In last month’s blog, I explored how it is that our eyesight is enhanced or limited by the way that we breathe, and gave two tips for an easier, more fluid breathing, that enhance relaxation in the ribcage, the diaphragm and throughout the body and induce a global parasympathetic response, all of which reflect directly upon our vision.
In today’s blog, I will discuss the two qualities of vision that we all possess and how they mediate many of the background qualities that lead to wellbeing and flow, or tension and dis-ease.
We have two visual pathways in our brain, one that carries focal, detailed vision and another that relates to peripheral vision. Focal and peripheral vision are two different systems, designed to work together, to not only allow us to see clearly, in detail and color, but also to have a sense of our surroundings and the movement around us.
Focal vision is processed by the occipital cortex, and with it, we are able to see color and fine detail. Focal vision also connects to many associative systems in our brain that name what we are seeing and give us information about how it relates to us. We see a structure with roots and a trunk and leafy branches. Our brain tells us that that is a tree. This may bring up memories of the apples that we used to eat from the orchard in our childhood, or if we are being chased by an angry dog, may appear to us as a possible avenue of escape if only we can climb high enough, fast enough. With our focal, cortical vision, we see what we know, and if we do not recognize it, our brain will attempt to fit it into some already known association. Because focal vision connects to so many associative pathways, our response to focal vision is slower–there is more information to integrate.
Peripheral vision, on the other hand, is processed subcortically. With our peripheral vision we see what is all around us. We notice movement in our environment, we see in black and white and shades of gray and we see the whole. Peripheral vision, being a subcortical function does not name what it sees. When we look with peripheral vision, we have the possibility of observing the new and of seeing the known with new eyes.
Our response to peripheral information is also much quicker as there is not so much circuitry between seeing and acting upon that which we see. Many years ago, in my practice of Aikido, I noticed that when I looked at my opponent with focal vision, I was always late in responding to their attack. When I kept my visual field broader I was able to move in time with my attacker. At the time I started playing with this, I had no idea why this was so–it was only much later that I learned about the neurophysiology behind this. Any athlete, dancer or martial artist knows intuitively that looking with a wide vision that allows one to take in the whole visual field, will allow for a much more exact timing.
Peripheral vision also is connected to our balance. We need good peripheral vision to maintain our equilibrium and to allow our vestibular system to function fully. The otolith–the part of our vestibular system that measures our relationship with gravity and gives us the information that we need to right ourselves in the constant, subtle dance necessary to keep our balance, gets inhibited when our vision becomes overfocused. In the vestibular cortex, in our brain, where visual and vestibular information meet, too much focal vision stops the information about balance from being processed. When this happens, we constantly and unconsciously feel as if we are about to lose our balance and this causes us to tighten our shoulders, brace in our hips, ankles and knees and try to hold ourselves up against gravity.
In a world where we spend so much of our time looking at small narrow screens, it is easy to understand how overfocused vision can become a problem.
Now lets try some simple experiments with focused and peripheral vision:
Find a point in front of you and focus on it as hard as you can. As you do this, notice what happens to:
- 1) your eyes;
- 2) your neck;
- 3) your breathing.
If you are like most of us, you will feel your eyes harden, your neck tense and your breathing will become shallow and tight.
When we overfocus, or when we don’t use our peripheral vision, it affects not only our vision, but our breathing, our balance and our tension level.
Now let’s go over a “quickie” trick for connecting to our peripheral vision.
Opening the Peripheral Vision
Standing, hold both hands in front at eye level, with the pointer fingers extended and the two sides together.
Looking at the place directly in front of them where the two fingers are, begin to separate the fingers, taking them sideways and continuing to have your eyes look straight ahead, while at the same time following the movement of the fingers with your peripheral vision, allowing the visual field to widen and open, until you have separated your fingers as far to the side as you are able to follow with your peripheral vision. At this point, wiggle both fingers. Movement is one of the things that wakes up peripheral vision so this helps to further clarify the borders of the peripheral field. (Caution: it is important to follow the sideways movement of the fingers with the peripheral vision, widening the visual field instead of alternating between one and the other with focal vision—this defeats the purpose.)
Now drop your fingers and take a walk around, enjoying the wider visual field and enhanced peripheral vision.
How do you feel? If you are like most people, you will notice that when your peripheral vision is online, your breath flows easily and smoothly, your neck and shoulders are more relaxed, you see more clearly and you feel more secure in your balance.
Now, for one last experiment.
Earlier in this blog, I mentioned that focal and peripheral vision are two systems that are meant to work together. Focal vision helps us to connect to what we are looking at, and perceive detail and color. When we are interested in, and engaged with what we are seeing our focal vision comes online. When our peripheral vision works in conjunction with our focal vision we maintain a sense of balance and connection to the greater environment around us. When the two systems work together, our eyesight is clearer, and we experience more acuity of vision. We also feel more relaxed, present, alive and connected to that which we are seeing.
So here is another game to play, to help bring a balance of focal and peripheral vision into your life, in what is, for most of us, a daily life situation.
Take out your cell phone. Cell phones are the places where we most tend to overfocus, narrow our visual field and lose peripheral vision.
As you look at your cell phone, see if you can maintain your peripheral vision. Ask yourself, as you read your messages or look at images, what else can you see around you. Learn to track the two sources of information simultaneously. Your whole body being will thank you!