Using 'Soft Eyes'

http://www.centeredriding.org/newsshow.asp?int_id=23

Thursday, May 01, 2008
Author: Sally Swift
What are Soft Eyes? Soft Eyes are you looking with wide open eyes and
peripheral awareness, being aware of your entire field of vision and allowing
yourself to feel sensations from within. Soft Eyes are much more than just a
way of looking. It is a method of becoming distinctly aware of what is
happening around you, beneath you and inside of you. This awareness
includes feeling and hearing, as well as seeing. Using soft eyes, you become
aware of the whole yourself, your body, your horses body beneath you and
behind you, as well as all that is in front of you and around you.
Here is an experiment that will help you practice using Soft Eyes. You can first
try this experiment off your horse and then again while sitting on your horse.
While sitting quietly, chose an object in front of you and focus very intently on
that object. Keep looking intently at the object and concentrate on its outline,
shape, density and color, very acutely taking in everything about the object.
This is what I call the use of hard eyes. Now look at that object and without glazing or making your eyes fuzzy,
R..E..L..A..X your eyes. Allow your eyes to take in the largest possible expanse above and below as well as to the
right and to the left of the object. Sitting comfortably with your eyes wide open, work on having the feeling of going
within yourself as your eyes encompass everything that comes into your field of vision, all the while still aiming at the
central object. Practice switching back and forth between hard eyes and Soft Eyes.
When you try this experiment on your horse, try using hard eyes and focusing first on your horses ears. Then with
Soft Eyes, look above your horses ears and with your vision very wide and open, encompass everything that comes
into your vision, all the while going into yourself and increasing your awareness of yourself and your horse. You will
see that using Soft Eyes encompasses a method of becoming distinctly aware of what is going on around you,
beneath you and inside of you. Through the use of Soft Eyes, it will be easier to feel what your horses back is doing
to your seat. You will experience a greater field of vision, increased awareness of your own body and your horses
body. You will experience less tension and feel easier and freer movement.
Drawing by Susan Harris, Senior Level IV Clinician from Cortland, NY.
To learn more about Centered Riding, Sally Swift's books "Centered Riding" and "Centered Riding 2 - Further
Explorations" as well as "Centered Riding" on DVD (Program 1 and 2 are sold separately) are available for purchase
at the following link: http://www.centeredriding.org/supportCR.asp. Centered Riding Instructors are located throughout
the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Europe. To find a Centered Riding Instructor or Clinic, use the
convenient search forms found on this website.









http://seeinganew.tripod.com/id21.html
Aikido Soft Eyes


Home
Exploring
Perception with
J.Krishnamurti
J.Krishnamurti On
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J.Krishnamurti on
Keeping the Eyes
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Letter to a New
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Whole Seeing &
The Eyes Free to
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Direction
On Keeping the
Eyes Still
Aikido Soft Eyes
Tom Brown Jr. &
Splatter Vision
Seeing As If From
Behind the Eyes
Looking Wide -
Going Peripheral
& Sports Greats
Exploring
Headlessness
with Douglas
Harding
Carlos Castaneda
& Soft Eyes
Yoga and Soft
Eyes
Soft Eyes and
Horseback Riding
Seeing with All
the Senses as
One Sense
To See As A Child
Out and Around
Seeing Anew: Exploring Perception



AIKIDO SOFT EYES

In the early seventies I was introduced to the Aikido concept of soft
eyes. It was presented as an alternative to hard, narrowed seeing, a
kind of softer focusing that took in more with an easier, less
judgmental viewpoint.

For the most part, soft eyes remained mostly a concept for me.I did
see an Aikido demonstration in a large San Francisco hall where a
very exonerated Aikido Master dispatched simulated attack after
attack, from all directions by his students.

Surely the ability to not over focus, to stay calmly aware of all of
one's surroundings was aptly demonstrated that evening by this
revered Aikido Master.

In a book entitled, THE ZEN DRIVING BOOK, the author mentions
something called no-seeing and mentions that Samurai warriors
learned to cultivate a complete 360 degree field of awareness.

There are also stories of Tai Chi masters successfully discharging
rear attacks without ever facing their opponents. A friend of mine,
who teaches Tai Chi Chi, refers to more peripheral-based seeing as
'wide-angle seeing'.

