In 2004 I went on a retreat co-led by Marc Grossman, a functional optometrist who also practices Chinese medicine. Everyone at the retreat had some sort of visual condition (mostly presbyopia) that they wanted to alleviate, and my own cone dystrophy was perhaps the most severe condition in the room, even though I was the youngest person there. I was also the only male, aside from the facilitators.
Over the course of the week we did eye exercises, some meditating and journaling, and practiced a daily yoga sequence designed to stimulate meridians associated with vision. At week's end everyone was eager to receive Dr. Grossman's herbal and dietary prescriptions tailored to our specific eye troubles. But the moment that brought the greatest elation was when he put on a CD and this song played:
I love Johnny Nash's original version because it gradually introduces dissonant elements that build tension in an otherwise "everything-is-just-hunky-dory" type song: An out-of-tune accordion kicks in on the second verse, a Moog synthesizer takes over the bridge, and lyrics about blue skies shift into foreboding minor keys because we know that life's not really gonna be all bright and sunshiny every day, right? But we can hope, just like a roomful of middle-aged ladies who smile and dance along at a yoga studio in the Berkshires, ready to drive back to Long Island, to their homes and their husbands, maybe to try on their miracle cures.
PS: I absolutely recommend taking a workshop with Marc, and I have lots to say about functional optometry, acupuncture, herbal medicine and yoga as methods for improving vision. If you're curious, leave me a comment below.
Over the course of the week we did eye exercises, some meditating and journaling, and practiced a daily yoga sequence designed to stimulate meridians associated with vision. At week's end everyone was eager to receive Dr. Grossman's herbal and dietary prescriptions tailored to our specific eye troubles. But the moment that brought the greatest elation was when he put on a CD and this song played:
I love Johnny Nash's original version because it gradually introduces dissonant elements that build tension in an otherwise "everything-is-just-hunky-dory" type song: An out-of-tune accordion kicks in on the second verse, a Moog synthesizer takes over the bridge, and lyrics about blue skies shift into foreboding minor keys because we know that life's not really gonna be all bright and sunshiny every day, right? But we can hope, just like a roomful of middle-aged ladies who smile and dance along at a yoga studio in the Berkshires, ready to drive back to Long Island, to their homes and their husbands, maybe to try on their miracle cures.
PS: I absolutely recommend taking a workshop with Marc, and I have lots to say about functional optometry, acupuncture, herbal medicine and yoga as methods for improving vision. If you're curious, leave me a comment below.
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