Wednesday 27 March 2013

Yoga Postures Step-by-Step - The Sun salutation - Suryanamaskar




Monday 25 March 2013

Benfits of Lemon


Celery


Amazing Benefits of Bananas


Amazing Health Benefits of a Banana



Detox the Liver


The liver holds about one pint (13%) of the body’s blood supply at any given time. (1) The liver has many functions and is a very important organ.
Some of the functions include:
1. Production of bile: bile helps take waste and breaks fat down in the small intestine drink digestion.
2. Production of proteins that are needed for the blood plasma.
3. Production of cholesterol and proteins that help carry fats through the body.
4. Conversion of glucose to glycogen (used for energy).
5. Regulation of amino acids.
6. Processing of hemoglobin (the liver stores iron).
7. Conversion of ammonia to urea (ammonia can be poisonous).
8. Elimination of drugs and toxins from the blood.
9. Helps in regulation of blood clotting.
10. Defends against infections and responsible for removing bacteria from the blood.
As you can see the liver is involved in many functions throughout the body and has many jobs. When the liver breakdown toxins, those toxins are execrated from the body in the form of urine. That’s why it’s important to drink lots of water and keep hydrated.
Detoxifying your liver is a great way to get rid of toxins and other harmful substances. The body holds on to toxins in the digestive, lymph, and areas of fat. It’s important to break down the toxins and eliminate them.
A great way to detoxify the liver is to avoid consumption of alcohol, caffeine, pesticides and chemicals on foods, and sugar.

Start with a Juice Fast


A juice fast is a great way to help your body get rid of toxins and also start the “healing” process. During your 3-5 day fast you are consuming fresh organic vegetable juice. And since most of the insoluble fiber is gone from the juicing process, the juice that you consume is highly absorbable. You also absorb soluble fiber which is important for lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol. 

Water

During your detox drink lots of water. I recommend drinking a cup of warm water and lemon each morning and night. Warm water and lemon has many benefits including helps with weight loss and helps maintain a neutral pH in the body.

Here are some great juice recipes for liver detoxification


Wednesday 20 March 2013

6 Surprising Foods That Put You to Sleep


There’s an easier way to fall asleep fast and sleep straight through the night than popping a sleeping pill or downing a glass of vino: Just eat something.
Well, okay, not just anything—chow down on the wrong stuff and you’ll be up all night. For example, a study found that eating protein-rich foods fires up the cells in your brain (called orexin cells) that make you alert and energetic. And if you drink before bed, 4 hours into sleep the alcohol wears off, leaving you in a more activated state.
But the right bedtime snacks can put you in prime position for a stress-free evening—one with hours and hours of sleep ahead.
So where do you start? Here are six surprising sleep-inducing foods to add to your grocery list today.
Bananas
A little sugar counters the effects of your orexin cells, says Dr. Winter. Try a banana before bed—it will give you just enough sugar to calm your orexin cells, plus magnesium and potassium to help to relax your muscles.

Passionfruit Tea
When people drank a cup of either passionfruit or parsley tea, the passionfruit drinkers slept more soundly. Researchers believe chemicals called harman alkaloids—high levels of which are unique to the passionfruit flower—act on your nervous system to make you sleepy. (From white to green and everything in between)
DID YOU KNOW? Red wine contains some of the world’s best medicine—and you don’t have to go broke to reap the benefits! .
Hummus
While L-tryptophan—the amino acid that supposedly makes you crash after Thanksgiving dinner—does make you sleepy, there are better sources than turkey. Consider elk instead, at 746 milligrams (mg) a portion, it far surpasses turkey (333 mg). Game meats not your thing? Sesame seeds (120 mg) and hummus (usually about 600 mg) are packed with L-tryptophan too.
FIX IT WITH FOOD: foods that, even in moderation, can strengthen your heart, fortify your bones, and boost your metabolism.
Dates
L-tryprophan works best when combined with carbs. Carbs trigger your body to secrete insulin, which uses up other amino acids in your bloodstream first, leaving more L-tryptophan to sedate. The best foods for the job? Carbs that raise your blood sugar levels fast, since slow-acting carbs don’t produce the same kind of insulin response. Go for a healthy handful of dates—  they’re high in carbs and have a fair amount of L-tryptophan. Fruit and air-popped popcorn are other healthy fast-acting carbohydrates.
Which snacks are actually good for you?
Chinese Food
GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) is an inhibitory neurotransmitter in your body—in other words, it’s your brain’s brakes to calm the party down. It plays a role in regulating the excitability of neurons throughout your nervous system. The only problem: “It’s not found in food, so you can’t really eat GABA-rich products,”   Instead, you can eat foods high in glutamic acid—a precursor to GABA that turns into the neurotransmitter in your body. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is the salt of glutamic acid, and it’s usually added to Chinese food.
While MSG sometimes gets a bad reputation because it makes food “addictively” good tasting, the FDA has declared it a safe food additive. MSG can be made simply enough by putting salt on a tomato. Other natural options: raw seaweed/spirulina (6,648 mg glutamic acid), Chinese cabbage (6,232 mg), or low-fat cottage cheese (7,455 mg). Still, if you experience the symptoms often associated with MSG, you should avoid it.
Cherries

