Trataka or Yogic Eye Exercises – Eye Exercises Part 2
Table of Contents
Trataka Yogic Eye Exercise
During the Previous eye exercises we learned in the last article I wrote, readers acknowledged that we should don’t focus on our eyes (clearly to see), we just moved. The next two practices, however, focus on the essence…
Trataka Eye Exercise
1. Open your eyes, lift your thumb in front of your faces, and your eyes alternately on the tip of the thumb and looking at a distant point. Practice 10, or as often as it feels good. Then close your eyes, loosen the eyelids.
2. Open your eyes, lift your thumb in front of your faces and focus on the thumb tip gently move your hands back and forth in the space. Practice 10, or as often as it feels good. Then relax, to rest your eyes closed.
Advanced Eye Exercises
These are called DRISTIS and the TRATAK. These exercises stimulate the nerve centers, develop the concentration, and strengthens the eyes. Start doing it gradually.
DRISHTI – six type of Drishti is the following:
1. Dakshina drishti
Open your eyes, move your eyes to the right corner with your forefinger helping, without moving the head. Keep as you know without blinking. Relax your eyes closed after the practice.
2. Vama drishti
Open your eyes, move your eyes to the left corner with your forefinger helping, without moving the head. Keep as you know without blinking. Relax your eyes closed after the practice.
3. Maddya drishti
Open your eyes, but just semi-open and focus on something in before you. Keep as you know without blinking. Relax your eyes closed after the practice. (This eye keeping is a meditation technique too.)
4. Brhumaddya drishti
Open your eyes, move your eyes to the center with your forefinger helping. Keep as you know without blinking. Relax your eyes closed after the practice.
5. Nasagra drishti
Open your eyes, move your eyes to the down the middle (tip of nose) with your forefinger helping. Keep as you know without blinking. Relax your eyes closed after the practice.
6. Shambawi drishti
Open your eyes, move your eyes to the up the middle (two eyebrows among)with your forefinger helping. Keep as you know without blinking. Relax your eyes closed after the practice.
Tratak Eye Exercises:
For this exercise, we need a burning candle and a dark, draft-free room. Sit on the candle at eye level, about arm’s length, preferably in Padmasana or some comfortable yoga sitting.
Open your eyes and look into the candlelight as you know without blinking. Then we rest with closed eyes and observe with our inner experience. Repeat the exercise three times.
Tratak is the one from the six cleaning yoga practices (six kriya).
Swami Vishnu Devananda shows the Tratak.
