Eyesight is a beautiful and remarkable gift.Many Ways to "See" the World
Eyesight is one of those miraculous gifts that we can sometimes take for granted unless our own sight is somehow threatened or compromised, or we connect with someone who is blind or visually impaired. Hopefully, one of the things we can come to understand, either through our own visual challenges or through the challenges of someone we know or hear about, is that there are many ways to "see" or experience the world.
I'm sure we all know the story of Helen Keller, born in 1880. Left blind and deaf before she was 2 years old by an undefined illness, Helen went on to live a full and remarkable life. She graduated with a BA from Radcliffe and went on to become politically active, fighting for the rights of people with disabilities and for the rights of workers. Check out this video of Helen experiencing singers and dancers, and following the beat of music that she can't hear. This video reduces me to tears every time I watch it!
Helen Keller "Watches" Dancers
And There Was Light
This is the autobiography of Jacques Lusseyran, Blind Hero of the French Resistance. Completely blinded at the age of 8 years old, this man learned to "see" in ways that we sighted folks couldn't even imagine.
Overworked Eyes and Contracted Eye Muscles
I think we, sighted folks, have come to rely so much on our eyes that we may be overworking them -- especially in this era of "screens". Just a short trip on the subway, or a walk down a busy city street reveals that many people are totally pre-occupied with staring intently at tiny hand held screens. Not only can this be a dangerous distraction and disconnection from the world around us, but imagine what it is doing to the eyes. Think for a minute about those poor eyes that are constantly straining to see tiny images or print. Think about the muscles of the eyes that are constantly contracted to see up very close when we stare at screens. We know what happens if we hold a muscle in a constantly tight contracted position -- in time it shortens and seizes up. We know, when our other muscles tighten up, we have to stretch. Our eye muscles need "stretching" too. They need to see distance. They need to see the "real" three dimensional world. They need to relax and be supported while we also use our ability to feel the ground under our feet, to sense and hear what is going on around us as we move through the world. It is vitally important to include all of our senses, both physical and our emotional "felt sense", in experiencing and processing the world around us. People who are blind often become very perceptive in ways that we sighted people, in our dependence on eyesight, can't even imagine. It is disturbing to see how really busy eye doctors are these days, and how many people are showing up with serious eye issues. The majority of eye doctors will only offer symptomatic help -- stronger glasses, surgeries, etc. There is seldom, if ever, any suggestion of getting to the root of the problem.
Yoga for the Eyes
Here is a wonderful video showing the work of Meir Schneider, a man who was born with cataracts, went through many surgeries as a child and was left legally blind. As a young man, he began to develop his own program of eye exercises, based on the Bates Method of eye exercises. Through the exercises, Meir Schneider regained his sight to the extent of being able to pass the vision exam for his drivers license. A remarkable story and wonderful body of work for helping to heal the eyes.
Yoga for the Eyes
Getting to the Root of My Own Eye Issues
Sometimes, or maybe most times, the actual root of eye issues goes even deeper than too many hours on a little screen (although that does not help!). But, since I am one of the few who has never owned any hand held screens or iphones, and in fact didn't even have a computer until 2008, and there is no known history of eye problems in my family, I had to look deeper into the root causes of my own very serious eye issues. By 2007, I had developed retinal detachments in both eyes, and cataracts in both eyes. I lost the sight of my right eye, but fortunately, after a number of surgeries, I did regain some sight in my left eye. So believe me, I am very conscious of limiting my "screen time" and alternating it with lots of looking at nature and trees and sky and following the birds with my eyes. I also do plenty of palming, which is described in Meir Schneider's video above.
I Lost My Sight and Discovered a Whole New World
For more details on the remarkable story of that time when I suffered through some very invasive eye surgeries and spent a number of months as a legally blind person, scroll down to my previous (first on this blog) post "With a Little Help From my Alien Friends". I lost my sight and connected with a whole other world and dimension! Incredible Spirit Helpers and other non-human beings came in to help and guide me. They are still my main helpers and supporters today. But I need to add that, after losing my sight, I learned, for the first time in my life, how to reach out to other people for support and help. I found some wonderful therapists and healers who have been really crucial to my healing process. The work I have done, and am still doing, with my "human" healers has helped me to begin developing some warm, deep, supportive friendships.
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| Dolores |
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| Hank |
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| Sweet Wisdom |
These are some of my Alien Friends. These are images which I drew (or maybe I should say they came through me) during the time that I had very little sight. My heart and soul were definitely guiding my hands in this process because I could barely see what I was doing at that time. Anyway, more of that story in "With a Little Help from My Alien Friends".
