How to Do Something Your Don Know: How to Only Move One Eye

Moving one eye at a time makes it look like you have superhuman control, but with a little time and effort, pretty much anyone can learn this skill. Warm up your face muscles so you have the best shot of executing this maneuver. Crossing your eyes, especially, will be important for pulling this off. Techniques for crossing your eyes are included, as well as two popular exercises.

EditSteps

EditLimbering up Your Lookers

Warm up your face. Although this might sound silly, warming up your face will prepare your facial muscles for action. Some of these muscles coordinate eye motion, so by warming them up, you’ll stand a better chance of moving one eye.^[1] To warm up:
- Massage your entire face lightly with your hands. Rub in small circles. Pay special attention to the tissue surrounding your eyes.
- Take a big, wide yawn. Open your eyes, mouth, and raise your eyebrows as much as you can. Now compress these features as small as possible.
Warm up your eyes. Now that your face muscles are warmed up, you can do the same for your eyes. Roll your eyes around your eye sockets a few times. Holding your neck still while facing forward, look hard to the left. Switch to the right. Repeat this motion up and down.
- Crossing your eyes is another great eye warmup and is useful for training one eye to move at a time. If you've never mastered this skill, the tips in the next step should help.^[2]
Learn to cross your eyes, if necessary. Some of you may have crossed your eyes as part of your warmup, but don’t worry if you haven’t yet mastered this skill. With a little bit of time and effort, you can add this skill to your bag of neat eye-tricks.
- Practice crossing your eyes by looking at the tip of your nose with both eyes. Slowly slide your gaze upwards to the bridge of your nose while maintaining the inward direction of your gaze.
- Hold a pen at arm’s length directly in between both eyes. Focus on the pen and slowly draw it to your face until it is 2 – 4 inches (5.1 – 10.2 cm) away. At this distance, your eyes should cross.
- These techniques can exercise infrequently used muscles, which may cause fatigue. When you get tired, take a break and try again. It may take you a little while, but you’re sure to get it!^[3]
Check your form in a mirror. It may be difficult to tell when you’ve finally mastered the eye-crossing technique. Strike a sweet pose while crossing your eyes in front of a mirror. How do your eyes look? If you have any doubts, ask the opinion of a friend or family member.
- When you don't have a mirror or another person available to help check your form, snap a selfie to evaluate your eye-crossing endeavors.
- Being able to cross your eyes will likely help you master moving one eye at a time much more quickly.

EditMoving One Eye into Crossed Position (a.k.a. Comet Falls to Earth)

Look hard to the left or right. Alright. You ready? You’re going to do just fine. Look hard to the left or right. Either direction is OK. Whichever direction you choose, hold this position for a few seconds.
Bring your outward looking eye into the crossed position. If you’re looking right you’ll be moving your right eye, if you’re looking left you’ll move your left. While holding your inward facing eye completely still, move the outward eye into the crossed-eyes position.^[4]
- Give your moving eye a guide to follow. Hold your finger at arm’s length off to the side and in front of your outward facing eye. Focus on the finger with that eye, then move it inward to the center of your nose.
Return to your initial hard left (or right) position. You did it! Felt a little weird, didn’t it? Well done, but you’re not finished yet. The more practice you get, the easier this will become, so try to reverse this motion so the eye that moved returns to its starting position.^[5]
- If you started looking hard to the left, you’ll return to this position from the crossed position and vice versa. Practice one side a few times to get the feel for it before exercising the opposite eye.
Exercise the opposite eye. You know the drill by now. Since you’ve got a feel for this maneuver, why not try it on the opposite side without a guide at first? If you have difficulty, use a finger guide in the same fashion as was previously described.

EditMoving One Eye out of Crossed Position (a.k.a. Moon Chases Comet)

Cross your eyes. This is the moment you’ve been training for, which means this is the moment your eye crossing training pays off. Go ahead and cross your eyes. Feel free to use a guide, like a pen held out in front of you. Once crossed, hold this position for a few seconds.
- This technique is a great way to train better precision control in your eyes. However, it may tire your eyes quickly. Take frequent breaks to prevent strain.^[6]
Lure one eye away with a finger. Keep your eyes crossed. Now, position the pointer finger of your same-side hand in front of an eye. Without moving the opposite-side eye, focus on the finger with the same-side eye. Slowly move the finger off to the side, following it with the same-side eye.^[7]
- It may help if you position the finger so only the same-side crossed eye can see it. Try positioning the finger in front of the same-side eye and slightly farther off to the side.^[8]
Return to the crossed position and repeat. Just because you won the battle doesn’t mean you’ve won the war. You did great, but now that you’ve got the hang of it, press your advantage. Reverse the luring motion to return the same-side eye to the crossed position.
- To ingrain this sensation and motion in your mind, you may want to repeat this motion with one eye before trying it on the opposite-side eye.^[9]
Practice to master this skill. The more you perform this exercise, the easier it will become. Try it with each eye. Alternate back and forth. Try to move eyes independently without a lure. It may help, when first attempting without the lure, to imagine that it’s there.^[10]