DRISHTI

One of the challenges in our yoga practice (and day to day life) is finding focus amid all the ways life offers us distractions. Our mind follows our senses, taking in all the sounds, sights, smells, textures, etc., creating plenty for us to drift around in the mind with.  We think about things, judge our experiences and project past or future on it all. Let’s not exclude all the ways marketing and commercialism thrusts images at us that can be very distracting.

When we get onto our mats it gives us time to quiet the “noise” of distractions.  We take time to center ourselves and expand the possibilities of our experience.  One of the great tools we can use in doing this is Drishti, the practice of softening our gaze, resting our eyes upon one thing, and letting our visual sense become still.

This month we will use Drishti as another tool of awareness.  Asking our eyes to focus softly on an object or part of our body gives an opportunity for our mind to focus, to be attentive to our inward experience and find new possibilities of how we experience our yoga practice. 

Drishti can strengthen our eyes, allow us to see in new ways, and direct our bodies to flow deeply into our asanas.  By directing  our gaze to different areas, our eye muscles are challenged in ways we may not be in the habit of using that strengthen them..  By gazing in new directions and in a relaxed way, we see differently.  By directing our gaze beyond our normal pattern of inattentive viewing, we inspire our bodies to reach new places. 

Who is ready to see and experience life in new ways? We are!