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Friend: “My eyes are really bad. I’m -7.00 in both eyes and have strong astigmatism. I’m thinking of getting LASIK.”

Me: “Have you thought about trying Eye Yoga?”

Friend: “I have, but I’m skeptical that Eye Yoga can improve vision.”

Me: “Why’s that?”

Friend: “Well, is it scientifically proven that Eye Yoga can improve vision?”

Me: “Yes.”

Friend: “Are there published scientific papers that has shown Eye Yoga is proven to work?”

Me: “There isn’t.”

Friend: “Are there any optometrist who teach Eye Yoga?”

Me: “Not that I know of.”

Friend: “Then how can you say it’s scientifically proven to work?”

Me: “I’ve tested it on myself and on my students.”

Friend: “But you’re not an optometrist.”

Me: “I’m not, but I am using the scientific method.”

Friend: “Can you elaborate?”

Me: “The scientific method is a way of discovering truth. You start with observation, then form a hypothesis, then test that hypothesis, and if the results match the hypothesis, you’ve discovered an insight that is true.”

Friend: “What’s the hypothesis for Eye Yoga?”

Me: “You can improve your vision with an intentional practice.”

Friend: “How did you measure the result?”

Me: “I use an eye chart to measure how far my student can see before and after practice. Most of my students get a measurable improvement after a 1 hour practice.”

Friend: “Ok, but I’m still not convinced. If it works for you and your students, why don’t more people do it?”

Me: “There could be a few reasons. One reason is that the improvement is small. After every practice, you can measure a small distance improvement looking at an eye chart. However, it does’t not instantly bring your vision to 20/20. Glasses, on the other hand, changes your vision right away. Another reason could be there are a lot more trained optometrists than Eye Yoga teachers.”

Friend: “I’m still not convinced it’ll work for me.”

Me: “You can try it.”

Friend: “How long would it take?”

Me: “1 hour”

Friend: “Let’s say I get an improvement, is it permanent?” 

Me: “Since your body changes all the time, nothing is really permanent. However, there are short-term improvements and long-term improvements.”

Friend: “I see, will I get a long-term improvement with Eye Yoga?”

Me: “You will if you also change your visual environment.”

Friend: “Can you explain more?”

Me: “Your body will adapt to the environment its in. Glasses and contact lens are both visual environments. When you take off your glasses and train your vision, your eyes will adapt to the new visual environment (without lenses) and your vision will improve. If after practice, you go back to wearing your old glasses, then your vision will adapt to the old visual environment and the improvement will be short term. “

Friend: “How can I get a long-term improvement then?”

Me: “You can change your visual environment by getting glasses that gives you a slight blur. I explain in detail how to do this in an essay titled: Change Your Visual Environment, Change Your Vision: A Scientific Way to Reverse Myopia“

Friend: “Wow, I didn’t know wearing glasses that make my vision blurry can improve my vision.”

Me: “Most people don’t know this. This is also why people are often skeptical when they hear about Eye Yoga.”

Friend: “What do you mean?”

Me: “Sometimes people have the following belief: if most people are solving a problem in a certain way, it must be the best way. This belief has several logical fallacies.”

Friend: “How so?”

Me: “For one, you are not like most people. When it comes to the make up of our body, mind, and spirit, we’re all unique and special in our own ways. We’re not commodities made by factories. Sometimes people overvalue authority figures, and undervalue their own potential.”

Friend: “Interesting…”

Me: “Can you think of all the times an “expert” or an authority figure told you couldn’t do something but you still succeeded?”

Friend: “I can.”

Me: “Eye Yoga is the same thing. Most optometrists will say you can’t. Yoga Charles says you can. The best way is to try it and find out for yourself.”

Friend: “Thank you. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”