The Light Returns - 6 - Eyes in the Back of Your Head
The Light Returns - 6- Eyes in the Back of Your Head
Sensing deeply into the optical cortex as the light comes to you
Based on “Telescope Eyes,” from “Seeing Clearly” by David Webber
Flip your perception of seeing. Rather than looking out, in this session we allow the images to register deep in the optical cortex. By relaxing into breath, chest, tongue, cheeks and facial muscles, our heavy eyes receive the world from a place of balance and grounding.
Vision is not exactly direct. Light bounces toward the eye. It is bent by the lens - or better, the lens is bent by the muscles around the eyes - for focus. The rods and cones absorb the vibration, flip what is recorded, because that’s how it works, and then travels as electrical impulses to the optical cortex. There it is flipped again to build the visual image of the world to the way we know it. (Invertoscopes, which mess with incoming light to trick the brain into seeing things upside down and backwards, are used to demonstrate human adaptation. With patience, a person can learn to ride a bike seeing through the invertoscopes, but that’s another story. )
We register an active optical nerve when we close our eyes, seal out the light, but still see shapes and colors. As the nerve quiets, the activity subsides and we can rest in the deep dark of optical quiet.
This lesson uses imagination and the conscious, simple movements of the eye muscles to achieve zen-like passivity. The eye muscles release, the eyes rest in gravity, the focus softens, and when we open up again, what is out there comes to us. No straining. No expectations. No desire. Full body release. Pure reception and acceptance.
Science Nerd Candy Bowl:
Lots of rich content embedded in previous lessons and an animation:
ReCentering for Sports and Sanity - 7 - Inner and Outer Space
How the Eye Works Animation How Do We See - Nearsighted & Farsighted Human Eye Anatomy - AniMed (3:22)
Set Up for Supine Session
Lying on a mat with support for head and legs as needed
Leaning back in a comfortable chair so head and neck are supported
Blankets and socks as needed - extreme low impact lesson
Support to stand up at end of lesson with EYES CLOSED
“Slowly as I move, directing my attention to where I can move with quality, i.e. a sense of ease and comfort, I find that I can approach the difficult places [discovered in circling the eyes] ... and begin to make a complete smooth and enjoyable movement. Now I experience a spreading ease throughout first the right side of my face, then with my breathing. Eventually I am directed to return to the movement of the hands, and find my right hand more supple and moveable. This is learning, however, not at the level of simple association, or conditioning.”
How you might feel after this lesson: Relaxed, realigned, refocused, receptive.
Wednesday 9:30 am or 6:30 pm class registration, keep using it. $40/month; $15/single lesson. PayPal or Venmo to jackisue@aol.com. Or check to Jacki Katzman, PO Box 116, Bethlehem, NH 03574
For registration, Click Here