How to Stay Balanced and Focused in Life

I'm fresh off the yoga mat, after an invigorating flow class that left me feeling sweaty, limber, strong, and centered. All of the things I love about this practice. 

I've been practicing yoga, with more and less consistency depending on the phase of life, since I was 14, thanks to a mom who got into before it was cool. I've always appreciated it as an exercise form and what it can do to shape my physical body. In more recent years, though, as I've embraced mindfulness and meditation, I value that aspect of yoga as well. The physical and mental benefits of pairing breath with movement are why yoga is a central part of my self-care routine. 

Despite the countless hours on the mat, I've done incredibly little work to learn the philosophical underpinnings of the practice and, if I'm being honest, tend to inwardly roll my eyes when teachers start talking about woo woo nonsense. 

And yet, yoga has survived thousands of years. There are lessons from the mat beyond body alignment and how to regulate your breathing that really do translate to successful modern living. 

One is the importance of a drishti.

Unwavering Focus

One of my favorite parts about yoga has always been balance poses. These challenging postures require strength and balance in order to execute them, particularly for any length of time. The secret? Finding a drishti.

A drishti is simply a focal point. Teachers advise us novice yogis to find something to focus on that isn't moving. That means not looking at another human because even the teacher is going to wobble.

Keeping your gaze solidly on your drishti aids a tremendous amount in being able to balance. When your eyes dart around, your balance fails. And even if your eyes stay still but your attention wanders, you'll fall out of the pose, too. 

I think I've intuitively liked balance work because of the forced mindfulness, even before I knew that's what I was doing. 

But now, I find the concept of a drishti more wide-reaching than I originally realized. 

As I bobbled on the mat, trying to regain my balance and focus, I thought about how important it is to have a drishti in life (ironic that these musings kept me from staying focused in the moment). 

We need to have a focal point - something to hold on to, to orient toward. Like a sea captain using the North Star to stay on course, we need our own unwavering marker to keep us moving in the right direction and let us know when we're beginning to drift off course.

I've noticed that when I'm not focused on my metaphorical drishti, it's easy for me to flounder. I can get distracted by others' movements and feel like I need to be going in the same direction, only to be distracted by something that pulls me in yet another.

As I try to grow various aspects of my business, I am constantly bombarded by messaging that is loud and competing for my time, attention, and energy. You need SEO! No, grow your social media presence. It's all about sales. Don't miss the ChatGPT and AI revolution. Focus on networking and relationships. Email marketing is where it's at.

It's overwhelming.

And I notice that when I get hooked by each shiny thing, each important ball that I'm dropping, each promised path to success, I feel like I'm bouncing around aimlessly, lost at sea. I'm doing a lot of things but I don't feel balanced, solid, or grounded.

That's when I know I need to come back to my drishti. I need to refocus on MY North Star. My values and goals. And that means tuning out the distractions. 

It's one thing to look to others who are ahead of you on your path to find guidance and inspiration - why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to? But looking to others who aren't on the same path you want to be only opens you up to be pulled off course. 

If your drishti as a parent is raising compassionate, resilient little humans, then tune out the Pinterest-fueled guilt trips and focus on what matters.

If your drishti at this point in life is improving your health, tune out the invitations for patio happy hours.

If your drishti is financial security, say no to keeping up with Joneses.

Find your drishti, lock on to it, and stay focused and balanced. 

What to Do When You Fall

Today at yoga, I had my drishti. My mind was focused, but the balance pose was a bigger challenge than my body could successfully navigate (yet). Starting in a runner's lunge, we hooked our big toes with our peace fingers, extended our legs out as we rotated our bodies into a side plank. It was every bit as difficult as it sounds. It required strength, flexibility, AND balance...and I fell out of the pose multiple times.

Another lesson I've learned on the mat is to laugh when that happens.  As one of my teachers reminds us often, humans wobble. Embrace the wobble. 

We must hold lightly to our goals, learn to approach life with levity, and to laugh when we fall. The alternative is to set rigidly high standards that leave us feeling like failures when we miss the mark, which we inevitably will. 

I don't know about you, but I would rather find the humor, shake it off, and jump right back in, learning and adjusting based on my previous failures, until I nail what I'm going for. 

I think being able to embrace the wobbles while staying focused on my drishti is the way to go. It's the key to staying balanced and focused and to righting the ship when it teeters or veers off course. 

Namaste.  

"The myth is that there isn't enough time. There is plenty of time. There isn't enough focus with the time you have. You win by directing your attention toward better things."

- James Clear

Written by Dr. Ashley Smith

Peak Mind Co-founder