The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › Injuries, Restrictions, Ailments, Pose Modifications › Head and Neck only › Flickering of eyes affecting balance/focus – any advice or other sufferers?
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › Injuries, Restrictions, Ailments, Pose Modifications › Head and Neck only › Flickering of eyes affecting balance/focus – any advice or other sufferers?
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Hi,
I just want to say I truly adore this site! I have been practicing for about 18 months and my teacher recommended the site to our class. What a fantastic forum for sharing ideas, comments and getting such great advice. 🙂
I have nystagmus- like an involuntary flickering movement of my eyes- and have had this since birth. The movement impacts directly on my vision and everything I see moves. I do have a point of stillness, which is in the bottom right hand corner of my field of vision. I have gained more control over the flickering as I have grown up and usually I can keep things pretty still unless I am stressed- mentally or physically (eg. trying to kick out in standing bow!). The flickering significantly affects my ability to focus on one point in class, and I quite often end up looking at the floor (not directly down, I try to look as far forwards as possible 😉 ). For some reason it is easier to still my eyes when I am looking at something completely fixed, as opposed to in the mirror, where things are always moving.
While I do feel that this is difficult for me because of my condition, I don’t want to cop out and believe that I will never get there. I am interested to know if you have any advice, Gabrielle, or if anyone else has a similar condition. Do you have any familiarity with the condition? Are there any exercises I can do outside class to increase balance/ability to focus? I would love to develop greater ability to focus on one point and I know that if I can do it in the room, this will translate to my life.
Many thanks for any feedback!!!
Namaste
Hello Emily
Thank you for your wonderfully inspiring comments! :cheese: Say thank you to your teacher on my behalf!
I have never had any experience with your condition. But I do have some ideas for you to try.
Have you had any experience with the Bates Natural Eye Healing Method (also known as Vision Improvement or Vision Therapy)? I have known people (including a personal friend) who have had marked improvement in their eyes recovering from all sorts of conditions. It may be worth talking directly with a couple of experts in this area to see if applying their techniques are worth a try.
What I would definitely do regardless would be to find a Hypnotherapist trained in Ericksonian techniques. This is most important, make sure they understand intimately the use of Ericksonian speech in their therapy.
On a final point I was wondering if you had done any other styles of meditation. There are many styles that use different ways to focus the mind. Some of them use internal and others uses external visualizations. I wonder whether the latter of these may be useful for you. You may have heard of the use of mandalas. Achieving mind stillness and calm and focus is a primary goal of any meditation. Most importantly you develop the ability to be unattached to stimuli that present to you. You mention that your eyes react when you have stress, so for me it follows that learning other meditation techniques to still the mind and manage stress will be really useful.
From a global perspective I am thinking about your ability to detach yourself from the possibility of a pre-conditioned response: when x, y or z happens then your eyes react by twitching. Your mind associates certain activities with responses that may have become automatic. This is why I am recommending Ericksonian hypnotherapy (which I have practiced) and meditation, both wonderful ways to direct the mind’s focus.
Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe you have dabbled in other styles of meditation (because HY is its own style of meditation too!).
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Gabrielle- sorry to take so long to reply. Thank you so much for your insightful comments! I have always been advised that the nystagmus is a nerve and muscle condition that I will not be able to control (a standard medical/scientific answer)- your advice to approach it from the angle of calming and focussing the mind is something that I had not considered! I am sure this will bring me much greater focus and control. I am also very interested in following up with the natural eye therapy techniques. Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such a considered answer- I really appreciate it very much, and will let you know how I go.
Hi Emily
You are welcome.
Never underestimate the awesome power of the mind. An Ericksonian hypnotherapist will help you tap into this incredible potential to master your own resources. I am so pleased you are open to trying some new approaches.
I definitely would love to hear of your course of action and the results over time, if you are willing… :cheese:
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
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