Stress and Vision

Stress is hard on the eyes and the muscles in the head and face that support vision. It shows up in many different ways, from eye pain to dry eyes, pain around the eyes, headaches and tension in facial muscles.

A big part of the reason is that from the time we’re very young we learn to watch for cues to our safety – we watch our parents and siblings faces for their approval, watch out for cars, barking dogs and automobiles. Vigilance is key to being safe, and we reflexively stay in a narrow, objective focus, an emergency mode of attending.

It’s especially powerful because it’s not just a physiological process – there’s a strong emotional component. The severity of the threats and our genetic make-up determine how problems manifest, but almost everyone has stress in their eyes, face or neck from paying attention so narrowly and intently.

There’s another kind of problem that affects vision – how we pay attention to work or school, even when it has little if any emotional dimension. A recent study found that myopia, or nearsightedness is much more common now then it was 30 years ago, according to researchers at the National Eye Institute. About 42 percent of people less than 54 years old have nearsightedness, versus 25 percent in the 1970s. People with myopia can see things close up but their distance vision is blurred.

Researchers think the problem may be linked to widespread use of computers, because we pay attention to a very small visual field in narrow focus much of the time rather than varying how we pay attention – looking at large vistas or other things in the distance.

It is not, however, the computers themselves. We are all guilty of hyper-focusing, that is focusing too intently on our work, or on the other things we do. We need to learn to pay attention more gently, to dial down the very effortful focus we use without thinking.

The remedy is using Open Focus exercises which can not only release tension and help mitigate vision problems including myopia, but also can help release all of the muscles that support narrow attention – in the neck, face, forehead, scalp and elsewhere.

Can you imagine becoming aware of the space between you and the computer as you read this?

Can you imagine becoming aware of all of the space in the room around you and computer as you read?

The Power of Attention

This is the first post on the Open Focus blog. It was created to begin a discussion about some of the ideas raised in our book, The Open Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body, published by an imprint of Shambhala Press. The premise is that we all hold on to emotional stress that we have carried with us since infancy and childhood. Because this stress -- which moves through our body as well as our mind -- is painful, we shut it down reflexively to keep from feeling it. To keep our stress from surfacing we stay in a type of attention called narrow objective. This fear lives on in our stomach, our chest, our heart and other organs and muscles and causes a host of problems, including anxiety, depression, chronic pain, ADD, ADHD and many other things. It also contributes to an overall phsyical and emotional numbness.

Stress and fear is held in place by the narrow focus objective style of attention. We can release this held fear, and reverse negative physiological and psychological symptoms, by moving into a less rigid, more flexible styles of attention. Taken far enough we can even move into transcendent states.

The book includes a CD with exercises that very quickly move us out of narrow objective focus, and into other forms of attention. In the clinic the Open Focus exercises are used with neurofeedback which makes them even more powerful.

We believe that used along with other tools, attention training has the power to transform modern psychology and psychotherapy, and will allow people to gain control over their nervous system. We want to encourage discussion here.

-- Jim Robbins