HeyMonicaB

Hey, this is part 3 ofThe Five Senses. If you haven’t already, you may want to check out the senses and part 1 first.

We see. Our eyes are the observers of the world around us. We see colors, movement, pretty things and ugly things. The eyes are governed by light which relates to fire and therefore our eyes are governed by Pitta. When our eyes are red, sticky, itchy or agitated it is usually because there is too much light and too much heat – like a computer screen! I know my eyes get sticky and a little blood shot (blood also is governed by pitta!) by the end of the my work day when I’m done computering. When we’re out in the sun all day our eyes can get itchy and red too.

While we realize how important our eyes are, we might not be aware of how we feel based on what we see. Example: If your living room window looked over the neighbors backyard and it was full of junk (old row boat, rusty tools, a litter box, a trashy broken bike, strewn garbage, a blow up swimming pool with moldy water in it…) would it bug you? Would you want to look out that window? Maybe you would cover up the window so you wouldn’t have to look at it? Now in contrast, what if you had a living room that looked over the San Francisco Bay with sparkley water, a bridge, mountains, and twinkly lights at night from boats passing by. Would you want to look out that window? MMMhm! You might leave the window open to the view all the time!

Did you notice any tension change in your body when you read these two scenarios? That’s what I’m talkin about. When we live in a place that is pretty, set out a favorite photograph, or buy flowers, we feel good. Because it looks nice! If we live in clutter, darkness or disorganization we might feel stressed, uneasy or depressed. Because it looks like crud. So we feel like crud.

Our eyes absorb so much and it really affects our mind our bodies and our spirits. There are a few things that we can do to keep our eyes happy:

• Focus our gaze on a candle or fireplace (great for pitta eyes!!)
• Rub ghee on bottoms of feet (feet are the action organ for the eyes). Very soothing.
• Take short breaks during the day to look at the sky or nature
• Eye exercises in the a.m. (clockwise, Repeat 10x. counterclockwise, Repeat 10x)
• Take out contact lenses at night!
• Wear an eye mask if there are bright lights at night (and get your mate to turn off the tv at bedtime. bad.)
• Keep yourself beautifully organized. Free of clutter.

When we keep our eyes filled with beauty and organization, our mind will follow suit. It will remain organized and focused on the tasks at hand. There is nothing worse than to have wandering eyes, which triggers the mind, which then creates additional tasks for us. I’m telling you, too many times during my yoga practice I’ve stopped to sweep up dust bunnies. That might also have to do with my vata vikruti (imbalance)…but that’s another post.

May your eyes get good rest tonight. Namasté.