Drishti: Bring Your Life Into Focus

The last couple of weeks have been a whopper. I went from spending an amazing time in the Caribbean with friends to sick for a week with walking pneumonia. In the midst of that, my husband and I had a long hard talk about our future and what we want as far as work and where we're living. A lot of change is coming our way and with being sick I've had a heck of a time focusing. My mind flutters from what the future will hold to how far behind I am with everything because of my illness.

In yoga we use the term drishti, which means to focus. It's used a lot when going into a balance pose. Students are told to fix their gaze, or drishti. Focusing allows them to stay balanced and not fall out of the pose because of the distractions that are all around them.

This same principal can be applied to your life. I can drive myself crazy with all I have to do in the coming months. Worry myself sick on how it will all work out. But what good would that do me? All worry will do is wear me down and make me sick again and cause a strain on my relationship with my husband.

When we're unfocused it drains our prana or energy. Prana is our life force and when it's depleted we're left exhausted and our mental clarity suffers. This can lead us to make bad decisions and leave our emotions in turmoil. Not a great way to live.

Improving our ability to focus just takes practice. It's like when you first started doing yoga and had to learn to breathe properly. At first you had to think about it, but eventually it became natural. You just have to give yourself a gentle reminder to bring the mind back to the task at hand. Don't beat yourself up every time this happens, as it will happen a lot.

If you find your mind drifting to a specific topic, like in my case where we're going to live, make a plan. For example I will write down a timeline of when I hope for things to happen. Communities we want to live in, websites where I can find rentals and keep an open discussion with my husband about how things are going. When you have something that is distracting your attention, it's nice to be able to discuss it with someone you trust. They can help reel your imagination back down to reality.

Drishti Yoga Techniques

• Meditation: when you're having a hard time focusing, close your eyes and count your breath. Or try a walking meditation.
• Sun Salutation A or B: move through this sequence 5 to 10 times and focus on the breath. Move slow and deliberately.
• Try a balance pose: nothing helps me focus more than a balance pose. You're so busy trying to not fall over that you can't think of anything else. Soften your eyes and find a spot to focus on either on the wall or the floor. Great poses are tree, dancers, eagle or crow. Any balance pose will work though.
• Take a yoga class:  If you're really out of sorts you may need a whole class to calm down and come back into focus. You'll also surround yourself with a supportive community that you can possibly talk to about your issues.

No matter the chaos in your life or the unknown future, you can bring your life into focus. You just have to settle your mind. Our minds are funny like that, they will get out of control if we let them. We can harness our prana and direct it so that it benefits us, rather than deplete it, leaving us feeling out of control and unproductive. We just have to focus.