Okie doke! Day 12!
Our last lesson is with Anaïs Skoutariotis who leads us in a practice using our eyes. She explains that when we’re on alert and our nervous system is triggered, we use our eyes to protect ourselves. They focus or fixate on something. Our pupils react, eyes narrow sometimes. And, of course, they observe everything, looking for potential harm. But what we may not realize is that our eyes can also be used to calm the nervous system. Anaïs says that by “softening the gaze” and becoming aware of the edges of our surroundings we can actually tell our brains that it’s safe, therefore allowing ourselves to relax and reset. She tells us that, during the practice, we don’t have to focus our eyes on anything in particular, just be aware.
We begin by looking straight ahead, then letting our awareness drift to the edges of our field of vision. Then, without moving our heads, slowly look to the right. Breathe in. Breathe out. Then slowly look to the left. Breathe in. Breathe out. Back and forth we go. Pausing to breathe at each extreme. At this point she encourages us to allow our eye movements be smooth. Comfortable, without strain. She just tells us to let our brains take in the information, shapes, colors, etc.
Unfortunately, for me, I’m a very, very visual person and I immediately notice that my eyes are straining to go as far left or right as they can. Then I realize that it’s causing discomfort – and not just because I’ve pushed my eyes too far in any direction. There are simply too many ‘things’ in the room and that now irritates me. (For the record, my husband and I are in the middle of Swedish Death Cleaning and so things are definitely in disarray at the moment. Ugh.)
We finally come back to center and close our eyes. Breathe in. Breathe out. Think about what this exercise has done for us. Maybe there’s a shift. Calm. She finishes by asking us to take a moment to think back on the past 12 days and how these new skills have helped us. I’ll be following up this post with an overview of the challenge, so stay tuned.
But first, how did this lesson go for you? What did you think? Was it helpful? What did you notice? I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!
#nervoussystemresetchallenge
#softenthegaze
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Wholeness Health and YOU! 