From owner-i_see@indiana.edu Fri Apr 7 04:19:47 EST 1995 Date: Fri, 07 Apr 1995 11:07:49 +0100 From: margot Subject: Palming Status: RO X-Status: Hi, people were wondering about palming - I don't have an answer to offer, but a speculation. (maybe even an interesting speculation) I'm a student of Qi gong and East Asian Traditional 'Medicine'. These disciplines rely amongst other things on qi channels and points on those channels which are used, besides other things, in acupuncture treatment. In many forms of 'medical' qi gong a point in the center of the hand is used in a therpeutic manner. Qi gong therapist will use the center of their palm to manipulate the qi in the patient, and of course this can be done with one's own hand, to a degree. While some fraction of the scientific community supports these things, others are very sceptical. I can only speak from experience - that point in the center of the palm can have *strong* effects on measurable aspects of physiology. A manipulation very similar to palming is in fact part of a traditional eye-massage in some schools of Oriental Medicine. Maybe this explains part of the secret to palming, and maybe not. margot btw: In Qi gong, the hand is also placed on other important areas of the body for various effects in improving helath balance, meditation, and the like. ========================================================================= From owner-i_see@indiana.edu Sat Apr 8 16:59:21 EST 1995 Date: Sat, 8 Apr 1995 16:57:22 -0500 (EST) From: Alex Eulenberg Subject: Why palming is better than sleeping Status: RO X-Status: On Fri, 7 Apr 1995, Sally Cooper wrote: > Can someone explain _why_ palming is so beneficial? Does it just rest > the eyes? If I had a good reason I'd be more likely to do it, but > logic tells me I should be _exercising_ my eyes to improve my vision. > Otherwise why don't I see better after a night's sleep? These are three very good questions that many people have. I answer: Palming does more than rest the eyes. Leaving aside the question of the life energy force ("chi" in Chinese, "prana" in Sanskrit, "orgone" according to Wilhelm Reich) coursing through the hands and into the eyes, we note... 1. The eyes are warmed by the hands 2. The muscles around the eye are gently massaged by the pulse from the hands. 3. All light (= retinal stimulation) is excluded, whereas when you sleep, some light may shine in through the window, especially in the morning. In comparison with sleep, we note that bad habits of tension may creep back into the eyes during dreaming. And everybody does dream, whether or not they can remember their dreams. Often dreams are confusing and muddy, straining your eyes. When you palm, you are conscious, and have more control over your thoughts. As for exercise, yes exercise is important, but remember, exercise is ineffective as long as the organs being exercise are under strain. It's not true that practice makes perfect. Only PERFECT practice makes perfect. You cannot exercise perfectly unless your eyes are free of tension. Another thing: you can exercise your vision while palming, by shifting and swinging pleasant images in your mind. --Alex ========================================================================= From owner-i_see@indiana.edu Thu May 11 20:08:19 EST 1995 From: Vic Cinc Subject: Re: stereograms (fwd) Date: Fri, 12 May 1995 11:00:51 +1000 (EST) Status: RO X-Status: > >I'm not 100% sure if I'm doing palming right. Can you give me some >detailed instructions?? > >Thanks. I like to do it lying down. you cover your closed eyes with the cupped palms of your hands, with the fingers crossing over your forhead above your nose. it should be pitch black. do *not* touch you eyes with the hands. then you can either do visualisation, if your are into that. or just sit/lay back and meditate. when you stop things are clearer and your eyes feel warm and much more relaxed and free of tension. Vic ========================================================================= From owner-i_see@indiana.edu Tue Oct 10 14:44:11 EST 1995 Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 14:17:28 -0500 (EST) From: Alex Eulenberg Subject: Palming -- the simplest eye exercise Status: RO X-Status: There haven't been many how-to-improve-your-vision posts lately, so here's one. Very simple. First take a look around and take a note of which things are clear and which things are blurry. Now, put your hands over your eyes for a half an hour. Do not put pressure on your eyeballs. You may blink or close your eyes, just do not let any light in. The fingers of your left hand should cross the fingers of your right head on the middle of your forehead. If it helps you relax, listen to your favorite music or radio show. Be open to any visual images that may cross your mind. You may lie on your back or sit in a chair or on the floor, whatever is most comfortable. Don't slouch though. You might want to prop up your elbows with a cushion. After the show's over, or the tape has come to a stop, or your 30-minute timer has buzzed, take a look around. How do your eyes feel? How do things look? Variation: wear a patch over one eye for a half an hour. Yes, darkness does amazing things for the eyes. Let I_SEE now how palming works for you! --Alex ========================================================================= From owner-i_see@indiana.edu Wed Oct 11 