~Learning to See with Owl Eyes~
Our eyes are trained to see the world in parts and pieces; we don’t usually see in wholes or systems. We see what is in front of us but usually fail to see with “wide vision”; with an awareness of what takes place at the edges of our vision and consciousness. This makes it hard to truly absorb the natural world as a part of it and not just as a visitor or disturbance. Many indigenous cultures have a very different sensory relationship with the natural world and naturally utilize the power of “owl eyes” and “fox walking”. Try this exercise to retrain your eyes to see the natural world around you in a more immersive and aware manner:
*Find a favorite spot to sit in comfortably for twenty minutes (ideally for ten days in a row to really begin to retrain your senses) the spot could be a rock in the woods, a bench in your backyard, a sandy dune on the beach…
*Sit comfortably and find a main focal point in front of you, focus your eyes on it, put your hands up by the sides of your face, continue to focus on your chosen tree, object, etc…, wiggle your fingertips and slowly pull them to the side away from your face
*Continue to focus ahead while simultaneously seeing your fingers wiggling at the edges of your vision
*When your vision softens and you can see both ahead and to the sides of you put your hands down, when your vision softens yet is enhanced and perceptive of the radius of your surrounding this is wide vision or owl eye mode
*Maintain owl eye vision, sitting still for twenty minutes, observe with all of your senses what is going on all around you, you may be quite surprised by how different this feels from your normal visual mode. You will notice small stirrings, textures and goings on that you normally do not see. Your other sense should be enhanced as well, you are connected; ecological consciousness blossoms…
*After about twenty minutes the ecosystem around you will have begun to reach what is called “baseline”; this is the point at which the ecosystem and it’s inhabitants surrounding you have begun to forget about your human presence and go back to the state they were in before your arrival. This is when you can notice the songbirds go back to singing loudly and creatures wander around a little more freely. To really see the natural environment around you it is necessary to reach the baseline state. The beautiful images of bears and cougars you see on tv are done by naturalists an photographers who have been sitting still with owl eyes in the baseline ecosystem state for perhaps days or weeks to capture just the right footage.
In future issues of the Dirt I will discuss how to practice the “fox walk” in order to heighten your ecological sensory consciousness even further. Until then make sure to journal your findings and interpretations of what you find when in owl eye mode. Compare this to what you might notice normally in box vision mode. You will notice you get better at it each day and by the end can probably make owl eyes your normal visual approach to the world.
Happy Summer Solstice Everyone!!!
From Zeratha and everyone at The Dirt and SRSF!
www.thedirt.org
