VISION FITNESS

The less time you give to your eyes today, the more you will have to give, later in your life.

SHREYAS CENTRE

FOR YOGA

THE EYES

• The eyes are the most useful, out of the five sense organs. Only about 1/6th of the eye-ball is externally visible.

• The images seen by the two eyes are fused by the brain to give rise to a single, 3-dimensional signal.

• Near-point works such as reading and writing are unnatural to our eyes. Our eyes are meant to look at distance; they were not meant to read.

REASONS FOR VISION DEFECTS

• The vision defects occur mainly because of the reading habits. The reading process lacks variety, and hence increases eye strain.

• More focusing strains the crystalline lens. This leads to headaches and nervous tension.

• Eye problems also lead to other problems such as back-ache, neck pain, muscular strain etc.

GLASSES ?

• Wearing glasses is not a solution. If you start wearing glasses, the power of the glasses keeps increasing year-by-year, which means that your power of vision keeps deteriorating.

• Once glasses are used, the eye retains the defect, because the glasses are a static thing and the eyes lose their dynamic nature.

• The glasses enforce the abnormal focusing. Hence, if you are already using glasses, then take them off whenever not required.

• Don’t use other types of glasses (colored, photo-chromatic etc.) for a prolonged period. The eyes require all the colors of light.

CONTACT LENSES?

• They don’t allow atmospheric oxygen to come in contact with cornea, and the cornea is deprived of its nutrition. This gradually leads to water-logging.

• If proper care is not taken, the cornea might be injured due to insertion/removal of contact lens.

• If hygiene is not maintained, the eyes may get contaminated with germs and microorganisms.

• If the fitting is improper, it can lead to corneal swelling, corneal abrasions, red eyes etc.

• Due to any reason, if the contact lens melts inside, it leads to permanent blindness.

DEFECTS IN EYE-SIGHT

• Continuous near-point work (reading, writing, working with computer) causes the lengthening of the eyeballs, thus causing near-sightedness (Myopia), wherein the eyes grow specifically for the near-point work.

• Farsightedness (Hypermetropia) is the reverse of Myopia. When it occurs after the age of 40 years, it is called as Presbyopia, which is caused because of the gradual hardening of the crystalline lens.

HOW TO READ?

• Read/write under bright conditions.

• Always read/write in the sitting position.

• The distance between the book and the eyes must be at least one elbow length (cubit).

• Keep the book inclined at about 20° to 40°.

• Blink more often during near-point work.

• Once in a while, take a few deep breaths.

Reading tips continued…

• Never read in a moving vehicle.

• Do not read when you are sick.

• Follow the 20-20-20 rule. After every 20 minutes of reading, change your gauze to about 20 feet away, for about 20 seconds.

• Every one hour, take a break for a while.

• Never watch television in a darkened room.

HOW TO REST THE EYES?

• Looking at greenery.

• Looking at distant objects.

• Agnisara kriya every evening.

• Placing wet cloth on the hot eyes.

• Sleeping for a minimum of 7 hours.

• Vipareethakarani asana every evening.

• Regular palming to eyes (sparshachikithsa).

Note: Palming can be used on the ears as well.

HOW TO NURTURE THE EYES?

• Chew Fennel (Saunf) after every supper.

• Later, consume Thriphala with honey & ghee.

• Soak almonds at night, and consume them with milk in the next morning.

• Once in a week, blink the eyes in one cup of water, mixed with 15 drops of lemon juice.

• Perform eye exercises, neck rotation exercises and visualization exercises (Jyothithrataka) regularly.

REMEDIES IN GENERAL

• Mix one part of rose water and one part of lime juice. Store the mixture in a bottle and use it as eye drops.

• Thriphala lotion can also be used. Put half tsp of the powder into half glass of hot water, add two drops of honey, mix and strain, cool it, and use as eye drops.

• Nethratharpana is another useful therapy. Add a few drops of eucalyptus oil to hot water, and expose the eyes to steam. Later, apply cow’s ghee into eyes, and rest for 30 minutes. Repeat this procedure for 3 days.

SPECIFIC REMEDIES

• For the red and irritant eyes, place cucumber or ash gourd slices on both the eyes, for 15 minutes.

• For the pale and dry eyes, apply fresh milk cream around the eyes, and then go to sleep with it.

• For the problem of secreting and itching eyes, use eye drops for 3 days, once daily.

• For removing the blackheads around the eyes, apply almond paste mixed with milk.

