Letting Go for Eye Relaxation

Myasthenia gravis affects muscles of the body, especially those of the eyes, often leading to drooping eyelids and eyestrain that may affect the overall vision of an individual. Therefore, eye relaxation is important to how the eye muscles may function optimally.

Eye relaxation begins with the mind first, not the eye. The mind must be completely relaxed before it can relax the body—and the eye, which is only one of the organs of the body. Letting go is the way to go for relaxation of the mind, the body, and then the eye.

Relax the body to relax the eye

Practicing Oriental exercises, such as Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and Yoga, can significantly relax the body because these exercises focus on “soft” movements of the body. Western-style exercises, on the other hand, focus more on building physical strength and muscles rather than on relaxing the muscles, and hence total body relaxation.

Self-massage to relax the eye

Self-massage the eye for relaxation to increase blood circulation, to create a sense of ease about seeing, and to enhance eye awareness for better vision.

Facial and eye massage 

• Breathe deeply and slowly.
• Rub both hands to generate warmth.
• Massage your jaw with your hands moving in small circles, from the chin outward along your jawbone up to the front of and behind your ears.
• Then, move your hands over the bridge of your nose, and massage outward along your cheekbones until you reach your temples and your ears.
• Then, starting from the bridge of your nose, massage along your eyebrows, moving above, below, and along the brow. Use your thumbs to press against the grooves slightly below your eyebrow ridge close to the bridge of your nose.
• Gently squeeze your eyeball with your fingers.
• Finally, use long, firm, strokes to massage your forehead from the left to the right, and then from the right to the left.

Throughout your facial and eye self-massage, identify sore spots, especially in the eyebrow area. Massage them with slightly harder and stronger circular movements.

Rub the eye 

• Apply and press the heel of your left palm and the heel of your right palm against your left eye and right eye, respectively.
• With gentle pressure, rub with a twisting movement your left eye with your left palm and your right eye with your right palm.
• Meanwhile, contract and relax your eyelid muscles.

Of course, relaxation has also to do with how you live your life, how you perceive your daily stress and how you cope with them. Remember, relaxation has much to do with letting go of all attachments in life. Let go of controlling how your life may turn out. If the mind is relaxed, the body will follow, and then the eye. We are living in a complex world with too many attachments that we are reluctant to let go of. Not letting go gives us everyday stress that is the underlying cause of many diseases, especially autoimmune disease, such as myasthenia gravis. 

The Book of Life and Living (2^nd edition) This 200-page book may help you to live your life in spite of having an autoimmune disease. The Book of Life and Living is a 200-page book that explains what true wisdom is: it is a process of asking meaningful questions and getting relevant answers from them to empower your mind to think differently. Learn how to harness your mind power with thinking -- how you think, react to life experiences, such as being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. The brain is a complex organ. In the book I try to explain in simple language how the mind works, and how you weave the fabrics of your reality from the life experiences encountered. Remember, being diagnosed with a degenerative disease, such as an autoimmune disease, is not the end of the world. Empower your mind to overcome it.

To get the Amazon Kindle version of The Book of Life and Living, click here; to get the paperback edition, click here.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau