Lessons From the Mountain — Lesson One

Why would a 58-year-old woman with osteoporosis want to learn to snow ski? On the Tuesday after Christmas, I had no real answer except the desire to spend time with my on-the-go husband, but since then I have been thinking about the Lessons from the Mountain…

In skiing and in life, where you rest your gaze is where you will go. If you look at the fallen snowboarder, you will hit the fallen snowboarder. If you glance repeatedly to the left, the right, and behind, you will most certainly go round and round and then down. As with one’s “drishti” (direction of gaze) in yoga practice, the eyes control the body. Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” (-Matthew 6:22-23) Skillful drishti is steady-softly focused outward but also paying inward attention.

The older I get, the more aware I become that the direction of my gaze (whether television, internet, or in general) impacts my emotions and actions. I recently read a news article which reported that having a general negative focus in life is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s. A clinical psychologist once told me that constant exposure to negative and frightening news reports often results in depression and paranoia, especially among older adult viewers who constantly watch news channels. All of us are shaped by where we rest our gaze. Keeping up with daily news reports may be important, but we need to remember to balance the impact of harsh current realities by intentionally setting our gaze on the deeper truths of faith, hope, and love.

In skiing, in yoga, and in faith, we are called to lift our eyes above immediate obstacles and fear-filled possibilities to an expansive and abundant future. Let your gaze go where you want to go, not where you don’t. Practice letting your eyes be steady and soft— gazing inward as well as out into the world. Rather than narrow, negative, closed, and filled with fear, let your focus be positive, open, inclusive, and hopeful. Be on the watch for the way of grace in the world.
Seek and you will find.

Walking with you, Vicki