As I walk into a room, I take in with my eyes the shape of the room, the brightness of the lights, the presence of other people. Sight is the primary sense from which most humans receive information about their surroundings. Eye movement helps determine what exactly we think we see. If our gaze is focussed, soft, lowered, raised or wide, we see differently.  The effect of what we see or think we see reverberates through our body.

In this workshop, the room was lit by natural light shining through the windows, the walls painted a light colour and as my eyes rested on each participant I felt my body respond with a sense of calmness. My breath was even, I could feel my weight dropping through my feet to connect with the floor. I felt secure. My perception of this environment was one of safety and I felt relaxed introducing myself and settling in. 

Noticing where we are at physically, paying attention to sensation, we can alter our experience to feel safe…where ever we are. Since this workshop, I have made it a practise to consciously shift my gaze to soft focus and feel my breath coordinate with blood flow to circulate well being throughout my body when I am in an environment that I feel is less than friendly. The result is that I have successfully calmed myself down under pressure. In other words, outside influences stayed outside of me. Inside my body I held sacred space.