Eye Control / Stretch
Purpose: To develop awareness and understanding of how the eyes move. To be able to control eye movements in a coordinated and effortless manner.
Materials: Metronome, Partner (or mirror)
Procedure:
- Set your metronome to 120 BPM and stand in front of a partner or a mirror. The beat of the metronome will serve as an auditory stimulus during this exercise.
- Place your hands together with your index fingertips touching at eye level. Rub or tap those fingertips together to give your brain feedback on where you are looking. Look right at your fingertips with both eyes together.
- Slowly draw a large ‘H’ in the air with your fingers, keeping your eyes fixed on them while still rubbing/tapping your fingertips together. Your head and body should stay facing forward the whole time while you follow your fingers with your eyes. Your partner should help you check your head and body posture and positioning. If using a mirror, pause every now and then to check your head and body posture and positioning.
- When moving your fingers left, right, up, and down, ensure that you are not pushing out so far that you are unable to keep your eyes on your fingers; your eyes should be fixed on your fingers the entire time. It is okay if your ‘H’ starts off small; as you continue practicing this exercise, you will slowly be able to push your fingers out further in each direction. It is also okay to pause for a few moments and start again if your eyes begin to tire or you find you are not following your fingers.
- Repeat this exercise 3 times, paying special attention to your head positioning. Try to catch any head or body movements on your own before your partner checks or you check yourself in the mirror.
Example: tiny.cc/eyecontrol
Tips: Hold a single target instead of your fingers if you’re having trouble knowing where to look. Make sure your target has detail you can focus on and is large enough to be held by both hands.
Hart Chart Near-Far
Purpose: To develop the ability to change focus from near to far accurately and comfortably sustain that focus.
Materials: Square Letter Charts, Translucent Eye Patch, Metronome, Partner
Procedure:
- Place a square letter chart on the wall at eye level. Stand as far as possible from the chart with the letters still clear. Be aware and pay special attention to the volume of space between you and the chart.
- Set your metronome to 60 BPM and cover one eye with the translucent eye patch. Hold up another square letter chart arm’s length slightly below eye level.
- In time with the beat of the metronome, read the letters of the first row of the letter chart on the wall from left to right. When you reach the end of the first row, shift focus and jump to the first letter of the first row of the letter chart in your hand without skipping a beat of the metronome.
- Continue reading the first line of the letter chart in your hand from left to the right, and when you reach the end, switch focus and jump back to the first letter of the second row of the letter chart on the wall without skipping a beat.
- This exercise is about awareness: feel the way your vision is shifting from far to near, be aware of the space between the far chart and the near chart, feel your eye relaxing to focus in the distance and contracting to focus at near.
- Your partner can see your occluded eye, and they should check that it is also moving in toward your nose when you focus on the near chart. It should move in a smooth big jump motion, just as your non-occluded eye does. When you look into the distance at the far chart, your occluded eye should release outwards.
- Keep alternating from far to near and back again trying never to miss a beat.
- Practice this until you can sustain keeping your focus at a near and far while reading, and on being able to quickly and accurately jump from one distance to the other.
- Do this exercise first with one eye, then the other, but not both eyes together.
- As improvement occurs, try to walk further back from the far chart. When this is done easily then try reading clusters of letters instead of full rows: read 2-3 letters at far, then switch to near.
- You can even try to alternate constantly between the near and far charts, reading one letter at far, then one at near. Your goal is maximum speed, flexibility, and comfort as you go from far to near and back again.
- Your goal is to comfortably do this exercise at a comfortable pace without tiring and with equal skill in both eyes.
Example: tiny.cc/hartnf