Stare Vacantly into the Distance
{A Written Practice}
Stare Vacantly into the Distance
Boketto is a Japanese word for staring vacantly into the distance. It describes a visual phenomena that is related to nervous system states, and a restorative practices that involves softening the eyes and the attention.
Aside from its general utility for chilling out, softening the eyes and letting them gaze into the distance has significant effects on our stress physiology. Single-point vision, which is what we are doing most of the time, is the kind of seeing required for responding to threats. To soften the gaze—some of our nature awareness teachers call this Soft Eyes—to let the focus dissolve and expand into the peripheral vision, often shifts us from more sympathetic (stress) to more ventral vagal (connection and relaxation) states.
This is a style of gaze that we often utilize when tracking. We de-focalize the center, and expand and soften our vision out. You can learn more about that particular practice in Sensory Calibration. But letting the eyes soften, letting them wander, letting the gaze into the distance, is also connected to a general shift towards relaxation and settling.
Staring Vacantly into the Distance is also useful when we are feeling grief, or dorsality more generally. It diminishes visual inputs that we have to process, and gives us a chance just to catch up with ourselves and what is happening inside us. If you want guidance about the kinds of things to look at, see Chaordic Imagery.