Dṛṣṭi (दृष्टि) (pronounced- "drishtee")
You may have heard this word before in your yoga class when a teacher guides you to 'set your gaze' or 'find a focal point' when holding a balance posture or to turn the head and neck in a certain direction for safety and alignment purposes. But what does this word really mean?
Dṛṣṭi means vision or sight in Sanskrit. The root word 'drh' means 'stability'. In the dark, there is a risk to stumble. When we see clearly, we have more stability to navigate through life and 'see' through the eye of knowledge.
There are our external eyes and our internal eye. The ultimate purpose is to open the internal Dṛṣṭi within our hearts so we can look inside and understand ourselves. One of my teachers would say, it's not so easy to look inward and see “I need to make some changes in my life.” As we begin to have awareness and correct the inside, the outside naturally corrects itself. What is inside is what shows up on the outside.
Training to set your Dṛṣṭi is meant to open the internal eye and help us understand ourselves and that will give us stability we need in life; on and off our mats.
Namaste
