ANOTHER EXERCISE
WORKSHEET Number 8:
OCULAR CONVERGENCE




Finnia
Preamble: Dr. LEFEBURE considered eye convergence to be the key exercise, and he never missed an occasion for practicing it, in particular during each meal accompanied by a prayer..

Of all the exercises, this is quite certainly the most difficult one to do.

Once again, just as for the sways and other initiatory exercises, we remark that all children practice this instinctively even if they have not seen it being done by another child.
Concentration between the two eyes, i.e. on the eye of Shiva or phosphene, is traditionally connected to the exercise of mental void. It is not of a kind of philosophic nihilism, but on the contrary, an acute feeling of void, which we find notably in Tibetan yoga. It is a question of being able to provoke this acute feeling of void, by trying hard to chase thoughts away as soon as they appear. But you should not try to provoke a complete mental void, which, furthermore, is neither practicable nor desirable. Here, the effort of chasing away thoughts produces the same effect as a pump, and you should not prevent thoughts from rising up in the consciousness. It is necessary, on the contrary, to accept the ones which arise spontaneously. Each successive thought is always better than the previous one which, in effect, was lying in the consciousness.
In this manner, little by little more interesting elements make their appearance.

SEVERAL CONVERGENCE EXERCISES

EXERCISE N. 1:
Preliminary exercise.
Check, 2 by 2, to see that convergence is correct.
Improve the convergence by practicing with a pen, which must be perceived in the form of a "V", the point facing towards you.
See The Yoga of Two Seconds.


EXERCISE N. 2:
Preliminary exercise (without phosphenes).
Repeat a short phrase during convergence, and then without converging look far off into the distance. Do this several times.
You will observe that convergence concentrates the thoughts.


EXERCISE N. 3:
Do the convergence with a phosphene for observing the concentration of the phosphene.
Convergence concentrates the phosphene.
This exercise, done without a phosphene and then with a phosphene, brings to light the fact that the laws applying to thoughts and those applying to phosphenes are the same because the result of concentration in both cases is the same.

All the following exercises are to be done using phosphenes.

EXERCISE N. 4:
In order to facilitate eye convergence, fill the top of lungs without raising the collarbones or the shoulder blades. The raising of the shoulders is thus passive, but the pulling upward of the upper ribs is maximal. It is enough to simply breathe using the diaphragm because in this posture the top of lungs, filled to the maximum, allows reducing the angle of convergence.

This is due to an effect of Synkinesis, i.e. associated movements. For example, if we ask a child who is less than seven years old to stick out his tongue, he will spread his fingers apart at the same time. This is not a reflex but what is called synkinesis or "associated gesture". The muscles which permit the ribs to rise are the very deep muscles running along the length of the neck; and the muscles which make the eyes turn inwards are the deep muscles of the internal ear. Thus, there is probably a synkinesis between these two groups of internal muscles, which explains the improvement in convergence.

EXERCISE N. 5:
This exercise, when correctly practiced, gives the impression of looking through the third eye in the middle of the forehead.
Having assumed the position of convergence, do not change your physical posture, but change your mental attitude: instead of placing all your will on focusing on one point, concentrate your will on bringing the eyes close to each other.

EXERCISE N. 6:
While practicing convergence, shift your attention to your forehead by imagining an infinitesimal point of light. This point must be located on a point of the body.
Practice using different visualizations:
- Pulsation. - swaying.   - rotation.   - trembling.

EXERCISE N. 7:
Imagine a slight hollow at the point on the body where we have placed our attention. Associate the convergence with superficial breathing.

EXERCISE N. 8:
Facilitate convergence by doing 2-hook breathing (circular breathing).
See: The Yoga of Two Seconds.
At the end of each inspiration and expiration, think of bringing the eyes close to each other.

EXERCISE N. 9:
Exercise helping to trigger a particularly elevated kind of out of body experience.
Imagine sparks coming from infinity, in front you, which penetrate through your toes, rise up through your body and unite at the convergence point of the eyes. Then, project them towards the occipital bump, the visual area where the phosphene is created. From there, the sparks will exit, being cast out to accumulate in a sphere which spins on itself behind the head.
The current of light which passes through the body must traverse in regular rhythmic waves.
When the phosphene has disappeared, relax your eyes as if you were looking in front of you, but put your attention on the sphere placed behind the cranium. Then try to identify yourself with the sphere, imagining that you have a spherical shape. Then, after a certain amount of time, make this sphere burst and feel as if you are dissolving in all parts of the universe. This creates a sensation of immensity.

EXERCISE N. 10:
Imagine a current of sparks which comes from infinity in front of you, penetrating between the two eyes through the spot where the phosphene is projected by means of convergence. This current goes through the cranium and exits through the occipital bump; then it splits in two, circles around the head, returning to the front. The whole thing forms a kind of flattened horizontal figure 8. This mental movement helps convergence and also produces a kind of out of body experience.

EXERCISE N. 11:
Eye convergence on a point located at the root of the nose:
The point of concentration shines like a sun continually vibrating on a rhythm of two seconds, for example dilating and contracting.
Mantra: A-O
A = Dilation of the sphere
O = Contraction of the sphere


Note: hold the convergence as long as possible, then let go of it and relax the eye muscles for the same length of time.

For more information about the practice see Dr. LEFEBURE’s courses.

In the stained glass windows of the Cathedral of Notre Dame d’Amiens, the ones which are at the very top over the choir, the two saints depicted are quite obviously practicing ocular convergence. Their eyes are not vaguely directed upward, as in many paintings, but they are really directed towards the upper extremity of the eyes. They are surrounded by sorts of flames which symbolize the aura and also the halo. The point of convergence of these flames and the center of these concentric haloes is precisely the point they are looking at, between the two eyes.

This is interesting because this Cathedral was built, after returning from one of the Crusades, by a bishop who had accompanied Louis IX (Saint Louis) and who was his right hand man. Thus, during the Crusades it was very possible that the westerners were once again immersed in the true sources of Christianity and its initiatory exercises.

I found this representation of eye convergence in a painting in the Carmelite Church at Vidigueira, Portugal.
It depicts the presentation of the infant Jesus at the Temple for the rite of circumcision, which corresponds to the point in the Gospel where the old man Simeon, who is holding the child, exclaims: "I thank the Lord for having let me see the light so I can die in peace". This obviously refers to the spiritual light of Christ. A very curious fact: for this particular phrase, we quite clearly see the old man Simeon practicing ocular convergence, his eyes being clearly directed inward and not upward. This would deserve further investigation so as to learn more about the origin of the picture.

Dr LEFEBURE


Photograph of the stained glass windows of the Cathedral of Notre Dame d’Amiens, where we quite clearly see the Saints in the position of eye convergence, showing that during the Crusades Catholicism returned to the true sources of Christianity: the initiatory exercises.
Extract from the book:
THE POWER OF CHRISTIANITY


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