Palming - Deep Eye Relaxation
There are a few ways to perform
"Palming", you just need to choose the one that you will feel the most
comfortable with.
Palming - The easiest method
Remember when you were playing hide and seek when you were a little kid?
It was enough to cover the eyes with your palms and nobody was
able to see you! 
Just do it exactly the same way as you did in your childhood -
cup your eyes up with your hands and observe the darkness in front of your
face. Make sure that you are not touching your eyelids with your palms.
Palming - A bit more complicated variation,
but, by yoga, there is a lot of meaning behind the following Palming technique:
Warm up your hands - rub your palms against each
other or hold them under hot water (not very hot!) running from the tap. Prepare
your palms like on the picture. The base of your right pinkie will be on the
base of your left pinkie or if it is more comfortable, place your left palm on
the top of your right palm making an upside down V with your palms.
Cover up your eyes with the
palms. The base of the pinkie fingers will be right on the bridge of your nose.
Make sure you are able to breathe through your nose, otherwise adjust the
location of your palms and fingers. Now leaving your eyes open, turn to any
light (sun, light fixtures, etc.) and check out the position of your palms. If
you are able to see the light through any of the holes between your fingers,
correct the placement of palms until you get a perfect cover that does not allow
any light to get to your eyes.
Now you are ready for the
true eye rest - deep eye relaxation that will remove all eye strain.
Do not concentrate on the eyes or area behind them. Breathe
deeply. Focus on your breath; it helps to calm down all of the senses. Feel
the warmth coming from palms. Then imagine absolutely black space in front of
your eyes. I found out that in the beginning it could be an extremely difficult
task to perform. The worse your vision is the more difficult it is to picture
absolutely black space. But I was able to trick my mind. I recalled drawing
different shapes with a black pencil. For example, I would picture in my mind
how I draw a circle and then how I shade it in with the same black pencil. Just
go ahead and play with yourself, find what tricks work with your mind. I also
tried picturing a starry sky and then I was removing stars one by one with the black clouds.
There is also another
important point that has to be taken into consideration – the head and neck
position during this RELAXATION EYE EXERCISE. Your back and head have to create a straight line during Palming. If
you are doing it at work, in front of the computer, place your elbows on the
desk, and then place your head into prepared palms. If your head is bent down
then move the chair out of the desk and bend in the waist until your back and
neck create a straight line. The reason for this is that major blood vessels and
your spinal cord must not be curved during ANY EYE RELAXATION EXERCISE. Do not forget about
breathing.
Improper posture for Palming
Proper posture for Palming