Bruce Fertman, a master Alexander Techniuqe teacher and Martial
Artist, tells the story of the great Tai Chi teacher who was once asked
by a student, "What percentage of awareness should be given to the
inner and what percentage to the outer?"

The master replied, "Yes, one hundred percent inner, one hundred
percent outer."

Author Unknow
"When I concentrate on something I usually do what I was taught in
Aikido. What we would do is use what we simply call "soft eyes."
That is where you look at your target object and then just let your
eyes blur the edges, making the object "soft". The sensation is
almost like that of crossing your eyes, but to a lesser extent."

Myself, H.D.
Thoreau on
Perception
About the
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"This reduces the effect of getting tunnel vision when you
concentrate on one particular object, and allows you to utilize your
periphery much more effectively. In a martial situation this is worth
more than gold as you direct and initiate movement against multiple
opponents due to your relaxed focus on only one person."

From: THE COURAGE TO TEACH: EXPLORING THE INNER
LANDSCAPE OF A TEACHER'S LIFE by Parker Palmer
"In the Japanese art of Aikido there is a practice called "soft eyes" - it
means to widen one's periphery to take in more of the world. If a
stimulus is introduced to an unprepared person, his eyes narrow and
filight/fight response takes over. If the same unexpected stimulus
comes to someone with "soft eyes" the natural reflex is transcended
and a more authentic response takes its place - such as thinking a
new thought.
...I want to make a conscious effort to help myself and my students
develop softer eyes when confronted with something new. I believe it
will allow all of us to have more authentic responses and "think" more
"new" thoughts."
(Parker Palmer)

BY TOHEI SENSEI, 10th Degree Aikido Master
"The eyes are the windows to the soul. When we look at a person,
some times we can tell what they are thinking and how they are
feeling. We take cues from people's expressions and body language.
Our own eyes and expressions show tension, anger, sadness,
disappointment, relaxation, calmness, happiness, and confidence.
Some people believe that hard eyes create power and control. It is
also a good way to get into a fight. But soft eyes can show
confidence and kindness. If you are relaxed enough to have softe
eyes then you are extending Ki.

When you are extending Ki you are relaxed and easy to get along
with. When you are tense or upset the people around you tend to
move away. A smile always makes friends and this demonstrates
that plus breeds plus. Being positive and having a smile on our face
is a choice we make. This is extending Ki, your intention, focus,
goal."
(Tohei Sensei)

SEEING THE BIG PICTURE: SOFT EYES
By Rod Windle and Suzanne Warren
"Sometimes the smallest changes we make can have the largest
effects. One example of this comes from what we can do with our
eyes. How we look at someone, or at a group of people, can
completely change how we respond.

We can think of how we use our eyes as being either hard or soft.
Hard eyes are when we focus intently on any one thing or point, as
when we look at the tip of someone's nose or strain to read the
writing on a far away street sign. There is a certain tension, a
narrowing of vision. Peripheral vision becomes lost. We may become
caught up in whatever it is we are looking at. Sometimes, hard eyes
can be useful, as when we are putting a complex model together or
trying to get a splinter out of our child's finger.

Soft eyes happen when we relax the muscles around our eyes and
let ourselves see with our peripheral vision as well as with our
central, focused vision. We see the individual in front of us, but we
also see the people to either side, the clock above his head, the
lights on the ceiling and the pattern on the floor. We take in
everything and are distracted by nothing. Seeing in this way sends
an entirely different set of signals to the brain from seeing with hard
eyes. As our eyes see more, somehow our brains become more
open to the diversity of possibilities that always surround us. Soft
eyes also tend to have a calming effect on the people around us, and
often on ourselves as well."
(Rod Windle and Suzanne Warren - Seeing the Big Picture: Soft
Eyes)

"Attention is what we use to filter out unwanted sensory input. If your
attention is too tight and concentrated (by focusing too hard on one
object in front of you), then you'll end up being oblivious to your
peripheral vision.
...So, to develop our peripheral vision, relax your eyes, and don't look
*hard* at anything. Dilate your pupils, and keep a soft focus in the
direction you're looking. ...The idea isn't that you are developing your
eyes especially for peripheral vision, but rather that you stop ignoring
your peripheral vision. Don't look at things, but look through them."
(Stephen Chan - Soft Eyes and Aiki Ju Jitsu)

