Master Zi always says "Your eyes follow your chi ". Especially when he spot someone in the class looking around the room or being distracted. Yes, your eyes are part of your body and therefore a vital part of Tai Chi.

When I stand in the front of the room and teach, I see what Master Zi was saying. There are people who are so immersed in what they are doing that their eyes were part of the movements.  Others were looking everywhere as if they were lost in the foreign country. For people who are still unsure of what to do with their eyes,  remember the expression "Your eyes follows the Chi"

Distracted by your surroundings? 

When you start the practice and you are distracted by outside stimuli, one way is to close your eyes and get in touch with your internal sensation. You withdraw your senses to focus within. (Of course when you are still learning what to do, you may need to keep your eyes open to see the instructor. You can occasionally switch back and forth between closing your eyes and watching.) At certain movements, you may feel uncertain or unbalanced by not being able to see. This is good thing to notice. Just note what situations or movements are causing you this. Find your center through your internal senses rather than depending on external reference.

Be careful when you close your eyes...

One important thing to note when you close your eyes: Stay in your body. It's common to float away to nice trance while doing Tai Chi with your eyes closed. This is not recommended. Constantly feel your body, your breath and stay present.

Sense your surroundings

Once you start to get a hang on what it feels to be in your body and feeling your internal sensation, it's time to be aware of your surrounding as well. You can do this first by feeling what is surrounding you energetically while your eyes are closed. As you do Tai Chi movements, notice how you are responding to those surrounding energy.

Interacting with outside world

Closing eyes and being in your own space is wonderful... if you are living in the cave by yourself. Since we live in the world of interacting with outside world, let's make this a bit more practical.

Remember, Tai Chi originates in Martial Application. Once you get a hang on feeling inside you, it's time to open your eyes. You are going to look far away and imagine a horizon in front of you. You are gazing without focusing on one thing. By gazing far away, you can see everything that is going on around you. Contrary to focusing on small material aspects, you see everything as an energy and feeling. You do not anticipate or label what is surrounding you, and with practice you will sense what is going on around you.

Have you had an experience of someone watching you from your back, and although you do not have an eye in the back of your head, you turn around by sensing the "gaze" of the other person? To me, it's like that. You start to sense the energetic of your surroundings.

Keep your internal sensation...

You are relaxed yet alert as you are aware of everything that is going on around you. See if you can keep the gaze to the horizon and keep the feeling you were experiencing while you had your eyes closed. By doing this, I almost feel like my eyes are merely windows and I am "seeing" from the center of my body.

In my life - 

This is very helpful in my daily lives. As I tend to get fixated on staring at the computer, my vision and thought process can become very narrow. By remembering to keep the gaze at the horizon, I remind myself to keep a large picture in mind and being aware of other invisible energy (human relationships, trends, etc...) that surrounds whatever I am doing.