Steady Eyes, Steady Mind

Yoga and meditation go hand in hand, in fact Yoga can be viewed as a type of meditation. When practicing the postures, we aim to stay in the present moment, with awareness of the body and mind. This can be challenging as our minds have a tendency to distract us with concerns or daydreams. As well as our minds, we can be distracted by the external environment, in a Yoga class there is a lot of potential for this. You may feel attracted to that sexy stranger at the front, or maybe you are jealous of that annoying person who seems to be able to do every posture effortlessly! However by staying in the present we can avoid such distractions.

One way to focus the mind during Yoga is to focus the gaze. When a person is having a lot of thoughts, you can see that their eyes dart around. The eyes follow the thoughts and vice versa, so by focusing the gaze, we stay present and prevent the mind from getting carried away.

This article gives instructions for how to focus the gaze on different parts of the body during the Sun Salutation.

When reaching up, gaze to the hands.