Regulating Through The Eyes

The eyes play an important role in nervous system regulation. Through gentle visual awareness - softening the gaze, expanding peripheral vision, and slow eye movements - the body can receive cues of safety and steadiness.

In this practice, Anaïs Skoutariotis guides you through a simple, unforced practice that allows the eyes to receive rather than fixate. There’s no strain and nothing to focus on. Just an invitation to let visual attention support settling and ease.

This practice offers a quiet way to soften vigilance and can be returned to anytime you want to support your nervous system through visual awareness.

Transcript

Welcome to Day 12 of the Nervous System Reset here on InsideTimer, Where you'll learn how your nervous system responds to stress and how to calm it when life starts to spiral. Let's jump into today's session. Hello and welcome to InsideTimer's Nervous System Regulation Challenge. My name is Anais Skouteriotis and in today's practice we will be focusing on the eyes, An often overlooked but powerful part of nervous system regulation. When the nervous system is in a protective state, The eyes tend to narrow, Fixate, Or scan for threat. Softening the gaze and expanding peripheral awareness can help signal safety to the body. This practice uses gentle visual attention. There's no strain and no need to focus on anything in particular. If at any point this feels uncomfortable, You're welcome to close your eyes or return to a neutral position. And let's begin. Slowly open your eyes and let your gaze soften. Notice what's ahead of you, Allowing your eyes to receive this information. Expand your awareness to the edges of your visual field and allow your system to drink in the stillness and safety of the space in front of you. Keeping your head still, Begin to slowly move your eyes towards the right. Pause briefly when you've reached it. And allow a gentle inhale here and a full exhale out. Then gently move your eyes across to the left. Pause again. Soft inhale. Full exhale out. Continue at your own unhurried pace, Moving your eyes from right to left. Then pausing and allowing a gentle breath here. Let this movement be slow and comfortable. Let your nervous system receive this information and gently settle into safety. Continue for two more rounds, Letting the movement be slow and gentle. Then slowly bringing your eyes back to the middle, Back in front of you. Close your eyes here and notice what this practice has brought you. Allowing one more natural inhale to arise and a full exhale out. As this challenge comes to a close, Take a moment to notice what you've learned about your nervous system. How it responds. What helps it settle. And what support feels most accessible to you. You now have a range of tools you can draw on. Breathing patterns that slow the system. Movement and rhythm when stillness feels hard. Grounding through sensation. Touch that offers comfort. Rest that supports recovery. And gentle visual awareness that softens vigilance. These practices aren't meant to fix you. They're here to support you. Regulation isn't a destination. It's an ongoing relationship with your nervous system. One you can tend to again and again. Thank you for practicing and for taking this time to care for your nervous system.

Reviews

As always the teacher's gentle presence is lovely. I think we carry a lot of tension in our eyes, especially in the modern world of screens. These exercises are so important.

Hey Anais , It's me. I just wanted to say thank you. This was an amazing guidance to learn. As always your work never disappoints. You actually are truly like my pocket practitioner because I literally start my day with a guided meditation from you , mid dayI use a short guided as needed for what situation I'm in by you , and at night I use a guided sleep meditation by you. I then also as today had a extremely bad headache from tension in my neck and of course I used your guided gentle body scan which then I practiced this . Needless to say I feel 100 percent relieved. I literally can't express enough to everyone how much I recommend that this or anything that she guides be a choice to try. I also can't thank you enough for your passion as I've always said. It truly shows in all you do . It truly helps in whatever area it is for. . So now my partner says ( when something arises that needs attention ) listen to Anais. It's great to have you here and on the other app. Which I will be reaching out to you again soon. I am grateful to have you as a coach, teacher, and friend. Thank you one more time till next time. And for everyone who reads my review I absolutely with all my heart recommend you check out her profile, listen to anything pertaining to what you need and I guarantee that it will provide what was needed in the moment. So try something out such as this short technique or go for something else as you will be in a better place. The here and now , feeling great. Much love and peace Anais. 🙏🙏❤️❤️

This is one of the best nervous system practices I have experienced. The bottom up message is received beautifully by the brain.

Glorious and accessible method to support and soothe a challenged nervous system. Thank you!

Thank you for sharing in the 12 day challenge. It was my first time participating in a challenge on Insight Timer. I quite enjoyed all the challenges!