FIRST PRINCIPLES OF RELAXATION FOR BETTER VISION: SUNNING

Sun is food and drink to vision. The Bible says, "Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is

for the eye to behold the sun." Recently, at an international convention of ophthalmologists in

New York, a German doctor, Dr. G. Meyer-Schwickerath of Bonn, related that his patients with

serious eye troubles were helped by the intense light of the sun to which they were exposed in

watching an eclipse with the naked eye. From that time on, he tried to duplicate the power of

sunlight for their eyes in his office. For years the Bates Method has advocated the use of bright

sunlight for all eyes, normal or otherwise, and has achieved remarkable results. Eyes which are

sensitive to light are like hot-house plants. They are not used to sun and air, especially if they

have been reared behind dark glasses. Such eyes must be gently introduced to brightness. When

eyes recoil from sudden unaccustomed sunshine, it is the shock of suddenness, not the brightness

that brings pain. They must be eased into the light.

The Right Way: The first step is to remove your glasses. Stand at the edge of a heavy shadow—

the corner of a house or building or in a sunny doorway. Have one foot in the shadow, the other

in the bright sun. With closed eyes and taking a deep breath, swing your closed lids through the

sun then back into the shade, lifting the face high enough so that the sun gets between the closed

upper lids and brows. Think as you swing, "The sun comes, it goes." Continue this swing until the

closed eyes cease to flinch in the sun.

Second Step: Boldly facing the bright sunlight, eyes still closed, swing the head and body clear

to the right, then to the left, lifting your heel to free your swing and thinking, "The sun passes, to

the left, to the right, back and forth in the opposite direction to the swing." What you think as

you sun is very important as it prevents the eyes under the lids from fastening on the sun and

clinging as you swing away. Let the sun pass.

Third Step: When the closed lids are no longer cringing but are really comfortable in the sun

swing, cover one eye with your palm so that no light seeps in. Then adjust the hand so that the

covered eye may open under the palm. Now

20 swing and blink the uncovered eye across the ground at your feet. Then, elevating head and

elbow, swing, blinking rapidly, right through the sun. You will be amazed, no matter how tender

the eyes, that this does not hurt or seem too bright at all. Repeat with the other eye. Then swing

the two eyes, closed, through the sun again and your sun work is finished. You will notice that

your eyes are full of sun spots, "dots and dashes," so go into the shade and palm twice as long as

you sunned.

Once your eyes accept sun readily, you will be delighted at the physical comfort the sun gives the

eyes, the soothed easy feeling and the mental release, for one cannot worry half as much in the

sunshine as in a dark room. One day a young woman, a former eye pupil, came to see me with a

difficult emotional problem. She was on the point of hysteria. I coaxed her to go with me out

into the bright sunshine while we talked. She automatically began to swing her head with closed

eyes as she had been taught in her sun lessons. Soon the tension left her face and she turned to

me. "I don't know why I came here today," she said. "There is nothing wrong with my eyes but

now I feel better." "That is what the relaxing rays of the sun will do for a distressed mind," I

reminded her.

From the physical standpoint, the relief to tender eyes is inestimable when they no longer suffer

from the reflection of sun on a mountain lake or ocean shore, from the brilliant gleam of sun on

snow or the glare of sun on desert sands, not to mention comfort in city illumination and flashing

headlights. This comfort alone is worth the slight trouble it takes to relax the retinal nerves so that

light will not be exaggerated as it is to the tense eye.

Add to all this the increased strength of vision that the sun gives the retinal nerves and the optic

nerve and you realize that, truly, the sun is something with which you must reckon. When one

understands that sun keeps healthy eyes well and brings more health to sick eyes by speeding the

circulation to clear away impurities, one cannot overestimate the benefits of sunshine to the eyes.

Doctors are always amazed at the deep healthy pink of well-sunned retinas as compared with the

usual pallor of sun-starved eyes. From the beauty standpoint, sun gives a sparkle and luster to the

eye that nothing else can give.

If you are unable to get sunshine for the eyes, obtain instead a lamp with a clear 260 watt

"Nalco" bulb and a bright reflector. These should be used three feet from the face and treated

just like the sun in the sun lesson.

But nothing takes the place of sun for health and vision!

Light

Remember, the eyes are the only part of the body constructed to accept and utilize light. They

need light to see, and they function best in good light. The weaker the eyes, the more light they

need. Sun shining on an object may give even dim eyes a chance to see. Those who wear bifocals

often tell me they can read newspapers in the sunlight although large print is impossible in

artificial light. As eyes gain in power they do not need such extreme brightness, but even

powerful eyes tire and eventually become strained if required to do protracted close work in dim

light.

So whatever vision you have, be kind to your eyes, give them a strong direct light for heavy

work—not dim, indirect, diffused or colored light. If, as in so many cases, you have no control

over your working illumination, apologize to your eyes and compensate for their strain by giving

them as much healing, soothing, relaxing sunshine off duty as you possibly can. Weak eyes,

although they need strong light for their work, often cannot handle it. Strengthening the retinal

nerves with sunshine enables them to cope with either bright or dim light. So feed your eyes

sunshine as regularly as the sun comes out and they will gain in beauty as well as power. Well-

sunned eyes are polished and shining!

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