Qigong Exercises to Release Your Eyes

Posted by Paul Cavel on 22 March 2010

I don’t have to tell you that during the day, stress and tension have a way of building up. In our extremely visual world—with books, television, signs, cell phones, computers and all kinds of gadgetry—a lot of the tension ends up in our eyes and nervous system. I’ve got a few exercises that will help you recognise when your eyes are becoming overloaded and what to do about it.

Qigong Exercises for the Eyes

The first two exercises are only meant to be done once or twice in order to recognise what is happening inside you involuntarily on a daily basis.

In most forms of qigong, bagua and tai chi, you are turning, bending, stretching and/or moving around your practice space. As you do, your eyes involuntarily focus on objects in your field of vision. They remain fixed there until they jump to the next object.

Image © iStockphoto.com/Eraxion

As you turn, bend and move your body three bad habits usually accompany the eyes fixating on any given object:

• The nervous system contracts
• Consciousness goes external
• The occiput closes

These are great for revving the system and eliciting a stress response, but that’s typically the opposite of what most internal energy arts practitioners are seeking. So exercises 3-6 will help you break any bad habits.

Start from a relaxed and comfortable position and only do the first two exercises enough to get the point.

Qigong Exercise 1

First choose an object close to you, fix your eyes on it and stare at it. Notice what happens to your body, nerves and mind. They become tense, don’t they? Now relax your eyes for a minute or two.

Qigong Exercise 2

Try focusing again and, this time, go out to the object as if you were trying to reach it with your mind through your eyes. Feel the intensity of your action. Then completely relax your intent, your eyes and your mind.

Bring your mind back inside your body, soften your stare to a gaze and allow the object to arrive at your eyes. Breathe smoothly and totally relax your eyes. If you need to close your eyes to relax them for a few minutes, I don’t think anyone will mind!

The intensity or tension you feel from this exercise also happens involuntarily during times of stress and anxiety—whether you notice it or not.

Qigong Exercise 3

When your eyes are back to normal look at your object once again, but this time with soft eyes. Allow your eyelids to close a quarter to two-thirds of the way—not more or you will go into all sorts of visualisations. As your eyes soften even more, open up your peripheral vision.

If you can go behind your eyes to the optic nerve (where all visual information is passed to the brain), feel that space. Try to let go and relax the optic nerve. From here you can relax the whole nervous system and deeply release the eyes. Now, allow the object to come to you rather than you projecting out to it.

I’ll guess your object of choice is still there, but you also have peripheral vision and you can feel what is going on in your body. All this can happen whilst remaining relaxed.

Practise this exercise as frequently as you can, especially when you notice yourself getting stressed and revved up. Have you ever noticed people’s eyes bugging out when their tense about something?

If you practise releasing the eyes before your regular practice, you can calm down the central nervous system and soften your body. Use this exercise in your standing posture before practising your forms, during your forms and at intervals during your day to stabilise your insides.

Qigong Exercise 4: Occiput Open

Opening the occiput starts with your standing posture. When you look straight ahead the occiput is closed. Aligning the head properly involves bringing the eyes, ears and occiput onto a horizontal level. In this position, the eyes will naturally look down slightly and you must roll the eyes up into their sockets to look ahead.

Hold this posture and practise exercise 3, softening and releasing the eyeballs and optic nerves. As you do, be aware of any tension deepening into your occiput or brain. If you feel tension there, consciously relax it and drop it down your body.

You might only want to work on this exercise for a day or two before moving on.

Qigong Exercise 5: Shift Your Weight and Turn

With your head correctly aligned in your standing posture, look straight forward. Allow your peripheral vision to soften. Now shift your weight and turn your pelvis just as you would in Cloud Hands qigong, bagua and tai chi. As you move from side to side, allow your eyes to sweep around the room without fixing on any particular object.

Notice how your eyes jump from one thing to the next as you move. Try to relax your gaze and let whatever is around you come into your field of vision. Keep your eyes soft.

First relax your eyeballs for several shifts and turns. Next relax the eyeballs and optic nerves. Then whilst turning, relax the eyes, optic nerves and the whole nervous system.

Practise for as long as you want to as long as you don’t strain yourself in any way.

Qigong Exercise 6: Kwa Squat

Repeat all steps from exercise 5, but now practise your kwa squat. Keep the eyes soft and do several squats with relaxed eyes. Next relax your eyes and optic nerve. Finally, relax your eyes, optic nerve and nervous system.

Combine Exercise Time

Now take what you have learnt from these exercises into your practice. Keep the eyes soft at all times and try to look forward on the horizontal plane when your body is erect. Let your eyes sweep, drop and rise with the natural movement of your body during your forms. See if you can achieve deeper relaxation and greater awareness with yin eyes.

Happy practising,
Paul