Visual Awareness

The sun itself cannot make the world bright without souls to feel its light ". -Vincent Van Gogh

What does it mean to be “visually aware”?

Here is my story

Just last week while driving on my usual route. I happen to glance at the open field that sits on the corner of a busy intersection near my house in this thriving city I live. I drive through this open space every day. This day was another routine drive. I slowed down as I approached the stop light. instead of checking my phone, I happen to look over my shoulder to talk to my daughter and in that moment what caught my eyes was the mesmerizing view of the yellow hues that spread across the open field. They stood tall and slender. They danced in grace with a touch of slight breeze, greeting the sun & blooming with radiance as the sunshine kissed each and every flower.

In that moment, I felt peaceful and in Awe of the beauty of nature I glanced at.

Before I could blink, in the background I heard a soft voice it was my daughter” mommy, the light turned green you need to make a turn.

As I drove away in glee from the sight I just witnessed only realizing, how over consumed we are with our thoughts and other distractions.

This wandering mind creates a chasm to experience the now and we distant our connections to life & nature around us.

I had never noticed that sight before. I asked myself, it is not that it just appeared overnight.

The sunflower field has been there for a while but it only caught my eyes now, why?

So, I decided to walk in this field at sunrise and soak in the beauty before this field gets turned to another strip mall.

As I walked away from the sight there was a sense of sadness that, one day when I will come back to visit the sunflowers, this bio-diverse land and nature will be soon zoned and developed for businesses and all that is left to see is concrete and buildings.

when Stress &hyper-vigilant lifestyle hi-jack our being. we feel stuck and pre-occupy our minds in ways like daydreaming, zoning out, thought intrusions, task-irrelevant thoughts, perceptual decoupling, undirected thought, and self-generated thought (see Christoff, 2011; McMillan et al., 2013; Schupak & Rosenthal, 2009; Smallwood & Schooler, 2006, 2015).The percussions are felt on our over health & well-being.

My takeaway from this experience..

How can I magnify the realization & appreciation through this experience to every moment by restoring and re-balancing the psychological & physiological imbalances of Stress on body and mind so every "Visual perceptions become conscious visual experiences".

According to Jan Koenderink “The awareness is a visual representation of the scene in front of you ”Visual awareness is presentation, presentations are visual reality &Veridical in nature.

How meditation enhances Visual awareness

According to this study that investigates the effect of enhanced attentional processing on visual awareness. Data were collected from Sahaj Samadhi Meditators & non-meditators control group. Visual awareness was tapped by measuring the duration and more importantly the clarity and color of after images using a rating scale. Results showed the durations were significantly longer for meditators compared to non-meditators. In addition, the after images were sharper for meditators compared to non-meditators suggesting that better attentional focusing associated with meditators might lead to phenomenal changes in visual awareness. Thus indicating meditation training not only modifies attentional processes but also results in changes in conscious visual perception.
 N Srinivasan et all 2017

Here is how I can help to in co-operate tools & techniques of awareness using a Bio-Psycho-Social lens.

• How mindfulness & meditative practices help become more receptive to conscious experiences through visual awareness.

• How being in the state of Psychological & Physiological coherence lead to

Increased Self-Awareness

Emotional Self-Regulation skills

Coherence

Increase effectiveness in treatment outcomes.

Details

My experience with the sunflower field is an expression of grace, beauty and conscious connection to the life within and outside me.

Thank you for reading the post,

with gratitude

Preeti Girisha PT