Drishti in Kundalini Yoga

Eye focus

Photo by Patrick Brinksma on Unsplash

A longtime resident of Montreal, Canada, Giuseppina “Penny” Mancuso has served as president of Goddess Me since founding this life-coaching organization in 2017. Outside of the professional arena, Penny Mancuso is an avid practitioner of kundalini yoga.

One of the ways in which kundalini differs from other yoga forms is its use of elements that tap into the power of one’s natural consciousness-expanding kundalini energy. One of these elements is known as “drishti.”

Loosely translated as "focused gaze," drishti operates under the principle that the mental concentration/attention of individuals tends to follow their physical gaze. In order to develop and control that concentration, drishti dictates exactly where practitioners should fix their eyesight during kundalini yoga sessions.

Every kundalini yoga position has its own specific drishti technique. In the downward-facing dog pose, for example, practitioners should gaze directly at the navel (nabi chakra drishti). Conversely, when engaged in the upward-facing dog pose, practitioners should direct their eyes to the tip of the nose (nasagrai drishti).