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Meditating With Eyes Open: Why Zen Does It

Most people assume meditation means closing your eyes. Zen — and wall staring — deliberately keeps them open. Here’s why, and how to do it.

The problem with closed eyes

Closing the eyes reduces distraction, but it invites two other issues: drowsiness (the dark is a great place to fall asleep) and daydreaming (with no anchor, the mind spins off). Open-eye meditation avoids both.

The soft, lowered gaze

You don’t stare hard. Let the eyelids relax to about half-open, cast the gaze down at roughly forty-five degrees, and keep the focus soft — taking in a bare wall as a whole. You stay awake and present without being pulled around by the visual world. This is the signature of wall gazing.

The eyes are neither open nor closed — open enough to keep you in the room, lowered enough to keep you out of the world.

Learn the exact gaze in our step-by-step guide.