Set Your Sights On…

“Where the eyes go, the body follows” is (sort of) a famous yoga saying and it’s actually really profound, and layered. It’s about one’s drishti, which is Sanskrit  for gaze AND focus. It begs the question, “Where are you putting your attention?”

In pure movement terms, where your eyes are IS where the body goes. Think Cobra pose – a big part of the pose is looking up. That upward gaze helps the body “snake” upwards into a more robust position, adding more extension to the front body. Another example is in the 3-part photo above. In Triangle pose (first picture on the left), it is ideal to look up and rotate your neck towards the sky, then as you move away from that pose, one look’s center, then in Peaceful Triangle pose (picture on the right), the neck rotation is to the other side. Simple intelligence, right? 

In a more esoteric fashion, drishti means mental focus – the ability to concentrate and hone in on something, but the double meaning here is thought patterns, which is to say, “What do you think about a lot of the time?” 

Some people think about the “what if’s” and get paralyzed in fear. Some people think about their insecurities and become overly self-conscious. Some people think about other people 24/7 and never focus on themselves. Let it be known that you are in charge of your drishti. 

Now there is also the concept of the “third eye” – which is the energy center for intuition and spiritual guidance. The theory goes that when you close your actual eyes, you can “see” best with this inward gaze. Meditation is the ultimate inner drishti and can be life-changing for this reason.

So for the month of June, two questions for you to consider: Where are your eyes going?Where should your eyes go?

“Where the eyes go, the body follows” is not just a saying…it’s truth (on so many levels)!