gaze at the sky
Nature is a powerful ally of
meditation. Sometimes—when
the computer crashes as you’re
facing a pressing deadline, or
the car breaks down when you’re
short on money—it’s easy to get
caught up in the dramas of life
and feel disconnected from your
sense of presence. For this prac-
tice, find a place in nature where
you have an uninterrupted view
of the sky. Invite a soft gaze that
allows you to have peripheral
vision. Imagine you have eyes
in the back of your head and
have a 360-degree field of view.
Take in the spaciousness of the
sky and open to it. You are not
looking for anything in particu-
lar. Instead, you’re simply being
with the spacious awareness as
your thoughts appear and disap-
pear. If you start to zone out,
you can close your eyes and
come back to your body and
breath. Once you feel more con-
nected, you can open your gaze
again and keep some awareness
in the body as you invite your-
self back to the experience of
spaciousness. Before returning
to your daily activities, take a
moment to ground yourself and
reconnect to the earth.zoom in
and out
This practice helps you to culti-
vate concentration and a more
spacious awareness during daily
activities. Imagine that your
attention has two lenses: a zoom
lens and a wide-angle one. As
you move through the various
activities of your day, zoom in
on a specific task or object, and
then zoom back out again. For
example, while washing the
dishes, notice the feeling of the
water on your hands, zooming in
on the sensation. Is it warm or
cool? Where do you feel it moststrongly? See if you can narrow
your attention to the edges of
the sensation. Then shift to a
wide-angle lens. As you continue
to feel all of the sensations in
your hands, open to the space
around you: the sounds in the
room, the view in front of you,
the space behind you, and the
ground beneath you. Alternate
between narrowing and widening
your focus and notice how the
changing perspectives affect
your experience. ✤Janice Gates teaches meditation and is
the founder of The Yoga Garden in San
Anselmo, California.Connect with a more
spacious awareness
throughout the day with
freeform meditations.YOGA TODAY YOGAJOURNAL.COM 89
relaxation & meditationfreeform
practices