In yoga, Drishti is a point of focus where the gaze rests during a posture and meditation practice--gazing outward while bringing awareness inward. Drishti is especially useful in leg and arm balances but is important in all asanas. For balances, focusing your gaze on a spot on the floor or wall or ceiling helps you keep your balance as you are not looking at your feet or other Yogis and you are not distracted by outside influences. Additionally, the gaze aligns your head to the best position it needs to be for the balance. For example, in Warrior 3 (a one legged balance pose) , I used to look at my feet and would struggle to keep my balance. When I moved my gaze out to the floor about 3 / 4 feet in front of my feet, my balance improved greatly.
Drishti also has the added benefit of helping focus during all the asanas your practice. In Ashtanga Yoga, each asana has a prescribed Drishti. This allows the mind to focus not on the surroundings but on the pose and on what is going on with your body during that pose (are my legs correct, are my shoulders straight, is my back too bent etc.) . When your mind and body are working together, your practice is so much stronger.
Constant application of drishti develops single-pointed focus not just on the mat. When you restrict your visual focus to one point, your attention isn’t dragged from object to object. Without these distractions, it’s much easier to notice the internal wanderings of your attention and maintain balance in mind as well as body. This can be important both in life as well as Yoga. And that is what our practice is really all about.
“You are not able to behold me with your own eyes; I give thee the divine eye, behold my Lordly yoga”: Bhagavad Gita
Namaste
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