P is a 78 years old lady and was suffering from Vein Occlusion for more than 5 years. She approached us to help heal the same only because her husband (a doctor) experienced relief for his back pain. She thought there must be a cure for her as well in Somatic Vedic Yoga. Central Retina Vein Occlusion is a blockage in the blood vessel that carries blood away from the retina causing sudden blurry vision and even vision loss in certain cases. Common symptoms include blurry or hazy vision, dark spot floaters in the field of vision, potential partial or total loss of vision in the eye. Potential risk also includes hardening of the arteries pressing down on and narrowing the vein. Her ophthalmologist had put her on a course of injection which were administered intravenously. Over the five years period she had already taken 25 injections, much more than warranted, with no relapse in the symptoms.
At the outset she was informed that Somatic Vedic Yoga is meant heal pain resulting from muscular contractions. There is no evidence that it can heal or release any clots in blood vessels. What was possible through the practices is to help relax the various muscles of the eye and the relaxed muscles may help indirectly to release the clot. It can be tried with no guarantee for results. She was fed up with the long period of medication and was ready to give it a try. Our research to help choose an appropriate mantra on youtube led us to a unique Upanishad dedicated for the eyes known as Chakshu Upanishad. The Upanishad had a mantra dedicated to Sun God to help heals ailments of the eyes. The video can be accessed at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1rnk7iLgKw . The instruction given to her was “P you have to listen to this video on Youtube twice or 3 times a day. Lie on a yoga mat if possible, otherwise on a bed. Relax your whole body. Then bring your attention to the eyes and feel that the eyes and the arteries and veins around the eyes are filled with the power of sunlight and it is dissolving the blocks and release the occlusion restoring your eyes to normal health. Visualise that the power of mantra is vibrating in each eye muscle and the arteries and veins dissolving the occlusion and visualise that at the end of the practice your eyes are back to normal. When the mantra ends mentally pray to Sun for helping to restore your eyes back to normal. Start the first round tonight and let me know on Tuesday when we meet for your first session over zoom.” This was 3 days before she was scheduled for her first session. Later she modified it by looking at the sun during sun rise and sun set instead of lying on a mat.
She then took her first session and during this session she was guided through practices to help relax the eyes taken from the pawanmuktasan series of the Bihar School of Yoga. [For more details see Asana,Pranayama, Mudra and Bandha by Swami Satyananda Sarswati] She felt the eyes relaxing and with that her anxiety coming down. When we met for the second session, she reported that the heaviness in her eyes which she used to feel has substantially come down and the black spot she was seeing is gone completely. During her second session she was taken through a different set of practices based on Feldenkrais practice for the eyes as detailed by David Zamac Bersin in his book Relaxercise. When we met for the third session, she reported that her vision has significantly improved. What used to be blurred is now clear. They blur occasionally but the blur disappears very soon. During the third session she was taken through a practice of movement based on myth of aging lesson 4 from Hanna Somatics incorporating eyes movements with them. During the 4th session she was taken through set of movements from Myth of Aging lesson Six from Hanna Somatics focussing on the eye movements part of the lesson. [ For these lessons see Somatics the reawakening the mind’s control of movement, flexibility and health by Thomas Hanna]. One day following the 4th session she was scheduled for her consultation with her ophthalmologist and took a scan which revealed that the clot has completely gone except for minute portion. After the visit to the ophthalmologist, her doctor husband posted this message “This is P’s today’s retina scan. Almost normal barring a small oedematous area in the corner. Looks like your efforts for a challenging case has paid rich dividend. Our sincere thanks & gratitude to you”
We hope more and more people will start exploring the power of Vedic mantras combining them with movement practices, postural correction and help heal multiple ailments. May be one day Somatic Vedic Yoga will become the go to therapy for many ailments. Hari Om TAT SAT
Ramesh Lakshman
Antarang Holistic Wellness LLP.