Episode 62: Drishti & Devotion - Choosing What You Give Your Life Force To

In this episode, we explore drishti — the yogic practice of focusing the gaze — and how it extends far beyond the mat into the way we live, choose, pray, and create.

Drishti is not just about where the eyes look, but about where our energy, attention, and devotion are placed. In a world that constantly pulls at our focus, drishti becomes a spiritual practice of simplification, clarity, and conscious choice.

We talk about how focus itself can become prayer — how our actions, choices, and commitments can turn everyday life into a moving offering. This episode invites you to examine where your gaze is going — and whether it truly deserves your life force.

As we look ahead to the Year of the Fire Horse and the wider shifts of collective consciousness, we reflect on what it means to live with clarity, devotion, and openness, becoming vessels for what wants to move through us, rather than scattering ourselves across what doesn’t matter.

This is an episode about focus as devotion, discipline as freedom, and life as prayer.

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You can check out our respective websites and social media here:

Becky:

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www.therosealmanac.com

Laura:

www.soulsanctuarystudios.com

www.lauraclaytonwellness.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Hello and welcome back to the podcast today. And we have a topic today that when I thought about it, I was really surprised we hadn't covered before. Because it's kind of a fundamental topic really within yoga, and that is this sense of drishti or focus. So if you've ever been to a yoga class, you might have heard the teacher talk about drishti and focus in terms of where do you place your eyes, your gaze in certain poses. So our intention today is really to explore that concept a bit more in terms of yeah, how it applies in a yoga class and the sort of deeper philosophy of yoga, and then as we always do, kind of take that off the mat and see where it applies everywhere else, and maybe kind of bring a bit of astrology or whatever in as well. So, Laura, I feel like you're probably better placed than me to define Drishti.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Okay. Um, well, very literally speaking, in yoga, they believe it is where your gaze is. Yeah. So what are you looking at? And that's a really it's really oversimplified, but it's like, what is your focus? Often we'll use the word focus and drishti kind of interchangeably. Um, and yeah, it was such a great idea you coming up with this topic. We were sat, weren't we, in teacher training together? And it's one of the modules that we teach on teacher training, it's Drishtti, because we have to teach them, you know, where Drishti is, where is your focus, your gaze in each asana, in each yoga pose, so that they get the full flexibility through the spine, you know, if you're doing a twist and then you gaze up to the outer fingertip or out to the sky, you know, instead of the gaze just finishing at the wall, then you get a full spinal twist up through the neck, for example. So you get all the benefits of the mobility of the spine and the neck. Um, but also obviously we're bringing in um the sense of focus. So if you want to hold a balance, for example, you know, the balancing poses that's when people often talk about drishti, focus on one point so that you don't wobble, right? And so we'll say, you know, what is your drishti in this pose? Then maybe we'll ask the question, you know, what's your drishti off the mat? What is your focus off the mat? Um, and that's always what we're trying to do when we're teaching yoga, isn't it? We're not just teaching them about, you know, how to lengthen their hamstrings or how to do a downward-facing dog, but what does the downward-facing dog teach us about ourselves and our patterns and whether we push too hard or hold back and where might be doing that off the mat. So we're always drawing these parallels off the mat. And the lovely quote or phrase that is often used is where attention goes, energy flows. And that's the idea that we're really talking about when we think about drishti off the mat. So it's like, what are you feeding with your focus? We often talk about the hungry wolf, you know, in psychology, it's like, what are we feeding that hungry wolf? Sometimes it's the ego, you know, we don't want to feed it with that energy, with the thoughts. Sometimes it can be good stuff too. We just need to make sure that we're putting our focus where we want it to be. And are we awake and consciously deciding and living consciously in that, you know, or are we just allowing our thoughts and energy to constantly be given to something or someone where we don't actually want it to be? So a lot of this comes back to meditation. Obviously, yoga is a moving meditation, but if you think, you know, how quickly the mind wanders off, the untrained mind or the human mind, and it can wander off to maybe conversations, maybe to the past, maybe just giving energy to stuff that has gone. Um, and that in that way we're wasting energy potentially. Um, and maybe we give it to the future, maybe we spend our energy worrying about stuff that hasn't even happened yet, and so maybe then your Drishti, your focus might be to be present. So there are lots of different ways that you know you can focus and grow through this practice of Drishti. But yeah, essentially it's about focused gaze, but energetically, it's about sort of direction. Like, where do we want to go? What do we want to be focusing on? Clarity, discernment, like real seeing. You know, if Drishti is about focus or looking, it's a seeing for me, it's like really seeing, you know, the truth of things, what we want to focus on. Um, of course, it helps with balance and steadiness, but I suppose there's that um the counter side of it, which we were talking about when we're teaching this module, is we really have to warn against like fixation. So there's focus, which is really, really helpful, um, and then there's there can be fixation. So, like if fixation is like rigid, narrow, fear-based, focus is like it's something live, so it's kind of open, like we're focused, but we're not um rigid. Because that analogy is like, you know, if you imagine that you're in a balanced pose, if your focus is too rigid, like if you're staring too hard, then you'll fall out of the pose. So your balance improves when the gaze is there, like your focus, but there's a softness to it. Um, and we can see that off the mat, can't we? With like burnout, you know, staring too hard at something, um, or anxiety fixating on you know the future. So, yeah, I guess that's a little summary of sort of what it is quite literally on the mat and and how it might play out off the mat. What about you, Beck? Like, how do you how do you interpret Drishti? How's that playing out for you?