Sometimes the World is Just Too Scary to See!
The Story of a Very Beautiful and Shy Little Girl
A while back, in a therapy session, my therapist helped me scan my body and tune into those places that were calling for my attention. That particular day my eyes were calling to me. I tuned in and focused my attention on my eyes to see what messages or memories might be wanting to come through. Before long, a very vivid memory of me as a young girl in grade 5 popped into my consciousness. Being painfully shy in those days, I was terrified to open my mouth in class (or anywhere else!) to answer questions or to say anything. The teacher that I had in grade 5 was not a particularly sensitive or kind man. He would stand over my desk and shout at me for not putting up my hand to answer questions. Of course I withdrew even more. In this recent therapy session, I re-experienced the exact moment when, with this teacher shouting at me as he did, I pulled back into myself and I felt myself literally pull the energy of my eyes back from this glaring man. Soon after that, I could no longer see the blackboard and was sent to the eye doctor to get glasses. Maybe I didn't even need glasses. Maybe I just needed a kind and patient teacher! Of course nobody would think of that in those days.
The Beauty and Power of Recovering Memories
For me, the beauty and gift of recovering memories like this is that it gives me the opportunity to be in close contact with that frightened little girl part of myself. It gives me the opportunity to love and hold and nurture that part of myself. It gives me the opportunity to consciously integrate that frightened girl into my adult self. It gives me the opportunity and the right to feel my anger at that very insensitive teacher and to reassure the little girl part of me that the teacher was completely wrong in the way he treated me. That kind of treatment was very damaging to that precious shy little girl who needed love and care and kindness. And now I can help that young part of me find her voice and recover her sight. By holding her in my heart I can keep her safe and she can tell that teacher exactly what she thinks of him. And maybe I can help that part of myself free the energy that got trapped in my eyes all those years ago. Every time I recover memories like this one, I develop a deeper understanding of what other children and other people may be experiencing and feeling and that is an incredible gift.
So that was the beginning of my visual challenges. Or was it??Looking Deeper
Maybe some karmic or past life issues?
There is another part to this story that goes even deeper than my grade 5 experience. As a very young girl I was totally entrance by the Story of Helen Keller. After reading Helen's story, I was fascinated, particularly by people who were blind. I read every book I could find about blind people. I wanted to know everything about how they coped in the world, how they experienced and understood the world, what they felt. Somehow, and I have no recollection how, I managed to get hold of a book in braille and I struggled to learn to read braille. At that point, I had no problems with my eyes and no one in my immediate family had any eye issues that I was aware of. The other curious thing I used to do as a young girl, when no one was home, I would put on a blindfold and explore my way through the entire house. Our house was quite large -- two floors plus a finished basement. Blindfolded, I would feel my way from my upstairs bedroom all the way down to the basement. It was fascinating and intriguing to feel the textures of the walls and railings. I was curious to try and figure out, without seeing, the various twists and turns I had to take as I made my way through the various hallways and up and down stairs. This was my secret adventure. As I look back on this time, it seems to me that I was actually preparing myself for what was to come, although I had no way of consciously knowing that at the time.
My Theory is that from a karmic perspective, I likely was heading towards blindness. I have not deeply explored the karmic connection at this point but I somehow think that if I had just continued following the path of karma, without any awareness or intervention, I likely would be blind now. I still sometimes feel like I am walking a fine line between being sighted and being blind. On the other hand, my eye doctor always seems surprised when he sees me for my now yearly check up and my sight is either stable, or sometimes even slightly improved. I certainly had a real taste of being blind in 2007 and though it was pretty scary, it also felt oddly familiar. Past life experience? Maybe. Seems likely to me.
Fortunately, that time of losing my sight in 2007 signalled the beginning of diving deeply into my inner world, finally finding, and being open to, the help I needed to begin to explore and heal deep old traumas and wounds. Since that time, I have been healing on many levels. Old, self destructive patterns are shifting and/or falling away altogether. And probably most important of all, I frequently tune in now and "listen" to my eyes. I dialogue with them. I pay attention to the messages they are sending me. I hold them in my awareness, as one might hold and comfort a child. My eyes have been through so much, and they have much to teach me -- now that I am learning how to listen. Recovery is a journey.
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| Goats Eyes are Fascinating |
Love your eyes. Take care of your eyes. Give them lots of rest and relaxation. Appeciate and cherish this remarkable gift of eyesight.
Till next time,
Barbara
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