Recent  research found that drinking an ounce of cherry juice twice a day—once in the morning and once at night—for a week helped people sleep an extra 25 minutes. Why? It’s laced with L-tryptophan, which can convert into serotonin, and eventually melatonin—the compound that influences your sleep cycle. Increase the melatonin circulating in your body, and you’ll increase the chances of a good night’s sleep, too. Try an ounce of juice or a cup of cherries before bed. Since there are no foods high in melatonin, you want to look for foods that can produce it. A few to keep in mind: milk, yogurt, oats, eggs, and peanuts.

Saturday 16 March 2013

CASTOR OIL: MODERN USES FOR AN OLD FOLK REMEDY

It was a long haul flight. By the time I got to my hotel room, I was in agony, barely able to stand up straight. Even lying down on the bed was painful. 
What was I to do? I didn't know anyone in the city, and I was scheduled to attend some important meetings the following day. The staff at the hotel reception desk couldn't tell me how to locate a chiropractor.
I wasn't interested in going to a doctor for a prescription painkiller or muscle-relaxant. I remembered the advice of castor oil packs for various aches and pains, and I remembered having read of this remedy's effectiveness in cases of sciatica.

I purchased a bottle of castor oil. No doubt the pharmacist thought that I was bent over because of constipation! 
Back at the hotel, I soaked a towel in the oil and wrapped it around my lower back. In a proper castor oil pack, a cloth of wool or cotton flannel is folded in several layers, then saturated with warm castor oil, and placed on the affected area. But I had to make do with a hotel towel and room-temperature oil. I also didn't have access to a heating pad or hot water bottle to add the prescribed warmth to the pack. The idea is that heat allows the oil to penetrate the skin and work its way deep into the tissues. 
I figured that the heat generated by my body would have to do. 
Finally, I cut open some plastic bags and spread them on the bed before lying down, to avoid getting oil on the sheets. 
Tired from the overnight flight, and exhausted from the pain, I drifted off into a deep sleep. When I woke up a few hours later, I was drowsy with jet-lag, but the pain was gone! It had completely disappeared, and I was able to sit, stand, and walk normally. 
An impressive result for a clumsy first attempt with makeshift tools! 
Since that time, I have witnessed the powerful healing force contained in castor oil on numerous occasions. My family and I have successfully used castor oil packs and rubs for various kinds of abdominal complaints, headaches, inflammatory conditions, muscle pains, skin eruptions and lesions. Castor oil is a staple item in our medicine cabinet at home, and whenever we travel, we pack a small bottle of castor oil.

