The Eyes

Sharing about Lael Keen's work

I love, love, love how Lael Keen teaches about focal and peripheral vision, especially the photos she includes in her blog about this.

I studied with her and her husband, Russell Jones (also SE faculty) during my three-year training to become a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, and I had many fabulous opportunities to keep learning from both of them as a teaching assistant in subsequent SE trainings.

Most memorable was the three years of assisting the first ever SE training in Mexico. Those were the first and only times I’ve traveled there. Twice a year for three years, I was treated to fresh mangos, spicy hot casseroles, colorful clothes, and an array of lovely learners from the juicy cultures of Central and South America. Although surrounded by students and other assistants whose native languages I could not understand, I found my way to communicating, me with un poco de español while the others gained courage to use quite a bit of English they already knew.

Back to the eyes. This focal and peripheral vision stuff is something I learned from Lael and Russell, and teach as a strategy to down regulate from an aroused state, and a way to recover from time on video calls. Even though we think we are seeing dimension, we are routinely focused at the distance between our eyes and the computer screen. Not the best for our nervous system health!

Lael has other valuable things to share on her website. Again, here’s the link to this particular blog entry, Peripheral and Focal Vision: Their Effect on Tension/Relaxation, Balance, Breathing and Vision.