Introduction:
The Embodyoga® system is one that can be described as yoga that
emphasizes alignment from the inside-out.
We use what we call the “quiet spine principal” as one of our main
emphases in teaching, whereby no shearing lines of force are taken across the
spine no matter how deeply into a pose one attempts to go. As the spine is the house of sushumna nadi,
it is of supreme importance that we not allow these “breaks” in the spine to
occur, as that would obviously be counter-productive in yoga practice, where we
are ultimately trying to allow Prana to flow unimpeded along sushumna.
I became intrigued with the idea of drishti as more than simply a
focus- or gazing-point in the practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa, while delving into
some of the deeper backbends of the second, third, and fourth series. I discovered that when practicing the deeper
backbends: specifically dwi pada
viparita dandasana, raja kapotasana, chakra bandhasana, kapotasana, etc.
(especially those poses where the feet touch the head) if I held the postures
for longer than the prescribed 5-10 breaths, and, if I did not have my gaze
down the tip of my nose, I would finish the practice with an excruciating
headache. That led me to investigate the various Ashtanga texts that described
the gaze point, or drishti, in the backbends, where I found that with the
exception of lagu vajrasana, the gaze is described as past the tip of the
nose. (David Swenson, Lino Miele,
Matthew Sweeney) I began to bring more of my attention to the drishti in my practice
and emphasize it in my teaching. I found
that my headaches disappeared completely, and also found that my students had
much less tendency to “break” in the cervical spine when bringing the gaze down
the end of the nose at the apex of the pose.
Drishti--
Traditionally, drishti is defined as gazing point in asana
practice --specifically in the Ashtanga vinyasa system as taught by Sri K.
Patthabi Jois. Though it is commonly
thought of as simply a way to focus the gaze and keep the mind from wandering,
it is really much more than that. The
drishti has deep implications for creating and maintaining the body-mind
connections forged in asana practice.
It does serve to focus the gaze and the mind; however, there are many
other levels on which it functions to create and hold what we call Yoga, or
union within the body-mind.
On the physical level, the drishti functions to help keep the
body in alignment from head-to-tail, so there are no shearing lines of force
taken across the spine. It accomplishes this
by setting the stage for the body to fall into its natural state of balance and
alignment. When coming into any
backbend, in the ashtanga vinyasa system, the gaze point or drishti is at or
past the tip of the nose. This is
especially important in the deeper backbends such as kapotasana and ustrasana,
but equally important in urdva mukha svanasana, and bhujangasana as well. Let’s look at the physical relationship of
the eyes to the spine first. The common
tendon of the eye muscles that move them around in their sockets originates
along the tendinous ring surrounding the optic canal, encasing the optic nerve,
with some attaching on the sphenoid bone (plate 517 Clemente). The muscles that depress the eye (looking
down) are the superior oblique and inferior rectus. The superior oblique attaches to the sphenoid
bone of the skull via the occipital bone; and the inferior rectus to the
tendinous ring. Thus, as we drop the
gaze, the sphenoid bone is drawn up slightly, stabilized by the inferior rectus. The sphenoid bone is indirectly connected to
the posterior surface of dens of the atlas via the alar and apical ligaments
(pl 420, 549, Clemente). Thus, as we
drop the gaze, we move the dens forward and up slightly, which has enormous
implications for the health and safety of the spinal cord. If we take the head back without moving the
dens forward, due to the orientation of the dens itself, we risk impinging the
spinal cord. (The dens of C2 sits
anteriorly to the spinal cord, acting as the body of C1). If we allow the dens to collapse back, which
happens when students try to take their heads back without support, then there
is a visible break in the cervical spine, and a subsequent impingement of the
spinal cord, which I think most of us would agree is not wise practice. By dropping the gaze down the end of the
nose, we provide ourselves with some of the support needed to keep the spine in
a nice, long arc, opening up the central channel, which is sushuma nadi. There are many different ways to support the
spine properly in extension, this is simply another way to affect subtle
support in the backbend postures.
Other subtle supports for the spine and sushumna nadi are found
in the glandular system, particularly those of the head. The pituitary gland is situated in the cellae
tursica directly above the sphenoid sinuses (pl 490, 522, Clemente). The mammillary bodies are situated posterior
and superior to the pituitary gland, adjacent to the optic nerve. Some neuroanatomists believe them to be a
part of the hypothalmus, which acts to link the endocrine system to the nervous
system via the pituitary. (Innerbody.com: http://www.innerbody.com/image/endoov.html). It can be argued that when we take the gaze
down, we also slightly lift the pituitary and mammillary bodies and shift them
forward and down. (pl 495, Clemente) In
fact, the pituitary sits just below the optic chiasm (Netters, pl.100), which
connects directly to the corpus collosum via the anterior commisure and the
lamina terminalis. The pineal gland sits
just below the base of the corpus collosum, surrounded by the great cerebral
vein and below the choroid plexus (artery).
(Netters, pl 100). Thus, as the
gaze drops, the corpus collosum moves
slightly down and forward, which creates space for the pituitary, mammillary
bodies, and the pineal gland, and ultimately provides more space for the flow
of blood to the entire brain. When
bringing the spine into extension, and taking the gaze downward, we bring the
pineal gland up and forward, which brings us more into the parasympathetic
nervous system, calming the sympathetic nervous system and bringing space to
the area where the glands are housed.
Simply by the nature of the backbending postures, we stimulate the
sympathetic nervous system, thus it would seem logical that the nervous system
would come into balance when we drop the gaze while placing the spine in
extension, rolling around the axis of the mamillary bodies. We are stabilizing the glands of the head by
bringing the gaze down, taking us more into the parasymapthetic nervous system
and balancing the inherent sympathetic nervous system activity of the
backbending process.
In both teaching and practice, what I have found is that though
the initiation of the backbend may be one where the eyes lift, at the fullest
expression of the posture, the natural drishti should be at or past the tip of
the nose. Though this has been by no
means a full or scientific study of the effects of dristhi in backbends, I have
found from my own experience and that of many of my students, that it is
immensely calming to the nervous system to take the gaze down. Though it really isn’t necessary to find
explanations for the ancient wisdom of drishti, it is useful when working
therapeutically with students to know what the effects of the more subtle
aspects of the yoga practice are, and how we can help our students to come to a
place of quiet and calm in their yoga practices.
Sources:
Clementes Anatomy
Netter’s Anatomy
Innerbody.com Human Anatomy Atlas
Miele, Lino; Ashtanga
Swenson, David; Ashtanga Yoga
Sweeney, Matthew;
Ashtanga Yoga As It Is
