When Imogen http://www.imogenragone.net/blog/ was helping me with releasing the tension in my body during an Alexander Technique Lesson a couple of weeks ago. She observed that I closed my eyes while adjusting. I found that this helped me get a sense of my new position, that I could feel the difference in my body more easily.  She asked me to see how it was with my eyes open and I found this more difficult to focus within myself with my eyes open. Yet, as Imogen pointed out, it is usually when we have our eyes open in life, that we are needing to remember to let go, to remember our bodies.
So I practiced more letting go in my body with my eyes open. Now I am home again with new awarenesses, physical, psychological, spiritual, I find I am having to remember my new awareness with my ‘eyes open’.
Of course it is wonderful to go away for a yoga week or a meditation weekend and to gain a sense of relaxation and wellbeing. But the challenge is can we maintain this sense once we are back within the demands of life and work and family? Being peaceful in a peaceful place is one thing, can we remember to breathe in midst of this fast paced lifestyle, when there are other people to consider aside from ourselves?
Often at the start of the therapy group I co-facilitate, I ask people to close their eyes and to connect with themselves, how they feel, what they need, and to ‘say hello’ to themselves, before saying hello to the others in the room.
Eyes open means holding that awareness of ourselves and how we feel and what we need, while letting in awareness of others and how they feel and what they need. As I said to Imogen regarding my body relaxation, at first it feels like patting your head and rubbing your tummy, to do both at once! This, I suppose, is one of the benefits of group psychotherapy. To be attentive to oneself when others’ needs and lives also require our attention. Learning the balance, by gentle adjustments.
Eyes open means holding our centeredness while the storm rages. Being in the eye of the storm.