As you read this, start to notice your breathing. Don’t try to change it—just let your body breathe naturally.
Now, let’s make a small change: for the next minute or two, stop focusing on each word. Instead, relax your gaze so you can take in the whole screen, and then everything around it, right up to the edges of your vision.
Did you notice that while reading, your breathing was shallow, mostly from your chest, and quick? But when you took in the whole scene, your breathing became deeper, using your abdomen more, and slowed down. You probably felt more relaxed, calmer, and happier.
When we focus narrowly, our sympathetic nervous system gets activated. This system is tied to our “fight or flight” response, scanning for threats and getting us ready to react. Unfortunately, we often keep this system switched on too much, which floods our body with stress hormones and leaves us constantly overstimulated. Once we finish one task, we often seek out the next thing to focus on, staying stuck in a cycle of anxiety and hyper-vigilance.
However, by relaxing our gaze, we nudge our parasympathetic nervous system into action. This system helps us calm down, rest, and restore balance. The exercise of relaxing our gaze can quickly trigger this calming response, helping us break free from constant alertness and allowing ourselves to relax.
This shift is easy to achieve—it just involves changing how we use our eyes, letting them relax instead of maintaining a tight focus. While you may not be able to read or browse the internet this way, you can take breaks, have conversations, attend meetings, walk around, or even drive.
Interestingly, you can also use this relaxed gaze in meditation. I often suggest this technique to help people get more out of their meditation practice. When our eyes are in sympathetic mode (narrowly focused), our mind tends to focus on one small part of our experience, which can quickly lead to boredom and distractibility. The mind then creates thoughts to fill this sensory void, pulling our attention away from our breathing.
But when we relax our gaze in meditation, we can take in the whole “scene” of our breathing, sensing how different parts of the experience connect and interact. This creates a richer, more dynamic experience. Our attention, now less like a narrow flashlight beam and more like an all-encompassing lamp, can hold both our breath and our thoughts simultaneously. Thoughts still arise, but we can let them pass without getting caught up in them, making meditation easier.
So, this simple change—relaxing our gaze—can significantly transform our meditation practice and overall life experience.