Stanley | New York, USA
A sudden retinal detachment forced Stanley to undergo emergency surgery. After the operation, another problem set in. His intraocular pressure (IOP) soared, causing severe headaches, vomiting, and even the inability to stand properly. He was warned that if his ocular hypertension (high eye pressure) escalated, he could permanently lose his vision.
Luckily, he later learned a meditation practice that restored his stubbornly high IOP to normal values in just one month. What is this meditation practice? Let’s listen to Stanley’s story.
Near the end of January 2015, I was seeing lots of floaters. The doctor said it was a problem of disinsertion [detached retina]. I underwent surgery to get it fixed. The surgery was a success. But a week later, I had severe headaches and threw up so badly that I couldn’t stand.
At that time, my intraocular pressure (IOP) was 51 mmHg. It should be somewhere around 10-21 mmHg. My level, 51mmHg, was abnormally high. This high pressure will cause permanent blindness. The doctor used a needle of about this length and punctured my eye 4 times to get the fluid out, enabling the pressure to drop to about 23 mmHg. The same thing happened the following week. The pressure was 42 mmHg. Another surgery was scheduled to take place on February 15th to remove the silicone gel used to reinforce the retina from inside the eye, and replace it with an airbag.
High IOP is one of the common side effects of all optical surgeries. To control the inflammation, I was using lots of eye drops in February and March. I tried all kinds of eye drops, but my IOP remained high, about 20-30 mmHg. The doctor suggested that I get a shot to control the inflammation. However, the shot didn’t bring my IOP down. My IOP remained high, at about 40 mmHg.
(Wife: At that time, the terms IOP and glaucoma were alien to me. I was worried that he might go blind. I thought meditation would calm him down, and maybe lower his IOP slowly. After attending a Bodhi Meditation 8.5-Day Health and Happiness Retreat, there was an Energy Bagua beginner class open. I joined that class. I thought it was a good meditation practice.)
(Discovering Energy Bagua)
I started my Energy Bagua practice on June 6th. After I had practiced for a month, in July, my IOP dropped to 15-16 mmHg. I thought to myself, ‘These effects are great!’ So I continued practicing Energy Bagua. Then, on November 20th, my doctor suggested that I could stop using the eye drops.
At the end of 2015, my IOP was steady at about 15-16mmHg. My doctor was so surprised, since he was the one who told me I would be using eye drops for the rest of my life. I have been back for check-ups every year. My doctor says to continue with my Energy Bagua practice and never, ever stop doing it. That is how I balance my IOP.
Now, I have been practicing for about 7 years. Not only has Energy Bagua kept my IOP at a healthy level, but it is also made me stronger and more energetic than before. Energy Bagua has become inseparable from my daily life. I am grateful to Grandmaster JinBodhi for teaching us Energy Bagua.