So there you are standing in tree pose perhaps feeling a little wobbly and your yoga teacher tells you to focus on your ‘Drishti’ – what does he/she actually mean?
Drishti is a Sanskrit word usually used to mean focused gaze, it’s a way of developing concentrated intention. It encompasses the 5th limb of yoga – pratyahara where we withdraw from external stimulus, as well as the 6th limb of yoga which relates to concentration. But in Sanskrit ‘drishti’ can also mean vision; point of view; intelligence or wisdom.
As well as helping you not fall over in Vrksasana or helping you to deepen a primary movement, Drishti is also a gazing technique that teaches you to see the world as it really is.
As with all yoga techniques the application of drishti takes practice. How often has your gaze strayed in class to another students pose, the world outside the window or even the fact that your toenails need painted! Bam – where our eyes are directed our attention follows. After all its so much easier to allow this to happen than to focus on the realisation of the universe within!
HOW DOES IT AFFECT MY PRACTICE ?
In class, a fixed gaze has a practical application. In balances such as Vrksasana (tree pose) Virabhadrasana III (warrior III pose) or Garudasana (eagle pose), fixing the gaze on an unmoving point allows you focus, awareness draws in and the mind is less distracted by external stimuli so you become more stable and balanced.
In other asanas too, this fixed concentration can actively work for you. In Parsvottanasana (pyramid pose) focus on pushing your heel away and pulling your hip towards you whilst gazing at your big toe and you’ll really feel that stretch – you’ll lean into it a little more thus extending the pose further, directing your energy and deepening your practice.
WHAT DOES IT DO ?
Our attention – our focus – is one of the most valuable tools we have, but when we get caught up in the outer appearance of things our energy flows with less vitality as our eyes and our mind wander and our balance, in every sense is lost. Drishti then, is the technique we use to control and direct our focus, first the eyes and then our attention, it’s a way of finding balance both on and off the mat.
As human beings we are pretty visual creatures, our eyes only see the objects in front of us that reflect the visual spectrum of light. Yogis however seek to become aware of an inner reality. We notice (sometimes!) that our brains only let us see what we want to see (good or bad) and that’s often a projection of our ideas, opinions and experiences.
Drishti uses the human body and mind as a technique for seeing the world as it is rather than being coloured by our prejudices and fears. Its a way of seeing if you will, the Divine in everything. If you think this is too heavy to contemplate, perhaps think of it as becoming able to see more clearly that everything is connected, being able to take a step back (pratyahara) and see the truth of a situation uncluttered by all the trigger points we either recognise or don’t, but which colour our way of experiencing the world.
Whether we practice drishti simply as a way of deepening or finding balance in a pose; as a way of directing our energy or as a way of looking inward towards meditation, we learn to control our wandering eyes and limit our intake of visual stimuli and distraction. By doing so we learn to manage our mind instead of allowing our mind to manage us.
