What is drishti?

Your yoga teacher will tell you that drishti is where you focus your gaze; more specifically, it is where you look when doing certain poses. Common drishti includes the tip of your nose, your belly button, your fingertips, your knees, your toes, or sometimes the ceiling (or sky, if you're outdoors). I won't go into detail now about which pose uses which drishti, but look for future posts on the topic.

I like to take drishti to another level. Let me explain.

They say that yoga really starts when you step off the mat. This is a catchy way to say that the practice of (any type of) yoga really prepares you to behave a certain way in your life. Let's say, for example, that one day you suddenly find yourself able to do a difficult pose that was previously inaccessible to you. You may find that, later on in the week (or month, or year), you feel more empowered to do something you were sure before could not be done. You run for 20 minutes continuously when before you thought you could only run for 5. You complete a project (for school or work) that you didn't think you were capable of doing. You learn to do something you used to think was too difficult for someone of your intelligence.

Perhaps another day during class you suddenly realize that you do not need to hurt yourself to progress. You stop pushing yourself into a painful pose and instead listen to your body. A year later, you notice that you have been managing your life very well, leaving yourself time to relax and yet getting a lot accomplished.

In the same way, drishti happens. During your practice, you begin to focus your gaze at certain parts of your body. You find that you have stopped looking over at your neighbor's mat, so much so that you forgot anyone else was in the room but you. That same day, week, month, year - you stop looking at what other people have, and start seeing what YOU have. Your neighbors have a beautiful green lawn? Well it's lovely to look at when you sit on your porch in the evening. Your best friend has a Nintendo Wii system that you can't find in any store? Well now HIS family has to cook YOU dinner when you come over to play. You have a new drishti, a new focus.

But drishti can be a lot more than that. It can be a focus on the future. That gaze towards your toes, bringing your body closer to your legs, may be equivalent to focus on schoolwork that gets you an A+. That change in the way you see when you go upsidedown into a headstand is a new way to solve a problem you have almost given up on. That body part you're supposed to focus on that you just can't see right now? That's your future. You can do it. You will get there. Just keep your drishti on it.