What may not be entirely obvious in this picture is that walking in Italy – Rome in particular – is all about taking your life into your own hands. From no sidewalks, to people driving on sidewalks, to streets so narrow it takes your breath away, well, I spend some time with SHOT NERVES when I’m walking with my daughter in this grand city.
I recently read the book, The Open Focus Brain by Dr. Les Fehmi and fell in love with his work. Basically his research shows that our typical narrow focus (what we learn in school) keeps our bodies and minds in a state of high-stress. As a biofeedback expert, he has found that there are certain techniques we can practice that relax our brains and therefore, our bodies, which in turn decreases stress and pain.
I decided to test the open-focus brain concept not just in practice, at home, but also while walking through the city. Not once, but three times this last week. Here’s what I did.
I started my walks pretty slowly for me (I am a speed walker), just to get myself prepared. As I was walking, I began by inviting the muscles and tissues around my eyeballs to relax and release. I noticed that as soon as I did that, my breathing deepened and other muscles around my face relaxed. Then, with great detail, I began to imagine the space between my eyes and breathe into it. Keeping my eyes soft, and breathing into the space between my eyes, I then kept my gaze fixed on whatever was in front of me, while purposefully opening my gaze to include my entire peripheral vision, while still gazing at the one object.
That’s it. There are more advanced techniques that can be done- this is simply what seemed manageable to me while taking my life into my hands enjoying the city, on foot. So, to recap:
1. Invite the muscles around the eyes to relax and soften. Notice the breath, notice if the other muscles in your face begin to relax.
2. Imagine the space between the eyes – not only by visualizing it but by feeling it. Feel the quality of the space. Begin to breathe into that area.
3. Keeping the breath moving in and out and around the area between the eyes, focus on one point, however, open up the peripheral vision and take in everything that you can possibly see.
Notice how you feel. You might want to practice at home first and then, take the open focus brain into a stressful situation and see what happens. I found that I was really relaxed and present when I reached my destination, and, the one time I walked with Clara and kept open focus, I was able to let her play around and I wasn’t so worried about controlling her every move.
Try your own open focus brain experiment and let me know how it goes by emailing me, or tell me in the comments! If you find you are really intrigued, you can purchase the book through my Amazon store, so I can keep up with my book habit!
Comments on this entry are closed.