[Page Updated 27 March 2024.]
Some new meditators are wondering, ‘Where should the eyes look during meditation?’
Should your eyes roll into the back of your head like when you sleep? After all, you’re just sitting there without any visual input, you don’t need your eyes, why not just let them roll up and back?
Though at times your eyes may do this on their own, this isn’t the ideal place for your eyes to be during meditation.
The best place for your eyes to look during your meditation sessions focused on the breath, is down slightly. If you open your eyes, they should be looking down around the top of your nose or a little higher up over the nose and straight outward.
Many teachers don’t tell you where to aim the eyes as you focus on the breath coming in and out of the nose. It’s important though. I didn’t know how important until I started doing things like letting the eyes roll back in my head or look up at an extreme angle.
When your eyes roam around or flip around to the inside of your skull, your mind can’t relax the right way. It may be able to relax as if you’re sleeping, but that’s not the RIGHT way.
Your mind must remain active, and yet receive as little stimulation as possible. The room you sit in during meditation should be dark and quiet. When it is dark, you won’t see anything through your eyelids. You shouldn’t have any visual distractions.
Your eyes should be as relaxed as possible as you focus on the feeling of the breath at the nose. You shouldn’t feel them or be aware of them in the ideal state of focus because all of your attention is on the feeling of the breath in the nose. You are not paying attention to what the eyes are doing.
You are not paying attention to what your toes, heart, mouth, or anything else is doing – just the feeeling of the breath.
The main idea is that your eyes shouldn’t be a problem. You shouldn’t be thinking about your eyes except to make sure they are in a good position before you start the intense focusing on the breathing.
As you meditate, a good guide for how to get ready is that your entire body – every part – should be comfortable and not giving your mind any reason to think about it. The body, including the eyes, should be invisible to the mind so you can more easily focus on the breath at the nose.
Eliminating every distraction is often impossible but you should remove all the distractions that you can, whether it’s your eyes, tongue, feet, the wind from the fan blowing on you, or the many other things that may distract you as you try to meditate.
That’s probably all that needs said about the issue. Do be aware of where your eyes are looking, where your tongue is in the mouth, and how your back and legs are as you sit. All of these are important parts of a good meditation posture and session.
With metta,
Vern
“Meditation for Beginners – a 22 Day Course” my little ebook, gives you the basics on meditation… You can find it here. I offer Meditation coaching here.
This is part of a collection of Meditation Tips. Here are more >