Why eye exercises keep your brain young

Trataka is part of the fifth limb of yoga, dealing with focus. Though most of the exercises are eye-oriented, the effort is towards focusing the mind.

Intriguingly not many yoga classes devote much time to this aspect. Perhaps they figure out that since we naturally practice drishti/ focus on a point --for each asana  or practice, they can dispense with trataka. 

But these set of eye exercises are not the same as drishti-- focal point in an asana. 

In fact, even advanced hatha yoga practitioners can become restless when doing trataka. Being skilled in asana is not any great indication of the mental prowesss or spiritual discipline. Many famous  hatha yogis -- in recent years -- have been called out as sexual predators, so you get my point. 

Some odd behavior patterns that extreme hatha yogis can demonstrate -- which I believe could have been controlled through a regular trataka practice -- include: 

* anger 

* competitiveness 

* ambition

* aggression 

* overweening pride 

* self-centeredness 

* substance abuse 

* greed 

In fact, one of the reasons I simply keep off the ashram circuit is that these qualities erupt with ugly regularity amongst people who claim to be yoga practitioners. The worse part is, my fear, that a lopsided practice, favoring only one of the limbs of yoga creates monsters who have, unfortunately, learnt to hide their monstrosity (till they are called out). They fake it, and actually can cause a lot of disruption and harm unless they get caught out. 

I believe that pranayama, trataka and dhyana can tame this terrible eruption of the ego in a hatha yogi. 

That is my personal belief. But somewhat, as if to support my viewpoint, I read several reports online that support this idea somewhat. By indicating that eye exercises can help prevent decline of cognitive functions in older people while leapfrog learning skills in the young. 

Why should this be? 

* 90 per cent of our information input, into the brain, for any action is visual. 

* the retina is actually an extension of your brain

* vision takes up over 30 per cent of your cortex -- showing how much space is devoted to the eyes, in your brain 

And eye exercise help with these functions: 

* COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY  : Ability to multi-task and process information fast as an action happens and choose the appropriate action. 

* SELECTIVE FOCUS: To  cut out extraneous distractions and focus on one task while others jostle for your attention .

* RESPONSE INHIBITION  : This may be perhaps the most exciting, for those trying out new skills -- control an unwanted action and be able to complete a task without scattering one. 

I have recently started hula hooping and  I find how all this makes so much sense. For instance, you have to control the urge of the shoulders to  move with the hoop, and be still as it circles over the muscles! To only focus on those points of the body where the hoop is touching. And to move one part of the body while holding the other part still. All these points above are there in every new move I learn. 

Yes, trataka is powerful. It can be the most important aspect of yoga. I feel it is the bridge between the purely physical and the mental and spiritual aspects of yoga.