George Leonard in his book, The Silent Pulse: A Search for the
Perfect Rhythm That Exists In Each of Us, devotes a major portion of
his Appendix to Soft Eyes: "The visual mode I'm calling "soft eyes"
provides an alternative. This mode is receptive rather than positive,
synthesizing rather than reaching out to bring it in. With soft eyes we
tend to perceive a whole field of vision in terms of the energy and
motion that make it up, rather than perceiving the collection of
discrete objects that exist within it. There is less than the usual
distinction between figure and ground. With soft eyes, peripheral
vision is enhanced, the depth of field appears to be greater, and
colors seem remarkably vivid."

"Using soft eyes entails not just adopting an alternative visual mode,
but also entering an altered state of being. Once you've mastered the
art of soft eyes, this state can be achieved in a split second."
The Silent Pulse by George Leonard

The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer
"Soft eyes, it seems to me is an evocative image for what happens
when we gaze on sacred reality. Now our eyes are open and
receptive, able to take in the greatness of the world and the grace of
great things. Eyes wide with wonder we no longer need to resist or
run when when taken by surprise. Now we can open ourselves to the
great mystery."
(Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner
Landscape of a Techer's Life)



















NLP and 'Soft Eyes'
http://www.nlp-now.co.uk/softeyes.htm
One of the things about our in-depth NLP Core Skills course is that we are quite spoilt for choice by having so many
techniques and insights to choose from. Because of this some wonderful little techniques can easily get overlooked
after the course.
Take "Soft Eyes", for instance. This is the blend of detailed vision and peripheral vision that we experiment with on
the second day of the course and which can be used to:

Simultaneously pay attention to what is in front of you and what's off to the sides

Be better able to recognise subtle non-verbal communication - with individuals or when in groups

Reduce the amount and intensity of internal self talk

Feel more relaxed when driving while paying better attention to what is going on around you

