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Eyes are the most important sense organ. Eyes are created and maintained by Fire element. Fire element or Pitta is responsible for visual perception. Whenever there is excess heat (Pitta) in the body it will accumulate in the head and neck area resulting in eye problems, dark circles around eye, headaches, stress and hair fall. So any causative factor which will aggravate Pitta will result in diminished eye sight. For example, stress, anger, anxiety, alcohol, smoking, spicy food, pollution, constant use of electronics (screens), too many hours working on the computer, age - if you are 40 yrs or above- Alochak Pitta (It is a type of Pitta which governs vision) tends to decrease.
Below are some Ayurveda suggestions to improve eye sight and remove excess heat from the body.
Diet - Avoid Pitta aggravating food sour, salty, acidic and hot or spicy food. Eat lots of colorful vegetables, sweet juicy fruits. Apples are great, stewed apples are great for breakfast. Carrots are also great. Also not skipping or delaying meals will help keep Pitta in balance.
Almonds - Start your morning with 5 almonds - soaked overnight in water and skin peeled – on empty stomach. Almond is ideal for eyes, it strengthens the vision and calm the mental stress.
Massage - Apply oil to the full face but focus more on massaging around the eyes. Massage scalp and feet with oil to reduce eye strain. You can use Brahmi oil or coconut oil for head massage. For face massage, use coconut oil with sandalwood oil for Marma massage. Use circular motion around eye. You can even use Ghee for eye massage.
Ghee - Ghee is best for eyes. Put 1 drop of warm ghee in eyes before going to bed. You can even apply Ghee around eye before going to bed to reduce dryness and to remove dark circles.
Netra Basti or Ghee eye bath - Netra Basti is the Panchakarma treatment. It is Ghee eye bath in which eye is submerged in ghee or medicated ghee. Small dam of lentil flour dough will be prepared around eye and then the dam will be filled with pure warm ghee. The ghee is retained in the dam for specific time and on specific temperature.
Netra Basti benefits :
Eliminates dryness, irritation, redness of the eye.
Improves vision, strengthens eye
Reduces dark circles and wrinkles around eye
Reduces headaches, migraine
Relaxing and calming treatment for people who are working on computers for long hours
Slows the natural degeneration of eyes
You can schedule your Netra Basti - here
Rose water - Apply rose water on cotton pads, put these pads on your eyes and lie down for 5-10 minutes. You can do this every evening before going to bed after face massage.
Oil Pulling - Regular oil pulling with warm sesame seed oil on empty stomach for 2 minutes. Oil pulling is swishing oil in the mouth on empty stomach. It is a part of daily routine.
Eye Exercise - Keeping your head firm, look up to 12 position and to 6 position 10 times and then to 3 position and to 9 position repeat 10 times.
Clockwise direction and anticlockwise direction - Start 12 position and move clockwise from 3, 6 and 9 repeat 10 times. Then start at 12 position and move to 9, 6 and 3 position repeat 10 times.
Look as far as possible and inhale then look down as far as possible and exhale. Repeat 10 times.
Triphala - Triphala is an important herb for eye health. It strengthens the eye muscles, improves eye sight. It is helpful in curing various eye problems. It is also used to wash the eyes, in order to reduce their redness.
Triphala Eye wash - Put a teaspoonful of Triphala powder in a glass of water and let it stay overnight. Strain the water and wash the eyes with it.
Triphala Ghritam - It is indicated in eye diseases.