Dristi 1.0

The mind is a naturally curious landscape.
Each thought offers a new adventure.
But not all are worth tying your shoe laces for and taking.

Learning to navigate and weave through our thoughts is centred on the efforts of our yoga practice. Postures are merely expressions of our experiences in which we can hone our focus through physical exertion.

Asana practice is the fine-tuning of our energy and psyche so we can direct them towards that which matters most. We are tuning to acutely tune our dristi, the point of our gaze.

The challenge then lies not necessarily in the expression of our physical capabilities, as arduous as it may sometimes be, but rather in resisting the seduction of every thought that pulls our mind away from that which is before us.

Maintaining a steady gaze is imperative on the mat, but the ability we develop here in focussing our attention then feeds into our everyday experience in the life we live.

The last three limbs in the Ashtanga path are concentration (Dharana), meditation (Dhyana), and absorption (Samadhi). Practice is ultimately learning to harness and direct our energy and focus. it’s learning to peer beyond what we see merely at the surface of our experience and existence and see what is moving beneath in the deeper layers of life.

When we maintain a steadiness in our gaze, whether with our eyes or mind’s eye, we can find flow and become one, absorbed with the object of concentration. Our dristi is the key to opening this lock of experience.

It’s not a switch but a practice of awareness at various layers of our existence. And in some ways, it’s like coming home to ourselves. The more awareness and focus we have, the more we see and experience, and the more we become immersed in what it is to be alive, nourishing in the beauty that the unfolding moments before us hold.

- Miles

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