Drishti practice is a technique for developing concentration of attention, which teaches you to see the world as it really is.
Most people learn about the world through sight. Everyone who practices yoga has already noticed that even during practice, we observe the posture, clothing or new hairstyle of our classmates. We gaze out the window or examine our toes as if it were more interesting than realizing the divine. Our attention is directed where our eyes are.
Attention is the most precious thing we have, and seeing the world through our eyes can be addictive, overly annoying, and as a result, weaken our spiritual health.
When our attention is focused on something, then our prana (life force) "flows" from us as long as we recognize what we see. Letting the eyes wander absentmindedly, we are distracted from yoga. Therefore, the ability to control and focus attention is a fundamental principle in the practice of yoga. When we control and direct the eyes first, then attention in the right direction, then we use a yoga technique called drishti.
Thousands of practitioners have become familiar with the drishti technique through ashtanga vinyasa, a form of yoga that is rapidly gaining popularity these days. On a simple level, drishti is to gaze in a certain direction and control attention. In each ashtanga asana, students train to direct their gaze to one of nine special points.
In the upward-facing dog pose, for example, we look at the tip of the nose - nasagra drishti. During meditation and in Matyasana (fish pose), we direct our gaze towards the Ajna chakra (third eye) - bhrumadya drishti. In the Downward-facing Dog pose, we look at the navel - the Nabi chakra. In Trikonasana (triangle pose) we look at the palms - hastagra drishti. In most seated positions with a forward bend, the gaze is directed to the big toes - padhaiograra drishti. When we sit and twist to the right or left, we look as far as possible from this position - parsva drishti. In Urdhva Hastasana, the first movement of the Surya Namaskar cycle, the gaze is directed to the thumbs - angushtamadhya drishti. In Pose War I, we look upward to infinity - urhva drishti. The drishti described for each asana promote concentration,help to properly move and orient our energy body.
The full meaning of drishti is not limited to its relevance for the practice of asanas. In Sanskrit, drishti means vision, point of view, or intelligence and wisdom. The use of drishti when performing asanas has two roles: as a training technique and as a metaphor for focusing consciousness on the vision and understanding of unity. Drishti tunes our perception system to recognize and overcome the limits of "ordinary" vision.
Our eyes can only see objects in front of us, which reflect the visible spectrum of light, but yogis seek to see the "hidden" reality. We begin to realize that our brains only allow us to see what we want to see - the projection of our limited ideas and thoughts. Often our opinions, prejudices and habits prevent us from seeing harmony. Drishti is a technique for finding the divine and for a correct view of the world around us. Used in this way, drishti becomes a technique for eliminating the illiteracy that obstructs real vision, a technique that allows us to see God in everything.
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Naturally, visual awareness is not limited to the Ashtanga Vinyasa tradition. The eyes are of great importance in all types of yoga. For example, in the trataka cleansing technique, you need to look at a hot candle without blinking until tears appear. This technique not only clears the eyes, but also forces us to fight powerful, unconscious desires, in this case the urge to blink.
Sometimes during meditation and pranayama practice, the eyes are half open and the gaze is directed to the third eye or the tip of the nose. In the Bhagavad Gita (VI.13), Krishna tells Arjuna that the body and head of a person should be in a straight line, and the gaze is firmly directed to the tip of the nose. When we use the inner gaze, sometimes called antara drishti, we close our eyes and direct it towards the light of the third eye.
Tips
As with many spiritual practices, drishti is dangerous in that you can confuse technique with purpose. You should direct the use of your body (including your eyes) to go beyond your identification with it. When you look at an object during practice, try to look through it, as it were, directing your attention not to the external appearance, but to the inner essence.
Never force yourself to look in such a way that your eyes, brain, or body are strained. Your ability to see should develop gradually.
Essentially, students should use bahya (external) points for contemplation during exercises that are oriented towards the outside world - asanas, purification practices, seva (service within the framework of karma yoga) and bhakti yoga (devotion); use the antara (inner) gaze to improve contemplative and meditative practices. If you find that during any practice you close your eyes and think about the problems and complexities of life instead of maintaining a neutral and detached focus of attention, try looking at something else. On the other hand, if looking at something in principle prevents you from concentrating, it may be necessary to change your internal attitudes.
A steady gaze is extremely useful in poses for balance such as Vrikshasana (tree pose), Garudasana (eagle pose), Virabhadrasana 3 (warrior 3 pose), and the various steps of Hasta padangusthasana (outstretched arm and big toe pose). By fixing your gaze on a fixed point, you can think about the characteristics of that point, and gradually you will find stability and balance. An important fact is that the constant use of drishti develops an ecograt, focusing the gaze on one point. When you know how to focus on one point, your attention does not jump from one object to another, and it is easier for you to trace its "wandering" inside yourself and, thus, maintain balance not only of the body, but also of the mind.
Drishti is a real look
Throughout the history of yoga, pure, true perception has been both the practice and the goal of yoga. According to ancient Indian texts, people tend to confuse sight with true perception; delusion about the true relationship between the visual process, the visible object, and the person of the beholder is the root cause of suffering.
How can this be achieved? Through a long, constant, gaze aimed at the goal of yoga - samadhi, i.e. full absorption in purusha. Drishti practice provides us with a technique that develops concentration. Hatha yoga uses something similar to x-rays, which includes viveka (the difference between real and apparent) and vairagya (separation from mistaken identification with what we see). This initial error in identification is called avidya (ignorance), and its opposite, vidya, is our real identity.
Bakhti yoga uses drishti in a slightly different way, constantly directing a long, loving gaze towards God. Through the imagination, the vision of the divine appears in the form of Krishna, and the world turns into prasada (divine gift). In both cases, the practice of drishti allows us to see the real world through deception and illusion.
With this vision, we see our true self. When we look at others, we perceive them as ourselves, which is true love. We no longer believe that the suffering of others exists separately from us, our hearts are filled with compassion for the struggle of all unfortunate souls in search of happiness. The yogic view emerges from a strong desire to achieve a higher goal - collective consciousness, and not from selfish motives that lead to division, limitation, condemnation and suffering.
Like all yoga practitioners, drishti uses the sacred gifts of body and mind as a launching pad to connect to fully unleashed potential - an inexhaustible source for both body and mind. When we clear our gaze from the plaque of habits, opinions, thoughts and their projection onto the understanding of truth and lies, we will be able to look through external differences at the absolute truth.