Drishti, Shtira, Focus, Stabilty

When I first started thinking about the connection between the practice of yoga and the practice of productivity I was, appropriately, in a yoga class. Ultimately there are many points of synergy. Two really came out as primary. Drishti, the act of focus and Shtira the state of balance and stability. As I have continued to learn and practice yoga, I have had first hand experience of the value of focus, specifically its placement and ensuing impact on my stability.  Couple of interesting observations about Drishti.  You pick a point to focus on but your focus isn’t sharp and intense, it is soft and diffuse.  Drishti is not fixed throughout the practice, it moves from pose to pose.  Last night in class, I noticed that in a pose where my eyes tend to close, like Pidgeon, there is still a point of focus.  It’s just inner focus.

Without Focus it is almost impossible to have stability or balance called Shtira in yoga.  Stability comes, largely, from a conscious engagement of the core muscle groups, balanced foundation, breathing and of course Focus or Drishti. To me, stability is not rigid.  It is fluid and flexible.  Strength is supple not dominating.  Interestingly, there is a reciprocal relationship between Focus and Stability.  Focus leads to Stability.  Stability also leads to Focus.  Especially the kind of Focus that has to constantly shift based on the movement taking place.  The reason, I believe is that Stability leads to Confidence which releases us to feel safe in shifting our Focus.   A wonderful by-product of this dynamic interaction of elements is that the result is a feeling of joy in the moment, freedom in the practice and the ability to do more than we had limited ourselves to believe we could do.

Hopefully you realize I’ve already stopped talking about yoga and started talking about personal productivity.  We have a focus, we strengthen our core through the implementation of a repeatable practice, the stability of our system both derives from and reinforces the flexibility of our focus.  We come to trust our systems and ourselves which frees us up to create even more dynamic success.  Our stress melts away and our joy flows.  The practice of productivity is easy.

Namaste you productivity gurus.