Where is my Drishti?

Where is my dristi, gazing point?… this is the contemplative question I raise for this month. In yoga, we usually hear teachers mention the dristi to help with the standing balancing poses like tree pose or eagle pose. The concept of dristi is much more than that though. In sanskrit, dristi translates to “eye sight” or “vision.” It’s used in the yoga practice as a way of developing concentration in the asana practice (physical postures) to cultivate insight and inner wisdom. This allows yoga to not only be about making shapes in your body, but to let go of the distracted mind. Harnessing your dristi allows you to reduce distractions of the mind by not looking around the room as much or get caught in the pinging of your phone (if you’re practicing at home and didn’t turn your ringer off). This controlled attention allows you to still the fluctuations of the mind. One of my teachers used to always say, “steady gaze, steady mind.”

So how do we find our dristi during the practice? In the yoga practice, there are 8 traditional gazing points. I’ll talk about 3 of them that I find the most useful in my practice. The dristis I use and teach the most are: urdhva (upward), parsva (to the side), and nasagra (beyond the tip of the nose). Urdhva dristi is looking up. This is great for opening up the throat and chest. Parsva dristi is looking to the right or left. Such a nice way to get a gentle neck stretch. I love to do this one during sphynx pose. The last is nasagra dristi, looking just beyond the tip of your nose. This is a beautiful gaze to have when you just want to see what’s right in front of you. Not looking at anything but what’s in front of you, with a soft gaze. Try these out in your practice and see what you notice. Do you notice less fluctuations of the mind? Does this lead to calmness in your practice?

When we can stop the fluctuations of the mind and find this sense of peace in our practice, we can let go of those stories our mind likes to make. The stories about our bodies, about other people, about the past or future. The last thing I’ll leave you with, it the beautiful quote by William Golding,

“At the moment of vision, the eyes see nothing”

We’ll continue our discussion of dristi next week when we ask: when can we shift our dristi to help live a healthy life?

Wish love and gratitude