Digital eye gazing meditation
When eye contact between two people is initiated and maintained, an invisible energetic circuit is established between the two participants, dissolving the barriers that ordinarily separate them from each other, drawing them ever closer into a shared awareness of union. ―Will Johnson
👥 Serves: 11-25 people, 2-10 people, 26-40 people, 41+ people
🎚 Difficulty: Medium
⏳ Total time: 11-30 minutes
🥣 Ingredients: A partner or a group of people, Zoom or a similar online meeting platform that enables participants to “pin” or select fellow participants in full screen
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Awareness, Community, Digital Consciousness, Positive Emotion, Radical Care
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Acknowledgement, Closeness, Contemplation, Digital relating, Letting go, Mindfulness, Non-judgement, Presence, Trust
Digital eye gazing meditation
📝 Description
A digital soul-connecting meditation.
Eye gazing is a deeply connecting and transformative Buddhist meditative practice. It is one that enables us to have the experience of recognising the other as ourselves. In a world with endless visual stimuli, we have unlearnt what it is like to really look into the eyes of the other. This is especially true when we are connecting in large Zoom spaces; it can be difficult to always appreciate that each tiny box on your screen contains a person that is living a human experience that is as vivid and complex as your own.
This exercise helps you overcome the so-called “eye disease” to look deeply into another person’s eyes. By cultivating this practice, you will feel more connected to the other person, as if there was no separation between you, only union and harmony. Moreover, you will also realise that the other is nothing else but a mirror that reflects your own inherent creativity, resourcefulness, and wholeness. Finally, as your ego lets go of its defence, you will experience what it is like to surrender to something greater than yourself, something divine and sacred.
This exercise can be done with one other person only, or with a group of people. If you are alone, you can also experience this practice directly through the Human.online platform.
👣 Steps
Step 1 – Preparing (3’)
Start with inviting participants to take a gallery walk to see who’s in the virtual room. Ask them to scroll through the video gallery of participants and select one person – ideally someone that they don’t know and have never met. Invite participants to hover their mouse pointer over the thumbnail of the user that you wish to pin in Zoom. Click on the ‘3-dot’ menu icon in the top right corner of the thumbnail, and then click on ‘Pin Video’ from the submenu that appears. The selected user’s video feed will be automatically brought to the front in the gallery view so that you can easily focus on it. Reassure participants that the other person will not be notified when their video is pinned as pinning is a local action that only affects the view on their device. Now of course, they don’t know who might be meditating with them, so ask that they don’t shut their camera mid-way through the practice.
- If using a Tablet or Mobile: If you are on your mobile device, switch to gallery view and then Double-tap the video of the participant you want to pin.
- Come closer to your camera if necessary: Having your eyes closer to your web camera helps to have an experience of “eye contact” with the other person, generally this is achieved by positioning your head close to the top of the screen, but enough so that you can still see the gaze of the person you have selected.
Step 2 – Eye gazing (5’-7’)
Starting the meditation
To really see and be seen by another is in itself a powerful healing tool. How often do we really allow ourselves to make deep contact with another human being? Simply sit with your chosen partner, allow your gaze to go to their face and let it relax there, blinking as little as possible. Avoid giggling or laughing, and try not to get distracted, overthink, or look elsewhere. If you experience uncomfortable emotions within you, simply acknowledge them and let them sit there with you. Just re-focus again on your partner’s eyes.
This will last for 5 minutes and it’s preferred that you also play soft music in the background.
For blind or visually impaired individuals
Instead of the soft gaze, we’d recommend that you imagine as far as you can in every direction. So it’s as if you were sitting in the middle of the universe (in space, if you will) with the entire community sitting all around you in every direction. By bringing that image to mind, you can create a very similar feeling of connectedness as the gaze.
Step 3 – Closing (5’)
If you are in a small group or are just with one partner, take some time by yourself to reflect on the experience you just went through. Consider whether this can also be a grounding practice for your regular meetings to invite silence and stillness to virtual spaces.