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Yeah, for me, I think it's about like not forcing focus, but knowing that you have a choice with your focus, like in yoga in the poses. Yeah, you know, like there's the full expression of the pose where you explained it with a twist, but that you actually have a choice with that as well. So for me, yeah, Drishti a lot about choice, and something I realized um it came back to me actually when we were teaching this weekend is this idea that the eyes are an extension of the nervous system. So it's like, yeah, it's like it's not a hard gaze, and it's not like you say, attaching to something. And I think sometimes when we focus on things as well, you mentioned like fear, you know, when you're balancing a lot of people's kind of inner talk, is like, don't fall over, don't fall out of the pose, don't fall out of the pose, and of course it's like, but that's what you're focusing on is the falling out of the pose. So I think it's like this sense of where the eyes are going needs to be to like honor your nervous system, and that that's the same off the mat. So yeah, your focus needs to honor yes, the things that are are aligned with your dharma, your purpose, your direction in life, but in a way that like really truly honors your nervous system at the same time. Um and I really like this idea of Drishti and focus being a bit like prayer, in that yeah, life can become a moving prayer, like all of your actions being considered, and we talk about things being conscious a lot on this this podcast. So for me, I think it's a lot about that, like really being conscious.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yeah, I I love that, and I think um it was interesting when we were teaching that class, that Drishti class, and yes, of course, like on the surface, it's okay, where is the drishti in this pose? And as you say, you know, we go to full expression, and then we were playing with the idea that if if you're drishti, if your focus was actually on connection to self or self-nourishment rather than achieving the full expression of the pose, let's say your Drishthi, you're focused with on self-care, then you know, with that level of connection, actually bring your drishti to a point that feels good to you, bring your drishti to a point that feels like it's nourishing you rather than draining you, you know, make sure that it is not hurting in any way, like Ahimsa, there's none non-harm in your practice, and that actually it's energizing you. And it was really interesting the discussion afterwards, wasn't it? More like um, people think and can kind of push away from Drishti feeling as though it's sort of it's that like focus thing, you know, like when we're taught at school, like focus more, you know, almost be harder on yourself, um, be more disciplined. And instead, like what they got from the practice was that like Drishti being more focused on connection to self was actually like it was a permission, it was a softening, um, it was deeper connection rather than just sort of forcefulness or like pushing achievement. And that was that was a lovely outcome of that session. And then, you know, how can you take that off the mat? Just being being more connected to self through focus and through feeling um on what actually feels good to you rather than just doing maybe what you know, expectation or society wants of us, you know?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, and some of the things that came up in that uh discussion were about like true focus, not necessarily being about doing more, but about removing the clutter, like what falls away when you focus and what is just noise in your life, and we're all played with so much noise all of the time, um, you know, with like phones and technology, and then there's work, and then there's home, and then like all of these things. And if we try and do too many things, like if we have like too many Drifty points, uh it can sort of dilute our intention and our direction. So it's really like picking the ones that are the most aligned. And I really like the idea of you know, one of the Drifty points is of course to turn your close your eyes and turn your attention within, like maybe that's focusing on your third eye, or just closing your eyes, focusing on nothingness, on the darkness, um, and this sense that like true drishti must emerge from that place, which is what you were saying, you know, with like the poses and this idea of like always aligning with your inner your your body and what you're feeling and what you need from that pose in the moment, but we can just take that off the mat as well. I think it's just the what one of the ways to sort of really practice Drishti is to have those check-in points with yourself.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, absolutely. I think the language is so important, you know, it's like when we name it, we know what we're doing. And I think if we can if we find ourselves being distracted is just having that word, like right, Drishti, like what is the focus? And just as important as you said, is actually what am I choosing not to focus on is just as important as what am I focusing on. So if there are tendencies that you feel yourself giving your energy to and you don't want to be focusing on that, then actively choosing you know not to if that's not serving you. Um, and I think sometimes like we just we just done the glaciers, hadn't we? The poisons of the mind when we did this weekend, and they just tied in so perfectly. So, like the the glaciers as a swift recap is are the poisons or or the root of human suffering, is what they call it in yoga, and it's represented as a tree, four branches and a trunk, so like the five glaciers, and the root of the tree is a vidya, which is like misperception, so seeing things the wrong way, and if we can stop misperceiving things, then they say because that's the trunk of the tree, the rest of the branches won't grow, which ultimately is like can we see truthfully? Like we kept talking about like radical honesty, like radical truth with ourselves, you know. So instead of this idea, like a drishti kind of focusing on like achievement or productivity, and there's that sense of like I'm behind, or I should be more this, or this is who I want to be, like actually, you know, that is a sort of misperception because actually the focus of the drishti is that I am enough as I am, right? So being really clear about what we're not focusing on, what we're not giving our energy, and making sure that that is not a misseeing, like an Avidia, you know, a confusion in some way. Um, some of the other closures we spoke about were asmita. So asmita essentially is like the more I make the world about me, the more stressful it becomes, you know, that being a poison of the mind. So if our drishti is too self-referential, like focused on me, you know, how do I look? Am I good enough? Am I doing this right? Like me, me, me. Um, and if that is your drushti, then that may lead to suffering because you know, that is a poison of the mind when you're too focused on self. Um, you know, it's okay for the gaze to turn inwards, like you're talking about in a sense of like peacefulness and connection to self in feeling, but not when it tightens and it's like ego-focused, you know, or fixated on self. Um, and two others, so Raja and Devesha. So Raja is this like what we crave, attachment to what we do like, and that's that like fixation thing, you know, focusing too much on what we like, like, like, or resisting Devesha is like focusing on what we don't like. I don't like that, I don't like this. So it's a fine line, isn't it? Because we're trying to become aware of what are we focusing on, what do we want to move towards, and what don't we want to focus on, but at the same time, you know, keeping a balance with that so that they're not they're not fixations. Um yeah, it's it's about focus and not fixation. Would you what else would you add to that, Beck?