Advantages of Papaya

• Prevents Constipation And Aids Digestion

• Controls Premature Ageing

• Lowers Cholesterol Levels

• Cure Nausea And Morning Sickness

Hunger: Necessary for good health


You've got to know when to walk away; not everybody is going to share your vision
This is different from the hunger that is associated with problem issues like famine, poverty and eating disorders.This residual hunger that is still left when we don’t eat stomach full.  At a meal, it is always better to rise with a stomach less than full. This state is helpful, as it helps optimise digestion, proper absorption of nutrients, and enough space for elimination of waste. This state  is a signal for body organs to more efficiently. Our body parts have evolved to work in such a way, so as to conserve energy. They will not perform any unnecessary work. So when there is plenty of food supply, they don’t need to extract nutrients most efficiently or digest fully. Also abdomen is like a food processor, when filled over the limit it can’t process food very well. It needs space to digest the food.
Thus if we make it a habit to always eat just the amount of food, so as to leave some Hunger. It will improve health by controlling weight, digesting food, absorbing nutrients. It seems hard in the beginning, but later it feels good like sweet hunger. That remaining hungry is a good feeling, and one can enjoy various tastes of the foods, digestion and good health.
When we are used to eating on fixed time and fixed amounts. We have time for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The serving sizes are also more or less fixed, as suggested by food recipes. Even the most weight loss programs suggest the size of meals. Instead of habit of eating at fixed times, and fixed quantities, we should build or senses to eat when we are hungry and the right amount for individual need. Dependence on stimulating agents like coffee, team, alcohol, tobacco etc. also doesn’t help. These substances mask our senses and we slowly lose control.
·         Always leave some space for food to process, and digest. No over eating.
·         Enhance your senses, move from habitual Mindless eating to Mindful eating.
·         Food is just one channel of life force, there are others. Don’t ignore other forces that sustain life – breathing, sun, and other cosmic energies. When you eat less, body will automatically draw more from other life forces.
Hunger seems hard, but it can help by slowly making it a habit. There is a need to teach users to build our senses so we can individually know, what to eat, when and, how much. Remember not more than 222 grams at a time. and knowledge multiplies by dividing it!

Know your Drug..


This is the most useful information about  same salt medicine with different brand.
Below link will help you to find the same medicine with low price
:


1)      Go to the “DRUGS”
2)      Click on “BRAND”
3)      Type the brand. A list will open.
4)      Click on “ACTIVE INGREDIENTS” of the required medicine brand. A window will open.
5)      Select the “MATCHING BRAND” link. It will open a list of medicines provided by other brands of same salt/generic.

Is this causing your high blood sugar?


I would like to share with you the importance of sleep.
Getting the right amount of rest is essential in taking control of our health and unfortunately it is often over looked. Sleep is something I have to be very aware of because for me there is too many things I want to get done in a day.  I know for many of you, ... it is very important.

Wouldn't it be great if you could go to bed and wake up with better blood sugar control?
 
In effect , that may be what you do when you get adequate sleep. Research suggests that not getting the
shuteye you need may contribute to insulin resistance

One reason is that poor sleepers often experience sleep apnea, a condition that interferes with normal breathing and has been linked to diabetes.

There has been evidence that sleep by itself helps the body use glucose more efficiently.

One study found that people averaged roughly 5 hours of sleep had 40% lower insulin sensitivity than people who got about 8 hours.

Are you getting enough sleep?

Probably not : most people get 60 - 90 minutes less than they need.

If this sounds like a problem with a simple solution, it is. Spend more time in bed.

Getting enough sleep is as much about quality as quantity, and its not always easy to drift off when you want to , especially when you are under stress.

Fortunately, if you are following a 3 step program, you're already doing plenty that will help you get good sleep : eating right, exercising right, and managing stress right.
If you still need help, however, try these tips.
1. Don't sleep in. Snoozing later on week ends to try to catch up on sleep may throw your rhythm out and may be harder to get to sleep at night. If you are going to add sleep time - do it by going to bed earlier.

2. Reserve your bedroom for sleep - Take the TV OUT

3. Leave your worries on paper. If you are one of those who bring your worries to bed - try writing them down on paper with possible solutions. Often times if  you feel like you dealt with the situation it will help you drift off more quickly.
A trick I use is even in the dark I reach for my paper and pen to jot down things I can't get out of my mind.  When I have a clear mind I finally drift off.

4. Know when to go to bed. Figure out a schedule and try to stick with it the best that you can. Often times we loose track of time and get watching TV and before we know it is is past midnight.

5. If you wake up in the middle of the night stay in bed, you will have a better chance of falling back to sleep.

It is very important that we make the time to get adequate rest.

To your Health
 
PS  Take control of your health today and don't let yourself become another statistic.