Improve your performance in team or combat sports

Relax your facial muscles, shoulder muscles, and chest muscles

Breathe more easily and comfortably

Reduce or even prevent eye strain or tension headaches

Feel more at ease when communicating with people and put them at ease, too

Enter a generally more calm and "chilled out" state
Not bad for something to which we normally allocate about 30 minutes of course time - and which, with a little
practice, takes up no time at all to use.
How to use 'soft eyes'
Because some readers will have done core skills five or six years ago it might be useful to have a reminder of the
how the technique works.
(1) Peripheral Vision
First spend a few days practising using your peripheral vision. Without focusing on anything in particular, look
straight ahead and as you do this pay attention to what you notice simultaneously off to both sides i.e. out of the
corners of your eyes. The "simultaneously" bit is important. You not trying to look first to one side and then to the
other - that is simply using foveal vision. Instead you are looking straight ahead, without moving your eyes to one
side of the other, while noticing what is off to both sides of you.
The best place to practise peripheral vision is out of doors since there is more likely to be movement here than if
you are sitting quietly at home. You could sit in a cafe and casually gaze ahead while noticing the movements of
people off to the sides. Or sit in a park and use peripheral vision to pay attention to the movements of trees or
people.
(2) Foveal Vision
In foveal vision we are using a tiny area of about 2.5 millimetres on the retina or back of the eyeball. Foveal vision is
great for paying attention to minute detail which is why it involved in so much of our daily activity; reading, threading
a needle, peering at a computer screen, looking intently at somebody while communicating with them, etc.
As you may remember from Core Skills, it also encourages eye strain, tension in the area around the eyes, jaw,
shoulders or chest - as well as breath-holding or mild hyperventilation.
(3) Soft eyes
After practising peripheral vision for a little while it's quite easy to graduate to using Soft Eyes since this is merely a
blend of both ways of looking.
The aim is to look at detail while maintaining peripheral vision. You are looking at an object without staring at it
intensely because you are also paying attention to the wider field of vision. At first doing this can feel slightly
"spacey" but with a little practise it can become a normal way of looking at things.
Incidentally, its useful to consider Soft Eyes to be a varying process rather like a continuum between foveal vision,
at one extreme, and peripheral vision at the other. So sometimes your Soft Eyes will be almost sharp focus and at
other times it will be almost full, wide peripheral vision.
Why is using Soft Eyes so beneficial?
1. Tension: Specialising in using foveal vision creates tension and since most of us will have been doing this from
schooldays we become so used to this tension that we think its the norm. Develop your Soft Eyes skills and notice
what difference it makes to your overall state.
2. Non-verbal messages: Soft eyes enables us to become much more aware of movement in front of us and
around us. So, when communicating with other individuals are groups we can quickly pick up non-verbal indicators
of interest, lack of interest, discomfort, etc.
3. Self Talk: For some reason Soft Eyes tends to significantly reduce sub-vocalising - the internal self talk - and this
can reduce worrying, self criticism, etc.
4. Putting people at ease: if you're tense the people with whom you are communicating tend to become tense, too.
It's a vicious circle. When communicating one-to-one soft eyes enables us to feel more at ease which then creates a
benign circle in which others feel more at ease, too.
5. Driving: If you question highly skilled drivers you will find that they naturally use Soft Eyes all the time because it
enables them to pay attention to what is going on in front of them, to either side, and in the mirrors at the same time.
(Incidentally, its wise to only apply this to driving once it has become second nature to you).
6. Health: it goes without saying that chronic tension is not healthy. Overuse of foveal vision causes eye strain as
well as tension in then head and neck and torso. Importantly it also tends to interfere with relaxed, easy reading. Its
a good idea to introduce frequent 1-2 minute Soft Eyes breaks into your working routine to give your body a break
from tension
And finally
As with all techniques introduce this gradually - doing it for just a few minutes a few times daily.
Incidentally, many people find that they start off practising techniques such as this with enthusiasm - only to find a
few days later that their "new start" was quickly buried under a mountain of various demands on their time!
One way of avoiding this is to create ways of automatically reminding you to do the technique. If you are very
systematic, and work at a computer, you can set up a "reminder". Or simply put your watch on the other wrist. Or
wear an elastic band on your wrist. Or make doing a particular activity (tea break, switching off car engine, putting
phone back on cradle, etc) a reminder to practise the skill.


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Soft Eyes back to articles
http://powerelife.com/articles/softeyes.htm

Seeing the world with an open heart
We do not see the world as it is, we see the world as we are anonymous
The eyes are said to be the windows to the soul. When the eyes are soft, the heart becomes a point of connection. The left eye in particular connects with emotion,
intuition, subconscious and imagination. The right eye connects with the left brain, more closely linked with reason and learned behaviour and language.
Soft eyes welcome intimacy.
Intimacy in Power E is defined as the possibility of In-To-Me-I-allow-myself-and-the world to see. It is a gradual state of becoming transparent. MNot so much that
others can see everything in us, more so, that we are willing to be ourselves in the presence of others and let go of our fears of abandonment and rejection.
Hard eyes convey looking at narrow, attention like. When the eyes are in a state of contraction, the left side of the brain is activated. We become analytical and
enter a thinking space.
Soft eyes convey looking through seeing through. When the eyes are soft. We slowly connect with the present moment and allow our natural, intuitive instincts
to guide us.
It is a deeper connection. A truereflection of essence. When we look at something, we judge, the rational, mind intervenes, whereas when we look through or look
within, the gaze is soft, allowing and perceptive. When the eyes are soft their ability to focus is enhanced. Focus is a form of love.
Whenever we offer our focus, we have an opportunity to offer our selves and be fully present.
In Power E to focus is to be aware of all that surrounds you and yet to choose to focus your awareness of an object or point of awareness in the moment. Our
extra-sensory perception increases to allow a feeling of being at ease and knowing.
It is about having presence whilst seeing.
It is about looking within, your gaze rests its awareness on the outer world.
While understanding the reality of inner sight
Power E - The Way of the Intelligent Heart








http://seeinganew.tripod.com/id9.html
Carlos Castaneda & Soft Eyes


Home
Exploring
Perception with
J.Krishnamurti
J.Krishnamurti On
Registering and
Recording
J.Krishnamurti on
Keeping the Eyes
Still
Letter to a New
Teacher.
Whole Seeing &
The Eyes Free to
Go Apart
Direction
On Keeping the
Eyes Still
Aikido Soft Eyes
Tom Brown Jr. &
Splatter Vision
Seeing As If From
Behind the Eyes
Looking Wide -
Going Peripheral
& Sports Greats
Exploring
Headlessness
with Douglas
Harding
Carlos Castaneda
& Soft Eyes
Yoga and Soft
Eyes
Soft Eyes and
Horseback Riding
Seeing with All
the Senses as
One Sense
To See As A Child
Out and Around
Seeing Anew: Exploring Perception




