As a visual artist, my own vision, my eyes, “the gaze”, the inner eye, eye for style etc. have always been a very large part of my experience and consideration. When I was born I almost lost an eye when the doctor tried to break my moms water and cut me on my forehead instead. Through my studies practice of Ayurveda and yoga I now see how these birth circumstances inform my work around the eyes and my artistic practice. 

The eyes are one of the first parts of our body formed in utero and they stay the same size our whole lives. We grow around our eyes and We are shaped by what they see. The cells we have in our eyes last a life time and don’t regenerate in the same ways as other organs, so it’s important we learn techniques to care for our eyes. 

Vision is still a mystery in many regards for neuroscientists and often what is being “discovered” about how we see has been previously documented or is even is a foundational understanding in ayurveda, yoga, Buddhism and Tcm.

We know that the eyes are where we look to try and understand what’s going on with a person inside and we avert our own eyes when we are shy to be known. 

fairly recently it’s been “discovered “ that our eyes literally are connected to our hearts via the vagus nerve, when we see something that pulls on our heartstrings, maybe this is what they are talking about.. 

We take in so many images in our life, and we construct more imagery in our imagination out of them about ourselves, our future and the ones we love. 

In this class we are going to dive into the portals of the eyes and see how they help us make meaning of our world. 

We are going to look at what the eyes are and what they do, some concepts around vision+gaze, and how we can care for our eyes with at home remedies and exercises. 

For this class I recommend a comfy spot to focus and be yrself, comfy clothes, a notebook, a little snack, tea, water, whatever helps you feel settled to learn and explore your experience.