork in Braille. Today he is able to drive a car without use of glasses or contacts, after improving his sight holistically. In this video, Schneider shares his techniques, using movements that originate in two main sources: the techniques of ophthalmologist William Bates and Tibetan yoga.

To begin, Schneider instructs you to remove your contacts or glasses (how he expects you to see the screen clearly enough to follow the exercises is not explained). Then he moves on to "palming," a vision-improving exercise. The instruction is thorough, including directions on how to breathe, and the movements are simple and relaxing. The second segment is "Testing Your Vision," in which you're told to make your own eye chart to graph your improvement. "Stimulating Your Peripheral Vision" is next, and it requires three pieces of black construction paper and tape to help you balance the use of both eyes together. "Outdoor Exercises" explains why older people have more vision difficulties and shows how to improve this problem. The final exercises--"Sunning," "Skying," and "Long Swing"--help you to adapt to bright lights.

Schneider is an earnest instructor, who obviously believes strongly in his methods. If you're looking for a natural way to improve your eyesight, Yoga for Your Eyes is the place to begin. Also included with the video is a 62-page study guide. --Jenny Brown