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Uh, I think I've always well, I suppose up until quite recently, like had good, like strong drifty and focus and things like that. And then the last few years I've really kind of softened. But I think it's it's not a full circle moment, but it's this, I think where I'm coming to is this sense of like if you don't have discipline, then like you're you just end up being enslaved by whatever is happening around you, or like moods or impulses or distractions, uh, yeah, and all of the clutter around us. Whereas if actually you have Drishti and discipline, it actually can bring you a lot of freedom because all of your life force is being gathered and directed in you know, a direction, or you know, maybe it's a few things that you're focusing on rather than, you know, in life, I mean obviously we only focus on one thing at a time, rather than just being like open, then you're just gonna get pulled around. And so, yeah, I really like this kind of paradox that discipline can bring you a lot of freedom. Um like if you want to be a writer, then you've got to show up and do the writing. If you want to be an athlete, you've got to show up and do your training sessions. And if what I don't know, whatever your focus is, if for the athlete part of sort of their one of their gifts and an ability to sort of express their sole purpose is to to do that thing. Well, if they don't have focus and show up and do their training, well, then they're not going to be living their dharma. So it's this sense of like what we don't choose is going to be chosen for us. So there's a sense of freedom that comes from really choosing what we give ourselves to, uh, you know, so with things like self-care, whether that's exercise or diet, like I don't love writing a meal plan. But if the consequences of me not writing a meal plan are, well, I end up just like having to go to the shop every day, and then that's just a waste of life force and energy, or you know, maybe you can't get to the shop and then you end up ordering food in, which is not really what you want to be eating. So it's this sense of okay, like discipline can sometimes be hard. But if you just write the bloody meal plan and then go and book your online shop, have it delivered, and then I don't know, you spend half a day on a Sunday prepping your food or like the things that you can cook ahead, then that's going to give you a lot more freedom to focus on other things that you want to focus on in the week, uh, and align you maybe with like one of your goals, which might be to take the best care of your vessel, your body that you can. So it's something I'm really trying to live by a lot more this year. And I think sometimes what what can happen as well if you've lived a very disciplined life, like there can be a need to break away from that and let things go and see what you're left with after. And I think a lot of us live that way in the West, you know, we're working and we have like these very tight diaries and schedules and all the things that we think we need to do. And I I guess like I've really been in the process of letting some of that go in the last year or two and like seeing where I'm left, and for me, it's like probably an overall correction of now like wanting to come back to actually. I do want to focus on some things, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. It's like having the wisdom to see the bigger picture, isn't it? To kind of zoom out and go, I might not want to do this right now, but this in the long term is kindness to myself, yeah. But it's a balance, isn't it? It's funny, it's so paradoxical because we're always trying to be present, but then you know, if you make decisions like in every present moment, then you know, being kind to yourself in each present moment, how is that going to play out like long term at the same time? You know, we don't want to be so focused on the future and so much discipline that you know, if we don't have the energy or the life force in it for that day or that afternoon or whatever, so I think that's where that kind of flexibility comes in, like that focus with that flexibility and staying in connection to self, but having the wisdom to see what impact that each momentary decision has on our future. Um, it's like even this morning with Lenny, you know, he's a fantastic swimmer, and um he kind of always has been, and I've always felt like he just I don't know, he just got in and he swam, um, like he'd sort of done it before. And yeah, so we we do swimming lessons with him. He his school, we're really lucky they have a swimming pool at his his school, so they do swimming on a Wednesday anyway, and it's a really shallow pool, they just kind of do it for kids' confidence and stuff, and we take him to swimming lessons, like actual swimming lessons on a Thursday afternoon. So in his mind, he's like, I swim on a Wednesday, like I don't want to do swimming on a Thursday afternoon, and it's really hard because we've had this before with like rugby, with football, with running, you know, kids at well, he's five, right? So one week he wants to do it, you pay for a course of you know 10, which isn't cheap, and then the next weekend he doesn't do it. And it's as a parent, it's I find it difficult with that because it's like, how much am I doing what you say, which is like, look, you're gonna absolutely love where this is gonna take you, and you're naturally predisposed to this. So it's like this is a really good thing for you. Um, or how much in the moment do you just kind of go, okay, he doesn't have the he doesn't have the beans for it tonight? It's a fine line to tread, isn't it, with ourselves, but also with you know our small humans that we're trying to guide through this as well.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Yeah, nothing more annoying than that. You sign them up for something for 10 weeks and then week two or three, they're like, Yeah, I don't really like it, I don't want to go. None of this stuff has been worn more than once. Yeah, it's hard. I think it's well, what I started doing with my kids when they did that was like really explaining like if we sign up for this, you have to do it for 10 weeks, and if you don't want to do it after that, like that's okay. Um yeah, but it's hard, isn't it? It really is to just find that balance. And I think sometimes they're so tired from school and everything else that you don't want to keep pushing them. Uh but yeah, totally relate to that.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

