Eyesight and Breathing are two essential functions that influence each other in many ways and into which we can touch with simple interventions that may help us to make big changes over time.
In today’s post, I will write about some of the ways in which the breath affects vision.
As a Bates Method of Vision Educator, I learned Dr. Bates’ four basic principles of vision:
- 1) Centralization
- 2) Movement
- 3) Relaxation
- 4) Memory and Imagination
In today’s blog we will concentrate on principle number 3 – Relaxation.
Most of us, if we pay attention will notice that our vision fluctuates, according to various elements of our life experience. When we are tired, have spent the day in front of the computer or are stressed we don’t see as well. Conversely, when we are relaxed, well-rested and engaged with what we are doing and perceiving, our vision becomes clearer and sharper and easier.
Relaxation is an important aspect of seeing well. And breathing is an important aspect of relaxation.
Our breath moves through three areas of our body, our belly, our chest and our upper airways (nasal passages, nose and throat). In the best of all possible worlds the breath is designed to flow freely between thorax and abdomen, to expand in all three dimensions and to come in through our nose more than our mouth.
Take a moment just to notice your naturally occurring breath, with curiousity–not trying to change anything. Where do you feel your breath moving? If you place a hand on your belly and a hand on your chest, can you feel one or both of your hands moving? Does air come in through your nose?
Had you diminished your breath to stillness while you were reading? Often when we concentrate, or read we tend to diminish the movement of our breath to almost nothing. And when we hold our breath, our neck and shoulders tighten up and our eyes tense as well. And then we don’t see as well.
For this reason one of the maxims of the Bates Method of Vision is “Blink and Breathe”.
But what does it mean to breath?
When we think that we need to breath, often we will pull in a deep breath, or force the breath out with a sigh. We repeat this a few times, and then go back to what we were doing, and forget about it. And again, our breath diminishes.
Breathing is an autonomic function–one that is designed to happen by itself. But because our breath is affected by our emotions, our stress levels, our level of activity and the level of safety that we feel at any given moment (and our vision is affected by all of these factors too!) sometimes that body wisdom that should be orchestrating our breathing, shuts down.
Here are some simple ways to get the body wisdom of the breath back on line and subsequently bring ourselves back to the natural state of relaxation and clear vision that is our birthright.
Allowing the Exhale
Exhalation, when we are in a state of quiet breathing, is a passive movement where the respiratory diaphragm releases and returns to its naturally relaxed position, higher in the ribcage. The elastic tissues of the lungs also act to empty the lungs and lift the diaphragm into its resting position.
An exhale that we allow is very different from an exhale that we push out. We use a forced exhale to tighten down our ribcage when we are preparing for impact or effort. Think of getting ready to lift a heavy potted plant. What do you do? You breath out and tighten your ribs as part of the core stability necessary for the work you will do.
Conversely, when we release the outbreath, instead of pushing it, it brings us into a relaxed (parasympathetic) state. See if you can find this possibility in your own body right now. Noticing your inbreath, you will notice a moment where it naturally stops – it stops when your lungs fill up. Now, if you pay attention, you may feel your diaphragm soften and if you just wait, and notice, you will feel how your breath moves out naturally, without any help from you. When we allow the outbreath, instead of “doing” the outbreath, our ribcage softens and settles and we feel relaxation throughout our body.
And here’s another very useful tip. One of the simplest ways our body knows that it is safe is when the outbreath lasts longer than the inbreath. When we think that we might need to prepare for danger, we will tend to breath in more, because we are pumping up the oxygen levels in our body for possible action.
And when we feel safe we allow longer outbreaths. Thus, just staying a second more with the releasing movement of the outbreath, tends to relax us, not only physically but mentally and bring us into a more parasympathetic state. When our body feels the longer outbreath happening it shifts into a state of safety, and this affects our overall muscle tone and our vision in very life-affirming ways.
Allowing the inbreath through the nose
Another simple tip that helps vision through the breath is to allow the inspiration to come in through the nose.
Again, the secret here is in allowing, not doing. Often in our world that is over conditioned to doing and action, if we think about nose-breathing, we will start by attempting to suck the air in through our nose. This has the converse effect of narrowing our nasal passageways, so that it is harder, not easier for the air to come in through our nose.
Our sinuses are membrane-lined cavities, distributed on the inside of our cheek bones, in our forehead and deep within our skull, behind our eyes. When our sinuses breath, our eyes breath.
The easiest way to allow the air in through the nose is to start by feeling a widening at the root of our nose and to imagine just how much air there is in the environment in which we find ourselves. There is plenty of air, and when the movement of our inbreath begins, all we have to do is to allow our nose to stay wide, and the air will come in.
My mentor, Hubert Godard, compares the allowing of the breath to wanting a drink of the water while we hold a cup in our hand and are standing in the rain. All we have to do is tip the cup upwards so that the rain falls into the cup. But when we try to force or do the breath, it is as if we turn the cup upside down and although it is raining and the water that we desire is all around, none goes into our cup.
As we allow the air to move in through our nasal passageways it massages our entire face from the inside and our eyes from behind and our vision clears.
I hope these two tips have been helpful. In my next blog we will explore how we can play with changes in the way that we use our eyes, to enhance our allowing of the breath.