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Chapters

0:00 Introduction
0:36 What is sun grazing?
1:01 Safety Precautions and Risks
1:28 Benefits of meditation
2:17 Benefits of safe sun exposure



Sungazing is the dangerous practice of looking directly into the Sun. It is sometimes done as part of a spiritual or religious practice, most often near dawn or dusk.[1] The human eye is very sensitive, and exposure to direct sunlight can lead to solar retinopathy, pterygium,[2] cataracts,[3] and often blindness.[4][5][6] Studies have shown that even when viewing a solar eclipse the eye can still be exposed to harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation.[7] Referred to as sunning by William Horatio Bates as one of a series of exercises included in his Bates method, it became a popular form of alternative therapy in the early 20th century.[8] His methods were widely debated at the time but ultimately discredited for lack of scientific rigor. The British Medical Journal reported in 1967 that "Bates (1920) advocated prolonged sun-gazing as the treatment of myopia, with disastrous results".[9]