Carlos Castaneda & Seeing
Carlos Castaneda, in THE SECOND RING OF POWER, wrote that his
teacher, Don Juan, instructed him, "Instead of teaching me to focus my
view, as gazers did, he taught me to open it, to flood my awareness by not
focusing my sight on anything. I had to sort of feel with my eyes everything
in the 180-degree range in front of me, while I kept my eyes unfocused just
above the line of the horizon."

An Unknown Student of Castaneda on seeing
..."The third item is the key to the entire process. It is a way of using the
eyes, of using vision in a different way to that which constitutes the norm.
In everyday usage the eyes tend to employ foveal vision; the aspect of
vision where we focus upon specifics, and out of these build and maintain
our perceptual model of the world. Of course a certain amount of peripheral
vision is employed in the process of seeing, yet by comparison to foveal
vision it is minimal, we open peripheral vision by:

1) Gently resting the gaze upon a distant fixed point. 2) Without moving
the eyes becoming aware of what is above, below and to the left
and right.

We effectively open the eyes in such a way that the rods and cones
upon the surface of the eyes are saturated with information from the
world. The result of this influx of information is saturation of the
conscious mind, which can only process a limited amount of
information simultaneously. The conscious mind checks out, as it
were. What arises is communication of this information in the
direction of Second Attention. This is evidence by the state of
utilizing See/Feel neurological circuitry which cuts in directly as a
result of the process.

Having arrived at this state, it is to be noted that with all the
components deeply and congruently in place, the cessation of
internal dialogue is effectively cessation of the conscious process of
maintaining our model of the world. We experience the world
Myself, H.D.
Thoreau on
Perception
About the
Website Manager

through new eyes. It is from this state of Stopping the World that
we have the opportunity to assemble new worlds, to shift the
Assemblage Point to new locations and experience and explore
these worlds.

Exercise
1) Whilst walking rest your gaze gently on the horizon point and
curl your fingertips, as if you were holding cylinders in each of
your hands, this is done in a relaxed way.
2) Without moving the eyes and gently resting your gaze become
aware of what is present in your peripheral vision, above you,
beneath you, to your right and to your left.
3) Continue this until such a time as the State deepens and settles."
(Author Unknown)

From Magical Passes by Carlos Castaneda
"Ancient masters believed there is an inherent amount of energy existing in
each one of us, an amount which is not subject to the onslaughts of outside
forces augmenting it or decreasing it. They believed that the quantity of
energy was sufficient to accomplish something which those sources deemed
to be the obsession of every man on Earth: breaking the parameters of
normal perception don Juan Marcos was convinced that our incapacity to
break those parameters was induced by our culture and social milieu. He
maintained that our culture and social milieu deployed every bit of our
inherent energy in fulfilling established behavioral patterns which didn't
allow us to break those parameters of normal perception."
"Why in the world would I, or anyone else, want to break those
parameters? I asked don Juan on one occasion."
"Breaking those parameters is the unavoidable issue of mankind,
he replied. Breaking them means the entrance into unthinkable
worlds of a pragmatic value in no way different from the value of
our world of everyday life. Regardless of whether or not we accept
this premise, we are obsessed with breaking these parameters, and
we fail miserably at it, hence the profusion of drugs and stimulants
and religious rituals and ceremonies among modern man..."
(Magical Passes by Carlos Castaneda)
From William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven & Hell
"If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear
to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees
all things through narrow chinks of his cavern."
Aldous Huxley - The Doors of Perception
"To be shaken out of the ruts of ordinary perception, to be shown for a few
timeless hours the outer and inner world, not as they appear to an animal
obsessed with survival or to a human being obsessed with words and
notions, but as they are apprehended, directly and unconditionally, byMind
at Large this is an experience of inestimable value to everyone and
especially to the intellectual."