08:37:16 EST 1995 From: John_Palmer.WGC-E@rx.xerox.com Date: Wed, 11 Oct 1995 01:23:38 PDT Subject: RE: Palming -- the simplest eye exercise Status: RO X-Status: Alex, I've been working to improve my eyesight for a while now, and I have some observations regarding palming which I thought you might find interesting: - When palming do not set a time limit, try to forget about time. This is because time is measured by the left side of your brain, vision is handled by the right side of the brain which is the side that should be stimulated by palming. This is why you are encouraged to think about images during palming as again this stimulates the right side of the brain. The amount of time spent palming should be the amount of time that you feel comfortable and relaxed when doing it - do not PUSH yourself to go an extra 10 mins as this will probably stress you out and undo some of the good you just achieved. - I find listening to music is great during palming, however it must be music with no one singing, just music. Again this is because language is handled by the left side of the brain, and so if you listen to the words, the left side of the brain is taking over your concious thought.(Have you ever noticed when you've drifted off listening to music and you no longer hear the words just the tune, well this is because your left brain has switched off and has handed over to your more thoughtful and creative right brain which has carried you off to a world full of images and dreams). Anyway, I have generally found that a lot of left/right brain theory is relevant to eye work, and has many other implications as well, all of which is fascinating to explore :-) Hope you found this relevant. Regards, JP. ========================================================================= From owner-i_see@indiana.edu Wed Oct 11 12:38:44 EST 1995 Date: Wed, 11 Oct 95 10:23:00 PDT From: logan@jrs.com (Brad Logan) Subject: Re: Palming -- the simplest eye exercise Status: RO X-Status: Mike Ellwood wrote > Let me be devils advocate for a moment. > While I am sympathetic to the cause of > natural vision therapy, there is a case to > answer about palming, which more conventional > approaches suggest: that the effect one gets > is purely to do with the iris shutting down in > response to the lack of light stimulus, and the > apparent improvement one gets for a while is > due to the increased depth of field due to the small > aperture (same effect one gets on a camera). > > What is the natural vision therapy response to this? I interpret your question/statement to be that the iris closes, becomes smaller in the dark, that it is like a pinhole camera. Pardon me if I've read it wrong, but the iris opens in the dark, takes on a larger aperture. So I question the analogy. FOr me, palming provides an opportunity for a relaxation response. I can feel my eyes relax, my mind relax, and general relaxation. It is easy for me to unconciously strain to see and palming helps to counter act that. Medical science is beginning to accept the detremental effects of long term stress and I think this is all related. Brad ========================================================================= From owner-i_see@indiana.edu Wed Nov 1 09:54:53 EST 1995 Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 09:33:05 -0500 From: aeulenbe Subject: Re: Retinal "Dark Current" Status: RO X-Status: On sci.med.vision, Mike I. Jones wrote: > >Why is it that when I am in a totally dark room, I do >not percieve total blackness? Besides myself, several >people I have discussed this with report seeing flashes, >intricate patterns, and changing colors in total >darkness. William Bates, author of "Better Eyesight Without Glasses", said that such patterns are evidence of eyestrain. Those with "perfect eyes" see a field of pure black, whereas those with "defective vision" see colors or a field of gray; the more wild the patterns, and the less black the field, the higher the strain. He did not give any physical explanation for this. However, I have noticed that, for me, while I usually see gray-black myself when I close my eyes, after a period of intense "aerobic" activity, such as swimming, I will often attain a purer black when I close my eyes, which coincides with an improvement in vision when my eyes are open. I have concluded that this effect, and what Bates observed, has something to do with blood flow through the eyes, in particular the retina. >Is there a unit of measure for eye-brain light >perception in total darkness? Can this be an indicator >of any kind of eye disease? Bates said that the more excited the pattern, the more defective the vision. He did not give any units. Details can be found in his book, which is still in print. Incidentally, he considered any amount of myopia or astigmatism defects due to "mental strain". He said the higher the "strain" and thus the higher the error of refraction, the less black the visual field will be with no light stimulus. It would be interesting if someone could verify the correlation that Bates made. For example, do high myopes see wilder images when they close their eyes than do low myopes? For example, my myopia last measured in at about -1.00 OU, and all I ever see with my eyes closed is patches of gray or dull clouds of purple. No flashes. --Alex =========================================================================