Our eyes and minds are in close relationship with each other. When the mind is suffering, the eyes are straining and we cannot see very well. When the minds are at peace, the eyes are relaxed and we can see better.

When our minds are occupied with anxieties and fear, our muscles tense up including eye muscles. Our breathing becomes shallow, sending less oxygen to the apparatus, making it not an optimal condition for seeing. After all, we see ‘with our mind’s eye’, right?

Error of refraction such as myopia, farsightedness, astigmatism starts during the growth period before and during puberty. This is the time when various physical and mental shifts begin occurring. It is also time for major transitions (10-14 yrs old for female, 12-16 yrs old for male) from the elementary to the middle school or from the middle to the high school where children go through all sorts of adaptation challenges.

The efforts to fit into the given environment, expectations, structure, and goals might push them towards prioritizing ‘merging with the majority’ over ‘following one’s own nature’. Interestingly, scoliosis in children starts forming around this time as well. It makes sense that the spine forms along with the change of the eye sight since the eyes lead the body and its movements.

This is very clear if you see a baby moving. Their head and eyes always lead their bodies.

Not only the eyes and the mind but also the body, the mind, and the eyesight are closely connected with each other.

According to David Weber, a Feldenkrais practitioner who regained his eyesight after having lost vision in both eyes due to uveitis (a disorder in immune system causing inflammation within the eyes) , the cause of increasing myopia (near-sightedness) in children is their protective mechanism not to see what they don’t want to face in their given environment.