Are your eyes exhausted? Are they tearing from the exhaustion? Need a break from the screen or over stimulation? Take a moment with this five minute practice to restore your eyes and give them some love and relaxation.
Hand palming is a wonderful practice not only to restore and re-energize your eyes, but it also helps when you are feeling over stimulated.
Sit or lay down in a comfortable position.
Bring your hands together and begin rubbing them vigorously to create heat between the palms.
Once you feel the heat energy between the palms, close your eyes and bring the palms of your hands to your eyes. Apply light pressure and feel the warmth surround your eye sockets.
As you gently lay your palms on your eyes with light pressure, allow your eyes to rest in the palms as they begin to settle into the heat of your hands.
Take in a few deep breaths as you enjoy the heat that begins to relax your eyes.
Hold there for a couple of minutes to five minutes.
When you are ready to remove the hands, keep your eyes closed and move your palms off of your eyes slowly.
The benefits of palming help reduce external stimulation, gives your parasympathetic nervous system (calm, sleep, meditation, etc) a chance to push past the bullying of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight, stress, anxiety, etc).
It also reduces muscle activity around your eyes, which then has a profound impact on muscle activity through the rest of your head and jaw. Also allowing light in slowly, trains your pupils to adjust easily to light and dark.
Palming is an effective way to profoundly rest the entire visual system by reducing the stimulation of light, and focusing the mind. It can reduce eyestrain, improve vision, calm the mind, promote deeper sleep, increase awareness, and enhance memory and imagination.
Give your eyes and nervous system a little break from this busy, over stimulating world we live in.
Try this and let me know how it feels or if you noticed a difference. Did it help you relax? Did it help restore your vision? I hope this practice helps you relax when you feel you need it. Practice this often when you need that five minute break.
We will enjoy this moment of self care together on the mat on Wednesday at 1pm on the Relevnt App.
Love and blessings,
Ana
Resident Yoga Teacher and Self Care Doula
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