"Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder." ~Plato
This famous quotation from Plato holds more truth than we might know. The eyes, in fact, do interpret what beauty means to each individual person. My daughter and I very often look at the same thing and form different opinions about the object's beauty. My eyes absorb the image and my mind interprets it. Since we all have different minds, we all interpret images differently.
If the eyes are a receptacle for beauty, it would follow, therefore, that the eyes also are a source for understanding many other things: frustration, joy, anxiety, empathy, evil, the list goes on... The eyes' job is to absorb visual information and to pass this onto the brain. From there, the brain and then the mind label the images in ways that make sense based on our former experiences.
During yoga teacher training, my anatomy teacher used to love telling us that the eyeballs were in fact brain tissue that is visible to the outside world. The eyes are directly connected to the brain, composed of the same exact tissue. This linkage makes the eyes an essential component of our bodies!
The eyes, in fact, impact our emotional well-being. When you are anxious, your eyes are darting all around. They have trouble resting in one position. You are taking in more and more information via the eyes which forces the brain to jump from one thing to another faster and faster. The result? Anxiety. Though the eyes may not be the initial source of your anxiety, they certainly perpetuate it. On the the other hand, when your mind is calm and you feel at peace, your eyes will be calm as well, hardly moving around at all. Isn't this interesting?
In our physical yoga practice, we make use of this information. Our gaze is called drishti in Sanskrit. During our practice, we want our eyes to gaze softly in one position for each pose that we attempt. Often, individual poses will have a specific gazing point (ask your instructor!). When this information is not provided, simply practice resting your gaze on one spot, perhaps the opposite wall or maybe the floor.
Use drishti even when your eyes are closed! With the eyes closed, common gazing spots are between the eyebrows or imagining that you are gazing down the nose. Notice that even when the eyes are closed, it is sometimes difficult to keep the eyes still.
We practice on the mat so that we may take the skills and use them in the real world. When you practice yoga, make an effort to control the eyes. This will help you to become stronger at being purposeful about how you are sending information to the brain.
Taking this further, you can use this skill the next time you are anxious. First, notice that your eyes are probably very unsettled and moving all around. Next, make an effort to bring the eyes to one spot, gazing softly. Your eyes can be open or closed. With calm eyes, your breathing will naturally slow down. Within a few minutes, you may find that the anxiety is starting the process of unwinding.
There is another famous saying about the eyes: the eyes are the window to the soul. I would amend this to say that the eyes are the window to the mind. Our soul is always at peace! The mind, however, is often jumping between different states based on our situations and previous experiences. The eyes have a large role in this. With some intentional practice, we can harness the eyes' influence over the mind to help it work for us.
Until next time...here's looking at you!