If you are into yoga and meditation techniques, palming may not be new to you. It’s usually done every after the end of yoga class to improve your vision and alleviate tension. Palming is ideal for the relaxation of the mind, body, and eyes. When doing this, you only need to cover your eyes with your hands while resting your eyes.
There’s more to palming than simply putting pressure on your eyelids. As you read along, get to know the scientific explanation of this exercise and its benefits.
How to perform palming?
- Choose a comfortable position. You can use a table or a desk where you can rest your elbows comfortably. When palming, you need to relax your arms naturally. Make sure that your hands will not carry the weight of your head. It will defeat the purpose of relaxation.
- While sitting, you need to align your back and neck. This is to prevent any important blood vessels in your spine from curving.
- Make your hands warm by rubbing them together or soak them in warm water.
- When you feel the warmth on your hands, place them over your closed eyes. Form an inverted V with your palms. Position your hands properly with your tip of the right pinky touching the tip of the left pinky.
- Remember not to put too much pressure when covering your eyes. Your palms must just be like resting on your eye sockets. The base of your pinky fingers must be on the bridge of your nose without obstructing your breathing.
- Ensure you do not see any light in between your fingers.
- You can begin to relax while focusing on your breathing.
- Visualize total darkness and concentrate on the warmth of your hands. You can do palming for five minutes.
Is palming effective?
Research on Effects of Yogic Exercise on Eye Fatigue confirmed that yogic exercises such as palming are significant non-pharmacological interventions to relieve eye fatigue.
When your eyes feel tired, strained, dry, or when you have a blurry vision after a long day, you can spend five minutes palming.
Palming serves as a rest for your eyes. It’s from this exercise that you achieve relaxation. Learning what relaxation feels like is an essential first step to improve your eyesight. Once you have that state of relaxation with your eyes closed, you can also apply that feeling with open eyes—the more relaxed your eyes, the lesser the possibility of eye strain.
The deep black that you see while palming is the mind’s signal that you are relaxed at that very moment. Do not be disappointed if you see cloudy, grainy, or wavy colors as you close your eyes. You are not into total relaxation yet, and you need to be patient with your progress.
The benefits of palming
Your vision is about 90% the mind and only 10% eyes. Doing traditional eye exercise is beneficial to remedy vision-related concerns to the muscle and fusion imbalance. However, there will come a time that those will not be enough.
After long hours of standing under bright lights or staring at your digital devices, you may notice several vision concerns. Just like stretching your body to loosen tight muscles, palming works to resolve these symptoms and reverse the effects of daily grueling tasks.
Palming is a holistic approach to experiencing a healthy lifestyle. Remember that there is a beautiful connection between the body and the mind. This is one of the reasons why palming is beneficial not just for your vision but also for your focus. Furthermore, your neck, shoulders, and other tight joints will start to loosen. With your palming exercise journey, you may start to notice a clearer vision, reduction in dry eyes and headaches, and will boost your mood.
Final Thoughts
Allotting a few minutes for palming from your hectic schedule is easier said than done. It will probably slip your mind, and the next thing you know, you feel exhausted. On the flip side, when you slowly include exercise into your daily routine, it becomes a habit, just like eating your meal every day. The key here is to start listening to your body and taking care of yourself. Once you aim for wellness, healthy exercises and other things that you have to do to achieve a healthy lifestyle will naturally follow.