Meditating With Your Eyes Open

Closed eyes are the default in almost every instruction you will read, and for most people they are the right default. But they are a convention, not a rule, and there are several good reasons to do the opposite.

When open eyes help

If you feel sleepy the moment you close them, open them. If you feel uneasy or exposed with them shut, open them. If you are meditating on a train, in an office, or anywhere that closing your eyes would look strange, open them. All three are legitimate reasons and none of them make the session second-rate.

How to do it

Do not stare. Let the eyes rest on a spot a couple of metres away — the floor, a wall, the back of a chair — without trying to see it in detail. Blink normally. That is the whole technique, and it gets called a soft gaze mostly so that it sounds like something.

• Pick a spot on the floor or wall.
• Let your focus go soft.
• Blink normally. Do not stare.

What you lose

Honestly? A little depth. Shutting your eyes removes a whole channel of input, and for many people that makes the session feel deeper faster. I still close mine most of the time, and I would rather be honest about that than pretend the two are equivalent.

But depth is not the only goal, and it is not worth failing over. A practice you can actually do beats a deeper one you keep avoiding.

There is one more reason worth mentioning: some people find closed eyes mildly unsettling, particularly after a fright, or in a place where they do not feel entirely safe. If that is you, keep them open and stop wondering whether it counts. It does.

Try both for a week each. Which one would you keep?

If you would rather practise than read, start with Tired eyes: 10-minute noting meditation, at the airport, Meditation for agitation: 3-minute softening session, before an interview, Softening for study focus: 7 minutes, on a lunch break or Preparing for a conversation you are dreading, in plain terms, when you are somewhere unfamiliar. Each one is meditation-length: a few minutes, no account, nothing to install. Or read next: When Meditation Is Not The Answer and The Power of Boring Sleep Stories.