Sometimes you may hear an instructor ask you to find your dṛsti (pronounced dirsh-tee) during a Yoga class. What does that mean exactly?
In Aṣṭāṁga (ash-taaan-ga) Yoga taught by K. Pattabhi Jois (1915–2009), dṛsti typically means a specific place to point our eyes that can help us align our head in each posture. For example, in the Triangle the dṛsti is Aṁguṣṭhamadhye (Ang-ush-ta-madh-yeh), the middle of the top thumb. In Warrior II, it’s Hastagrai (hos-ta-grai), the hand.
On a more subtle level, dṛsti can help us practice the last three limbs of Yoga: Dhāraṇā (concentration), Dhyāna (flow), and Samādhi (profound meditation). By gazing upon a specific focal point and tuning into our peripheral vision as well, we can develop the meta-awareness (awareness of awareness) to stop identifying with thoughts and start abiding in our own form instead.
Try it right now if you want by looking at your hands and noticing the entirety of your peripheral awareness. Back and forth, until you can experience both simultaneously. It’s part of how we wake up in our dreams (lucid dreaming) and maintain the lucidity to make choices to transform our dreams, rather than merely reacting to them.
Now, let’s see if we can make it through this next sentence: When dṛsti is combined with the first five limbs (becoming firmly established in yama – stopping the causes of suffering, niyama – cultivating the causes of wellness, āsana – persistently without clinging to specific outcomes, by a skillful regimen of prāṇāyāma – breath control, and pratyāhāra – developing mastery of the senses), then the last three limbs can help us shift from being lost in thought (asmitā), to a more awakened state (turīya).
If you got lost at any point, consider reading it again while finding your dṛsti to notice where your attention flies off, pause to find your dṛsti, and then continue again until it becomes fairly clear. Maintaining this awakened state is a developable skill called viveka khyāti. The uninterrupted flow of viveka khyāti can allow us to abide in our own form. Especially if we choose to take responsibility for shaping our thoughts from being afflicted to unafflicted, a process called nirbīja samādhi in Patañjali’s Yogasūtra (c. 200 BCE–500 CE). Many have confused nirbīja samādhi as an outcome to achieve rather than a process to practice, which can make it seem unobtainable, impossible, or even undesirable. By finding our dṛsti, it is possible to sort out this confusion for ourselves, develop the skill to stop suffering, and possibly help others do the same.
Where does Dṛsti come from?
The Sanskrit word comes from the root √ḍrś which means ‘to see.’ In early Buddhism, dṛsti is the first step on the Noble 8-fold Path. Here it means to cultivate a view that understands suffering, the causes of suffering, the cessation of the causes of suffering, and the path to the cessation of the causes of suffering.
Dṛsti (view) comprehending suffering, causes, cessation & the path
Saṁkalpa (intention) abandoning harm, developing wholesome states
Vāc (speech) only speaking truthfully, when necessary, kindly, & reverently
Karmānta (action) reducing harm, stealing, & all forms of sexual misconduct
Ājīva (livelihood) living sustainably off of one’s own honest work
Vyāya (effort) patiently & joyfully persevering despite pleasure or pain, gain or loss, praise or blame, fame or anonymity
Smṛti (mindfulness) consciousness, habits, attention, sensations, and forms
Samādhi (concentration) noting, inquiry, rapture, joy, equanimity
The Noble 8-fold Path almost certainly predated and may have inspired the 8-limbs of Yoga. They are quite similar, yet notably different:
Yama (restraint): nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, respecting personal boundaries, non-grasping
Niyama (determination): cleanliness, contentment, burning up afflictions, self-determining, devotion to the ideal of being free of afflictions
Āsana (posture): steadily creating a good space with Yama & Niyama
Prāṇāyāma (breathing): controlling the breath and thinning the veil
Pratyāhāra (mastery of the senses): creating the space to respond vs. react
Dhāraṇā (concentration): placing all of one’s attention upon a single object
Dhyāna (flow): maintaining a continuous flow of single-pointedness
Samādhi (profound meditation): when the seer discerns itself from the seen
Rather than only studying one and excluding the other, there might be much benefit to studying both.
In āsana practice, I will ask you to find your Dṛsti to not only help you align your head physically, but mentally as well. We can do it by simply being aware of our awareness to stop identifying with thoughts and remember who we are. Both the 8-limbs of Yoga and the 8-fold Path can make this more accessible.
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