Eye Qi Gong

East Meets West with Eye Qi Gong and Traditional Chinese Medicine to Promote Eye Fitness and Health

Today we are experiencing an epidemic of people in the civilized world who need to rely on glasses and contact lenses to see. Most of us were born with perfect, healthy, normal eyes and possess the potential for perfect, clear sight that was designed to be enjoyed over an entire lifetime. So why are so many children and young people as well as adults dependent on glasses in our modern civilization?

The answer is stress in the visual system. We have all placed a great deal of unnatural demands upon our visual systems. Forcing our eyes to work at the near-point for prolonged periods of time such as at school or at work in front of a computer or book, creates stress and tension in the visual system. In addition, other common forms of visual stress include working under artificial lights, staring at the TV, night driving, glare, and pollution.

Visual stress increases the pressure inside the eyeball. Over a period of time the increased pressure makes the eyeball stretch and deform. When the eyeball's shape becomes distorted, vision becomes distorted.  The eye possesses ‘perfect vision’ only when it is absolutely relaxed. Stress interferes with the impulse of vision.

Chinese Medicine provides the basis for treatments that include herbal formulas and acupuncture/acupressure point prescriptions that support the eyes. This discipline seeks to restore balance and harmony in the body, so that the body will be able to heal itself. It is a gentle medicine, and therefore has very few if any side effects. Chinese Medicine can gently correct imbalances in the body with acupuncture and herbs to help prevent future disease.

But we can go further in our approach to perfect eye health, in a fusion of eastern and western approaches. Eye Qi Gong is a specially directed set of exercises for the eyes (developed from pioneering work by Ophthalmologist Dr. W.H. Bates) to help to restore balance naturally to the visual system. It is based on ocular-motor exercises, relaxation, breathing techniques, and acupressure points. Eye Qi Gong stimulates the circulation of Qi and blood to the eyes. These eye exercises are fun and easy and are accessible to everyone regardless of fitness level. Eye Qi Gong gets the stress out of the visual system as it naturally relaxes the eyes and the mind. Eye Qi Gong can strengthen the 9 muscles of the eye that directly impact vision. It also stimulates the neuro-muscular component of vision as it tones up the mind/eye connection.  

Chinese Medicine sees the body as an integrated whole and believes that internal organs can have an outward expression. The lungs control the nose and sense of smell, the kidneys control the ears and govern hearing, and the liver manifests itself in the eyes and vision. Any problems with the liver will also be expressed in the eyes. Chinese Medicine believes that the functions primarily of the liver and kidneys are essential to the overall health of the eyes. Acupuncture and herbs can be used to strengthen the liver and kidneys, which in turn supports the eyes. Acupuncture works through the meridian system of the body. It clears these electrical pathways
and can increase circulation to the eyes and brain.

Many meridians travel to the eyes, therefore it is important to use acupuncture to move Qi (bio-electro-magnetic or life-force energy) and blood through the channels for vision to improve. Points and Herbs that nourish the fluids and blood of the body and that clear heat and expel pathogens from the body, especially the liver, support healthy vision.  

An exciting development in vision therapy came from the People’s Republic of China. It was based on research that surfaced which established that the Chinese were the most myopic people in the world. So, in 1949, Chairman Mao Tse-tung ordered special acupressure techniques and exercises to be used in schools, offices, and factories.

Chairman Mao’s bold experiment was a complete success as observed by researchers that visited China in the 1970s and saw a population that was free of glasses. These acupressure points decreased pressure inside the eyeball and stopped it from deforming. They also increased circulation to the eyes which brings more blood and oxygen and also stimulates the eye to vibrate faster. Healthy eyes vibrate twice as fast as myopic eyes. This routine promoted good vision, and kept the majority of the people out of glasses.

An early reference to a massage treatment of the eye region from China states that “to rub the canthi (area around the eyes) helps them to recover from fatigue". "When the eyes receive blood, they will see.” They found that daily local self-massage around the orbits of the eyes freed up the flow of the blood vessels and dispelled blood stagnation.

As we age, we may be paying too high a price for allowing our visual skills to become weaker. Vision is the dominant perceptual system for human movement and the one on which all others are calibrated. Researchers have found that deficits in visual performance skills may be a risk factor to postural instability (poor balance) and falls in elderly persons. We are aware of many examples of the Elders in tribal societies that possess extraordinary vision in old age. The Australian Aborigines are famous for
their incredible visual capacity. They have been recorded to have eyesight that is 5 times better than that of Westerners. They had no problem reading celestial data which became woven into their cultural and spiritual
development.

Much research has implied an increasing reliance on the visual system with aging. This is a time in your life that you need to depend on your vision more than ever. Eye Qi Gong teaches one how to maintain a flexible and healthy visual system, at any age.

An ancient Chinese classic on ophthalmology called 'Essential Subtleties on the Silver Sea', gives you an idea of the preciousness that they attributed to vision. ('Silver Sea' refers to the eyes). The text states that “Vision is the most important sensory function of man. Vision reaches everywhere” and “Between heaven and earth nothing reaches in value for Man, and as far as the human body is concerned, nothing is treasured as much as the eye. It provides the most wonderful link for communication with the gods, and if we speak of the six sense organs, the eye occupies the most important position!”  The text states that, “Eye afflictions are rather difficult to treat. One should be careful to prevent them or address them early because in the very beginning the problem may still be eliminated easily.”
 
Chinese Medicine with Eye Qi Gong exercises creates a powerful synergy that takes vision therapy to the next level. Eye Qi Gong gives you the tools to restore and heal your eyesight naturally. It will empower you to take care of your eyes and to enjoy healthy sight for life!

Come join us at the Feldman Center for Optimal Health for classes and workshops on Eye Qi Gong and more. Please call 888-840-4325 for more information.