NUTRITION FOR THE EYES

• VITAMIN-A: Deficiency causes conjunctivitis, xerosis (dry eyes) and night blindness.

• Rich sources are: milk, butter, carrots, mangoes, papaya, coriander leaves, spinach (palak), mint (pudina), fenugreek (methi), drumstick leaves, all red & yellow vegetables.

• Fruits and vegetables should be consumed immediately after cutting or peeling them; most of the vitamin-A gets lost due to oxygenation.

VITAMINS B-COMPLEX AND C

• Lack of B-Vitamins causes watery eyes, eye fatigue, eye pain, mucous secretion in the eyes, cataract, glaucoma, and so on.

• Whole cereals, dry fruits and green vegetables have plenty of these vitamins.

• Deficiency of Vitamin-C causes cold and allergies.

• Citrus fruits (lemon, sweet lemon, orange), tomato, amla, papaya contain sufficient Vitamin-C.

• Vitamin-C gets easily destroyed by cooking.

Vitamins D and E

• Vitamin-D is needed for proper absorption of calcium. The deficiency of Vitamin-D causes myopia.

• High consumption of carbonated soft drinks results in water-logging inside the body tissues. Vitamin-D is responsible for the dehydration of these tissues.

• Sources of Vitamin-D are sunshine, milk, butter.

• Deficiency of Vitamin-E causes retarded healing of wounds, presbyopia etc.

• The sources of Vitamin-E are green leafy vegetables and wheat bran.

CONSUME REGULARLY …

REDUCE 3 WHITE POISONS

SUGAR SALT MAIDA

THEIR EFFECTS• More sugar in the diet causes the incidence of myopia.

• Sugar, within the body, uses up huge quantities of vitamins and minerals (calcium, sodium, phosphorus).

• God did not produce salt in nature; we did. The salt required for the body is already present in fruits and vegetables.

• Excessive salt in your body increases the blood pressure.

• White flour is created by removing the bran from wheat, which contains 76% of the vitamins and minerals. In removing these contents, 97% of fiber is lost.

• Consumption of white flour retards metabolism, causing reduced efficiency in digestion and greater fat storage.

HEALTHY EARS• Don’t put anything into the ears, for the sake of cleaning

them; the cleansing process happens automatically from within, and you don’t have to interfere with the process.

• Don’t expose the ears to cold weather, moisture or water; keep them covered, or fill cotton at the outside, to safeguard them, especially when playing with water.

• Protect your ears from loud noise; listen music with lesser volume; and reduce the usage of earphones, and such other devices, as far as possible.

• Practice Nadishodhana kriya, Vipareethakarani asana andAgnisara kriya whenever possible. For ear pain, wrap warm crystal salt in a cloth and press it gently around the ears; in addition, keep drinking Black pepper kashaya.

THAILA GANDOOSHA(Practice once in a week)

THAILAGANDOOSHA METHOD

• This is an age-old simple and powerful therapy, mentioned in the classical text Charaka samhitha.

• In empty stomach, take a little amount (about 2 to 3 tea spoonful) of COOKING OIL into your mouth – but do not swallow it.

• The nine qualities of the oil are: unctuous, heavy, cold, soft, fluid, viscous, mobile, slow & subtle. Hence, the preferred ones are sesame oil (vatha type), coconut oil (piththa type) and groundnut oil (kapha type).

• Slowly swish the oil inside mouth, in all the directions; pull it through the teeth & perform mouth-wash with closed mouth, for about 5 to 10 minutes, or more.

THAILAGANDOOSHA CONTINUED…

• The oil should NOT be swallowed; even if you swallow accidentally, you need not worry, as the oil passes through the normal digestive process with no harm.

• Initially, the oil remains viscous inside; but with more and more mouth-wash within, it becomes thin and white like wool. Then you spit it out.

• The time taken for the thinning of the oil indicates the status of your health. Faster means better health.

• During Thailagandoosha, perform the actions of Swarashodhanakriya and Nadishodhanakriya also. Meanwhile, rub the tongue to the upper palette.

• After spitting the oil, wash the mouth several times with water, and then drink one glass of water.

BENEFITS

• If mouth is healthy, then the body is healthy. Through oil pulling, the toxins from the mucous membranes are expelled out of the system.

• One of the obvious results of oil therapy is the fixing of loosened teeth, the stoppage of bleeding gums, healing of tooth pain, whitening of the teeth and strengthening of the voice. In addition, stomach, lungs & liver are strengthened.

