I mean... SIDEWAYS?! OK, so you're either looking to the right side or to the left side. But even then this is ambiguous. All the other drishti gazing points are so SPECIFIC, like the nose drishti (Nasagrai), hand drishti (Hastagrai), foot drishti (Padayoragrai), etc. Even the fluffiest-sounding one, the third-eye drishti (Ajna chakra or Broomadhya), which isn't even based on a physical body part, more like an energetic point, is so much easier to define than the ambiguous Parsva Drishti.
I mean... OK, if you're talking about Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana where you swing your leg out to either side in Utthita Parshvasahita... I'm thinking: "so I'm looking to the right, but right WHERE?! Up? Down? Eye level?"
I usually tend to just gaze a little bit higher than eyeline - somehow it just helps me from an energetic point, to keep the leg lifted, to keep the whole asana lifted together and upwards. So for me at least, this "Parsva Drishti" has always been a little bit more "sideways and UP"!
But then in Mysore, I remember in led classes noticing how most people's heads were dipped down. As in: They were looking to the side, but their focus was down on the floor!! (What great Parsva Drishti I have, that I can also spot other people's eyelines. HAHA!) I suppose in a crowded led class, there's no way you're gonna look sideways and at eye level, coz this means you'll be staring at your neighbour and if they wobble, you're gonna wobble and crash too.
So then I tried this out the next time: I looked down to the floor. SIDEWAYS, but gazing down at the floor. Wow, this really F'd up my balance. Maybe it just felt different and I wasn't used to it. But NO WAY. Never again. It felt like energetically I wasn't doing anything to keep myself in the pose either.
The other Parsva Drishti that makes me laugh is in Supta Padangusthasana. Usually by this time in the Primary series, I'm happy to be laying on my back and sometimes cheat a bit by not working so hard here. Heh. Also, with the sideways drishti here, sometimes my gaze wanders around the room to check out what other people are doing at this point. So I guess this particular Parsva Drishti is a "sideways and all over the room" drishti for me. Haha.
(I dunno why Arjuna is looking away in every Parsva Drishti picture. Maybe he's in on the conspiracy that you can't tell where the eyeline is supposed to be in Sideways Drishti.)
And then what really got my back up in yesterday's practice was Parsva Drishta in Pasasana. I was doing an evening practice at the MWF shala (no morning practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so it's evening practice there instead), and in fact I've been enjoying evening practices again so much that I'm thinking of switching over to evenings all the time now. It's only when work gets busy that it's hard to do so.
But anyways, so I digress.
Yesterday's practice was very laboured and water-retentive (that time of the month is creeping up!), and maybe it was also the big lunch I'd had, but getting the bind in Pasasana was a bit of a struggle. I got there eventually on my own, but I couldn't crane my head around fully in Parsva Drishti. I ended up looking kind of sideways to the left wall (and right wall) on either side, but usually in Pasasana I'm able to crane my head around so I'm looking more towards the back. So I suppose my usual Parsva Drishti in this is "sideways and to the back", whereas yesterday's Parsva Drishti was "sideways and... er... to the side".
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Look, for Arjuna, it looks like it's "sideways and UP!"
See what I mean by how Parsva Drishti is just a bit of a pain the ass?!
HOW DO YOU DEFINE IT?
How "sideways" is "sideways" enough?
-----
Heehee, yes this drishti is quite the P.I.T.A. In UHP, my drishti is sideways and down, because looking up is even more distracting than looking at my neighbor's mat or the floor.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we're supposed to be looking at our nose too in this drishti? I remember reading one of Claudia's posts that said Nasagrai is the default drishti when you don't know where to look.
HAHA! Sideways and to the nose in UHP would just make me fall over. But yes, I tend to veer to the nose drishti unconsciously sometimes. :)
ReplyDeletesavasanaaddict, yes, my teacher once told me that nasagrai is the default drishti. It's also the one I'm most comfortable with.
ReplyDeleteIn twists (like Pasasana), I always look sideways and slightly down. Somehow, sideways and up (like the way Arjuna does it) doesn't feel very calming for me.
hmm, I was wondering about this recently too. I was originally taught sideways/down, and I'm not even sure by whom, but at a recent class was corrected and told to look up in UHP, not at the floor.
ReplyDeleteAfter hundreds of practices doing it one way, I think any change is going to shake up your balance, whether it's up to down, or down to up. Well it did yours and mine, anyhow, eh? I went back to sideways and down at home again.
I'm not even sure where I gaze in Pasasana, but I think down on that one too; will be checking tomorrow. PITA indeed.
I think you can get away with looking down as long as the head and shoulder are lifted and open :)
ReplyDeleteNobel: I'm not even sure if I look sideways and down or up in Pasasana! I usually just crane my head all around to the back. And now you've just added another thing for me to check out on my drishti list: is it "sideways to the back and down" or "sideways to the back and up". HAHA!
ReplyDeleteFran: Uh huh. See my comment to Nobel. I feel like a weirdo for even being bothered by this now. :)
Susan: OK. More things to check off on my growing list. HAHAHA!
HA HA HA HA, oh i needed the laugh
ReplyDeleteI'm just happy to stay upright in UHP & find my fingers in Pasasana, correct drishte is a bonus. Thanks for naming the drishtes, I only knew the nose one.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have the unofficial UHP game at Friday night led primary, trying to make the person opposite lose balance, the teacher was aware of it and the holding chitvari game and I'm sure she counted slower some nights just to watch the fun
Okay, so i always thought to the side...and into the great beyond sideways! LOL. This morning during led i did look down in UHP and it was much easier really... No offense to any of my shala mates (it's my issue!) but having my eye on them usually distracts me and makes me lose my balance. But this shows lack of control over my mind/thought/concentration on breath...and i think this is what we're supposed to be strengthening in these postures as well as our physical bodies. So, i duno, maybe sideways is meant to be tough and ambiguous...whichever way you look at it ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to give this sideways-and-up thing a try! Maybe rather than focusing on others' mats, I can try to find a spot over their heads where my drishti can sit for a minute (I'm tall, so I'm banking on having people smaller than me to my left (my bad side)).
ReplyDelete