-IBIS-1.5.0-
rx
imagery
beach ball
psychospiritual approaches

definition

image: Close your eyes. Breathe in and out three times, your body begins to relax and your mind floats freely. With your inner sight, fly high into a clear warm sky, smell the freshness of the air, wander over the face of the earth until you find yourself over the open sea. You have always wanted to know what was in the depths of the ocean. Gently you fly closer and closer to the water then let yourself sink beneath the waves. You have no trouble seeing or breathing as you go down but you are surprised at how far down it is to the bottom. You continue to go down deeper and deeper and the farther you go the more clearly you can see. Though this puzzles you, you are more interested in using your improved sight to explore the new environment. After a long time on the bottom, your attention wanders and you notice that for some minutes your hand has been in your pocket, fiddling with the one small object that is in there. Wondering what it might be that you have brought along, you pull the object out, to discover that it is an empty plastic ball, all folded up and ready to inflate. As you look at this unexpected toy, something that you once heard about the ocean comes to mind and you decide to conduct an experiment. Bringing the opening of the ball to your lips, you blow it half way up, seal it closed and begin to rise. Watching the ball all the while. What you had heard proves true. The less depth at which the ball is held, the less pressure pushes in from outside the ball and the fuller the ball becomes even without more air. As you near the surface, the ball is so tight with air that you fear that it might burst. Also you are distracted by a feeling in your eyes that seems to parallel the situation of the ball. Stopping your rise, you take a moment to ponder this situation and remember the remarkable way your eyes had focused more clearly farther down. Not wanting your ball to explode, you let much of the pressure off and wonder how you might accomplish this same effect for your eyes. Thinking quickly, you breathe in deeply and let your breath out slowly, concentrating on the pressure that now feels so strong in your eyes and letting a small stream of that pressure join the flow of your breath outward. After only three or four such breaths you feel a light relief and you continue the exercise faithfully until you can come up to the surface without discomfort and can see as well there as you did on the bottom. Watch your beach ball float placidly on the surface of the see and then allow your eyes to open once again.
(Chavez)

uses: glaucoma


footnotes