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Donna Farhi, Yoga and Soft Eyes
My interest in opening and widening my vision and its
relationship to soft eyes was renewed when I stumbled across some passages on soft eyes in Donna Farhi's excellent book entitled:
THE BREATHING BOOK: GOOD HEALTH AND VITALITY THROUGH ESSENTIAL BREATH WORK.
Ms. Farhi calls it going peripheral or
soft eyes. In her book she suggest an experiment that shows a connection between staring with hard eyes and a tightening of
the diaphragm and constriction of the breath.
She asks the reader to put their hand on their diaphragm just below
their ribs and stare hard and exclusively at something. You will usually notice a tightening of the diaphragm with such a
concentrated effort she points out.
But when looking more peripherally with soft eyes a softening and relaxing of
the diaphragm can usually be perceived. Consequently, she advocates going peripheral whenever one is faced with stressful
and tense situations whether it be walking down a city street, or office tensions, including working at a computer terminal.
She also emphasizes going peripheral to her yoga students when they are attempting more challenging yoga postures,
as it can help them to more fully relax into the posture.
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