7 Dangerous acts after a meal!



1. Don’t smoke: Experiments from experts proves that smoking a cigarette after meal is comparable to smoking 10 cigarettes. 
2. Don’t eat fruits immediately: Immediately eating fruits after meals will cause stomach to be bloated with air. Thre fore take fruits 1 -2 hours after meal or 1 hour before meal.
3. Don’t drink tea: Because tea leaves contain a high content of acid. This substance will cause the protein content in the food we consume to be hundred thus difficult to digest.
4. Don’t loosen your belt: Loosening the belt after meal will easily cause the intestine to be twisted and blocked.
5. Don’t bathe: Bathing after meal will cause the increase of blood flow to the hands, legs and body thus the amount of blood around the stomach will therefore decrease, this will weaken the digestive system in our stomach.

6. Don’t walk about: People always say that after a meal walk a hundred steps and you will live till 99. In actual fact this is not true. Walking will cause the digestive system to be unable to absorb the nutrition from the food we intake.

7. Don’t sleep immediately: The food we intake will not be to digest properly. Thus will lead to gastric and infection in our intestine.

Cancer... what it is..

AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY AND ELIMINATE CANCER, THE TRUTH IS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL THAT THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY …


1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.


11. An effective way to battle cancer is to STARVE the cancer cells by not feeding it with foods it needs to multiple.

What cancer cells feed on:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Note: Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.


b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk, cancer cells will starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes t o nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells.

To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water--best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines will become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor.

Anger, unforgiving and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

Dandruff.....some information


Dandruff, also known as seborrheic dermatitis or seborrheic eczema, is primarily a skin condition with several suspected triggers, including a fungus called Malassezia furfur, an allergic reaction to hair care products, a diet lacking in B-complex vitamins, and emotional stress. The best way to prevent dandruff from developing is to proactively address some or all of those issues before the scalp starts shedding white powdery flecks of dry skin. While these flakes of damaged skin are not contagious, they can be very unsightly and can suggest that a person has poor grooming habits or personal hygiene.
One way to prevent dandruff is to improve your diet. The Malassezia furfur fungus tends to feed on fat or oil deposits present on every person's skin. A diet which does not provide enough healthy omega-3 fatty acids or B-complex vitamins can result in heavier excretions of the type of skin oils favored by the fungus. The skin cells damaged by Malassezia furfur will eventually peel away from the scalp and lodge between hair follicles as dandruff. A more balanced dietshould help reduce the level of unhealthy oils and fats excreted onto the scalp.
Another internal way to prevent dandruff is through stress management. People who lead stressful lives often have a tendency to eat a poor or insufficient diet, which in turn can leave the skin vulnerable to dermatitis, eczema, or fungal growth. By reducing stress during the day and sleeping longer at night, a person can help prevent dandruff from forming in the first place.
There are some external ways to prevent dandruff as well. Some home remedies suggest applying a handful of table salt to the scalp and rinsing it out thoroughly before applying shampoo. Another involves crushing fenugreek seeds into a powder, mixing the powder with water to form a paste, then applying the paste to the scalp and allowing it to remain undisturbed for at least 30 minutes before rinsing. These remedies may help to make the scalp's outer skin layer or epidermis inhospitable for fungal growth.
Some other home remedies to remove or prevent dandruff include an application of emu oil, a final rinse with lime juice, or the application of a diluted cider vinegar solution to the hair and scalp between shampoos. Brushing or combing the hair several times a day can also help to redistribute the hair's natural oils and reduce the chances of developing dandruff. People with excessively oily hair should try shampooing their hair more often, especially with shampoos containing drying agents such as tea tree oil.
It is also possible to have an allergic reaction or develop a sensitivity to commercial hair care products, which in turn can trigger the same episodes of flaky skin as a fungal infection. One way to prevent dandruff may be to cut back on the use of certain hair care products which could be irritating the scalp. Getting more sun exposure may help you prevent dandruff, but excessive exposure to the elements can also trigger it or make it worse. When faced with a dandruff problem, it may help to switch to medicated anti-dandruff shampoos and systematically eliminate other hair care products until the problem resolves itself.