• Oil therapy heals the whole body in perpetuity. According to the research conducted by Ukrainian physician Dr F. Karach, this treatment will achieve remarkable results with illnesses like - allergies, common cold, sneezing, infections in the -mouth, ear, nose, throat, eyes, pains like - migraine, neck pain, back pain, lip cracking, fevers, and irritability.

MAINTAIN BETTER VOICE

• Don’t strain your vocal cords unnecessarily, by shouting, or talking in a louder volume. Also, don’t speak non-stop; pause in between.

• While you are involved in continuous talk, keep sipping water, to avoid the dryness of the throat.

• When talking to a group of people, use only 50-75% of your maximum talking volume. The 100% volume is required only in emergencies.

• Once in a while, press below the jaws with your fingers, to release the saliva into the mouth.

MAINTAIN HEALTHY THROAT

• Perform Nadishodhana kriya, Swarashodhana kriya, Alapana(with all notes), Ujjayee kriya and Kaki pranayama, whenever required, or whenever possible.

• Consume Herbal tea / Kashaya (with jyeshtamadhu). Don’t consume coffee / tea, or any such modernized and so called energy drinks.

• When throat is infected, mix a little turmeric powder with a little amount of honey, and consume it very very slowly.

• For throat pain, consume a small amount of Thrikatu choornaalong with a little amount of honey.

• Another remedy is Black pepper kashaya (Crush 2 tsp of black pepper with 1 tsp of cumin seeds & ½ tsp of coriander seeds, and boil the mixture in 1 cup of water. Add a little jaggery and crushed onions. Boil for 15 minutes, strain and then drink).

REMEDIES FOR MOUTH INFECTIONS

• Boil turmeric powder or thriphala choorna in water; gargle using this warm water.

• Consume groundnut seeds boiled in salted water.

• Keep a Yashtimadhu tablet below the tongue; let it dissolve through saliva; swallow the saliva.

• Put 1 tsp of honey into the mouth; let it become diluted inside; swallow after some time.

• Drink lemon-juice prepared using warm water; drink warmed up tender-coconut water.

TOOTHPASTE & TOOTHPOWDER• Brush your teeth twice daily, in the morning, and

after supper. For avoiding the usage of harmful chemicals, the toothpaste can be prepared at home as follows – mix adequate amount of garlic paste, lemon juice, powdered cloves and salt.

• Toothpowder is better than toothpaste, in cleansing the teeth. The toothpowder can be directly applied onto a wet soft toothbrush.

• Finely powdered mixture of dried neem (bevu) leaves, dried jamun (nerale) leaves, dried chirchitha (uththaraani) leaves, cloves, turmeric, bark of babool (karijaali) tree, alum (patika) and rock salt can be used as toothpowder.

THRIVARGAKA TOOTHPOWDER

Thriphala + Thrikatu + Thrijatha + honey

Thrijatha = Thwak + Ela + Pathram

Modern medicines yield side effects; Herbal medicines yield side benefits. – Yogavana Swamiji

Ayurveda cures diseases from root;Ayurveda cures diseases with root. – Dr. Giridhar Kaje

Pain killer pills are brain killer pills. – Aravinda K.

General herbal medicines• Abdominal pain: Hingvashtaka choorna + ghee• Acidity: Aavipaththikara choorna with water• Allergy: Haridrakhanda with warm milk / honey• Asthma: Thrikatu choorna + honey• Cold & cough: Kanakaasava / Sithopalaadi choorna• Constipation: Thriphala choorna with water• Cough: Thaaleesaadi choorna + honey• Digestion problems: Maadeephala rasaayana• Energy: Badaam pak / Ashwagandha rasaayana• Eye care: Nirvaaha drops / Thriphala decoction• Fever: Amrthaarishta / Dashamoolaarishta

• Hair care: Braahmi - aamla oil / Bhrngaamalaka oil• Heart care: Arjunaarishta• Hyperacidity: Soothashekhara, Kaamadugha• Indigestion: Chitrakaadi vati / Lavana bhaskara• Intestinal disorders: Abhayaarishta• Liver disorders: Punarnavaarishta• Menstrual problems: Ashokaarishta• Piles: Hadensa cream / Thriphala Guggulu / Drakshaasava• Skin care: Kumkumaadi thaila / Haridraakhanda rasaayana• Sore throat: Yashtimadhu / Khadiraadi vati• Teeth care: Nirvaaha / K.P. Namboodiri’s tooth powder• Urinary disorders: Chandraprabhaa vati• Weakness: Drakshaasava