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unlearned with practice After performing the following exercises you will be able to |
comfortably be outdoors with your eyes completely open The most basic exercise is to increase |
your exposure try to position yourself in just the right amount of indirect sunlight to let you |
bask in it wideeyed After a while youll be able to expose yourself to brighter and brighter |
light without squinting |
Eye Exercise WideEyed Sunlight Exposure |
Go outside during the day and find a place in the shade where you can comfortably open |
your eyes all the way Make sure that you arent squinting or raising or lowering your brow |
Remain wideeyed for at least five minutes The next time you practice try to find a place |
that is a little bit brighter |
Eye Exercise Sunlight Through Closed Eyes |
Allow yourself to sit or lie in the sun with the sunlight hitting your face Close your upper lids |
without squinting The sun should be hitting your eyelids It should be very bright and you |
should be seeing red Make sure never to look directly at the sun itself even with your eyes |
closed Breathe diaphragmatically Remain in the sun for a full minute Over time practice |
will allow you to tolerate more sunlight and improve the look of your eyes making them |
healthier calmer and wider You might consider performing this exercise from behind a |
window or car windshield to partially reduce your exposure to UV rays |
Studies have shown a significant relationship between depression and diminished exposure |
to sunlight The opposite is also true increased exposure to sunlight may ameliorate some |
forms of depression and even common malaise Traditional forms of light therapy which use |
bright artificial lights have shown great promise believe that this therapy is efficacious |
because it teaches patients to become comfortable without squinting and tightening the face |
in the presence of bright light Unfortunately this form of clinical therapy does not explicitly |
address squinting However you can and using the sun you can do it at no cost Pairing bright |
light exposure with diaphragmatic breathing while remaining wideeyed could help make you a |
brighter happier person |
It can be hard to maintain your new wideeyed facial posture in social situations One way |
to support your practice is through the strategic use of sunglasses If the sun is making you |
squint put them on If you enter a social situation in which you know you are likely to squint |
put them on Then with the sunglasses on open your eyes as wide as possible This will train |
you to feel comfortable keeping your eyes wide while speaking to and interacting with others |
By the time you choose to take the sunglasses off your eyes will be large and peaceful |
Chapter Hold a Steady Upward Gaze with Wide Eyes |
Refrain from Chronically Raising the Brow |
The next thing to focus on is the position of your eyebrows Most of us cannot widen our eyes |
without raising the brow and many people squint automatically when they let their eyebrows |
relax This is because widening the eyes is not submissive while raising the eyebrows is and we |
are conditioned by social experience to balance one with the other We offer submissively |
raised brows as a peace offering to compensate for wide eyes The problem of course is that in |
doing so we are simply trading one form of tension for another |
The biological details are interesting The eyebrows are raised using a contraction of the |
frontalis muscle which controls the movement of the forehead Among many mammalsand |
primates especiallyit is an appeasement display while lowering the eyebrows in a frown is a |
display of dominance The frown uses the procerus muscle to pull down the inner brows which |
are then drawn together by the corrugator supercilii Together those two movements induce |
furrows in the lower forehead |
Evidence regarding the social effects of eyebrow posture is compelling The brows are |
generally raised in primates low in the hierarchy and lowered in those high in the hierarchy |
Raised brows correlate with the tendency to flee during disputes among human children |
People rate pictures of models with lowered brows as more dominant than models with relaxed |
or raised brows Monkeys seem to feel the same way Rhesus monkeys submissively avoid the |
gaze of humans with lowered brows but gaze at humans with raised brows for prolonged |
periods The question is Why are raised eyebrows subordinating Researcher Caroline Keating |
offers one possible explanation |
Some expressions characterizing the dominance encounters of nonhuman primates involve |
eyebrow position Generally the brows are lowered on dominant or threatening individuals |
and raised on submissive or receptive individuals Theorists have speculated on the |
evolutionary origins of facial gestures Darwin believed that many expressions evolved from |
serviceable associated habits or preparatory responses associated with attack defense |
locomotion or changes in visual or respiratory functioning Several current theorists agree |
Selective pressures apparently shaped certain elements of preparatory or supportive |
responses into displays that reflected the original impetus of the behavior Thus submissive |
brow raising may have evolved by originally aiding the visual scanning of animals in |
threatening circumstances Because lowered brows protect the eyes from physical harm |
and facilitate nearfocusing during attack perhaps this behavior evolved as a dominance |
gesture by forecasting physical aggression |
It is thought that our propensity to raise and lower our brows may derive from ear |
movements used by our ancestors before they lost muscular control of their ears Many |
specialists believe that raising the eyebrows is a throwback to the ear retraction reflex that |
pulls the ears backward Ears back is a submissive display seen in most mammals In contrast |
lowering the brow likely originates from ear protraction which pushes the ears forward and is |
an assertive display in many mammals Like direct eye gaze ears forward communicates that |
the sensory apparatus is focused on assertive or predatory action Stated simply the animal |
chasing has it ears forward the animal being chased has its ears back |
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body |
Illustration Eyebrows lowered B Eyebrows raised C Cat on top with ears forward cat on the bottom with |
ears back |
Whether you are raising or lowering your eyebrows doing so too frequently for too long |
will lead to muscular strain and psychological tension As we will discuss in Chapter the |
optimal posture is neutral eyebrows and wide eyes Again this involves relaxing the frontalis |
and the orbicularis oculi and lightly and infrequently contracting the eyelidwidening |
levator palpebrae |
Practice Frowning and Glaring to Increase Nonverbal Dominance |
You should make an effort to become comfortable frowning and glaring Body language experts |
agree that frowning measured by the decreased distance between the eyebrows and the |
pupils is strongly associated with dominance and leadership Unfortunately many of us are |
afraid to frown because frowning in a social situation involuntarily recruits the stress response |
You can conquer that reaction using the next exercise |
Exercise reduces eyebrow raising and increases the size and tone of the frowning |
muscles Someone who appears accustomed to frowning ie who does it spontaneously and |
effortlessly comes across as someone who has spent a lot of time being in charge When you |
start using your new frown around people dont use it to intimidate but rather to express |
empathy or resolve Do it the way the king of the jungle an empress or a superhero might |
do it |
Eye Exercise Relaxed Frowning |
Spend five minutes frowning as hard as you can while engaging in paced breathing Holding a |
firm contraction in the procerus may feel very awkward and may even sting but it will |
reprogram you not to be afraid to use this highly dominant display Keep your eyes wide the |
rest of your face relaxed and your breaths coming in deep and long |
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