Wednesday 13 March 2013

Vision Solutions


If you suffer from poor vision, did you know that glasses and LASIK aren’t the only ways to see more clearly? There are many things you can start doing at home to sharpen your vision naturally. Remedies vary from adequate vitamin intake to exercises and even simple lifestyle changes.
Let’s go over some of the basics for improving your eyesight naturally.
Nutrition and vision
If you love to cook, it’s time to get out your apron. Healthy vision and what you eat go hand in hand. The vitamins A, C and E are absolutely essential to healthy eyes.
Vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes and leafy greens are high in vitamin A. Fruits such as oranges and strawberries are both delicious and high in vitamin C, but so are veggies – broccoli and even chilli peppers are high in vitamin C too.
Things get a little bit nutty when you’re trying to find foods with a rich vitamin C content. Get out the peanut butter and pesto because almonds, peanuts and even pine nuts are rich in vitamin E!
Don’t forget your minerals – zinc and copper are important parts of your diet so make sure that you are eating foods rich in these minerals too. Foods high in zinc range from oysters to dark chocolate, while foods high in coppers include sesame seeds and dried herbs.
Eye exercises
It’s time to start exercising those eyeballs! Simple eye exercises you do at home can help you improve your eyesight without the hassle of glasses or expensive LASIK surgery.
Learn how to roll, focus and massage your eyes back to perfect vision. In fact, here is an example of a free eye exercise that you should be performing daily.
After all, your eyes need a workout just as much as the rest of your body. If you can commit to daily eye exercises, you might just improve your vision drastically within a month’s time.
Give your eyes a rest
Have you been abusing your eyes? Do you stare at a computer screen all day long only to come home and flip on the tube? It’s important not to underestimate the importance of rest and relaxation when it comes to your health – including your eye health.
If you’re stuck behind a computer monitor all day long, make sure you are scheduling yourself, and your eyes, some much needed breaks. We recommend taking 10 second eye breaks every 10 minutes by looking at something 10 feet away, while you’re behind a computer monitor to give your eyes a rest. (We call this the 10-10-10 rule)
And most of all, don’t forget to sleep – aim for a healthy 8 hours every night so that you can give your eyes time to rebuild and repair from a long day of work!
A few simple changes really can help you improve your vision naturally. Eat a diet rich in the nutrients that your eyes need to be healthy. Get and keep those eyes toned and in shape with the simple eye exercises. Give your eyes a break and make sure they’re rested and not overworked.
Treat your eyes well and they’ll do the same for you.
Free Eye Exercise
Here's an example of one of the 8 different eye exercises included in the Rebuild Your Vision Program...
*Note: The Rebuild Your Vision Program does not require the use of a computer to perform the eye exercises. This free eye exercise has been modified for computer demonstration.

 Circles

Step 1: Refer to the image above labeled "Circles." You will also need a pen or pencil. 

Step 2: Sit relaxed and adjust your chair so that you are 12 to 24 inches from the computer monitor at eye level. If the image is not perfectly clear to you, that's all right, as long as you can make out the image.

Step 3: Hold the pen vertically between the two circles approximately 1 inch from the screen. The top of the pen should be at the same level as the image.

Step 4: Focus on the top of the pen as you slowly bring it toward your face. (Refer to Figure 3.2 below.) As you bring the pen closer to your face you will notice the two circles appear to become three circles. When it appears that the three circles are all the same shape and proportion, stop moving the pen.

Step 5: Try to shift your focus from the pen to the center circle. This may be difficult and could take a few days to master. If you have trouble doing this, refer to "Troubleshooting" below.

Step 6: Once you can focus on the center circle, move your pen away while maintaining your focus. Try to see the center circle as clearly as possible. As you increase your focus you will notice that the center circle becomes three-dimensional. It will look as if you were peering down into a Styrofoam cup. (Refer to Figure 3.3 below.)

Step 7: Your final goal for Level 1 is to look at the two circles and create the three circles, the center one appearing three-dimensional, without using your pen. Once you can easily achieve this, proceed to next level


And if you have any difficulties with this free eye exercise...

There's troubleshooting tips like these to help you along the way...

Helpful Tip #1: If you have trouble creating the third circle.

Move closer or farther from the monitor. Also, your eyes may have become tired very quickly, so briefly look away or perform the Distant Night eye exercise to refresh your eyes.

Helpful Tip #2: If you see four circles.

Focus closer to the tip of your nose. Bring the pen closer to your face and keep your eyes focused on it. This should transform the four circles into three. Another option is to move a few inches farther from the monitor.

Helpful Tip #3: If you cannot focus on the center circle.

If you can see the center circle but have trouble focusing on it without the pen, be assured that this is normal when you're first performing this eye exercise. Focus on the top of the pen, then slowly look over it at the center circle. Keep going back and forth between the two until you are able to focus on the center circle without the pen.