It is, it's it's kind of what you're talking about, though. It's about you know, uh you I taught teacher training this weekend, right? So I'm away from the boys for the Friday, the Saturday, and the Sunday. And then we back get back to school, and they like they wake up earlier excited to see me and they're going to school on the Monday. And then it was bad timing that I had a teacher training online call on the Monday night, right? Seven till nine. So you can imagine they were like at the end of their tether, they were like, This is a joke. Like, you know, we want to see you now. And I was trying to explain to them, look, you know, sometimes you've got to do things that you don't want to do because if you want to like have a nice house or you want to go on holiday, or you know, whatever it is, wherever you want to take something, you have to work hard for it. And and it's really like, I'm trying to tread that fine line of like listen to yourself and like be kind to yourself. And at the same time, if you want, you know, what do you remember on our teacher training? It was like, do the thing to get the thing. You know, you have got to do the thing to get the thing. You can't just say that you do something and not do it. Um, so yeah, treading a fine line with that, with with myself, yeah, with our with diet, with exercise, you know, constantly for our energy levels, but also trying to get these healthy messages across to our kids for like Drishti focus and also self-care is it's a fine fine line to walk.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Yeah, I feel like it's really hard as a mum. It sometimes it feels impossible, doesn't it? To like do your work, look after a house, try and bring children up in a way that like you really want to do the best that you can. So for anyone out there who's feeling the same, yeah, we see you, it's it's tough, it's hard. Um and we can only do the best that we can do on any one day, and that's where I think our own focus uh is important, you know, because I think there is so much pressure to like do all the things, and we can only focus on one thing at a time, even if we've got a few goals, like we can only focus on one thing in each moment of the day, and it's about being realistic and kind to yourself about you know what you can achieve. And I think especially if you've got my kids are getting older, but even so, we seem to be going through a bit of a stage at the moment where they need me more than um maybe they did a couple of years ago. I think as they start to move into puberty and those teenage years, I think that definitely happens, and you know, of course, that has to be like one of the areas of my focus, and that might mean something else has to like has to fall away a little bit at the moment, um so that I can properly focus on that, and it's then trusting kind of the cycles of time that you know, next year maybe they won't need me so much, and you know, and it's really hard as well when your kids don't need you so much. So, yeah, I think it's tuning into your own priorities, um and like what's in your heart, what do you feel like you need to focus on and then and trying to teach your children to do the same.