Navel gazing


Navel-gazing is the contemplation of one's navel as an aid to meditation. The word omphaloskepsis derives from the Ancient Greek words wikt:ὀμφαλός and wikt:σκέψις.
Actual use of the practice as an aid to contemplation of basic principles of the cosmos and human nature is found in the practice of yoga or Hinduism and sometimes in the Eastern [Orthodox Church]. In yoga, the navel is the site of the manipura chakra, which yogis consider "a powerful chakra of the body". The monks of Mount Athos, Greece, were described as Omphalopsychians by J.G. Millingen, writing in the 1830s, who says they "...pretended or fancied that they experienced celestial joys when gazing on their umbilical region, in converse with the Deity".

In Eastern Orthodox Christianity

"The Three Methods of Prayer", a text traditionally attributed to Symeon the New Theologian that was later included in the Philokalia, gives the following description of navel gazing:

Contemporary usage

Phrases such as "contemplating one's navel" or "navel-gazing" are frequently used, usually in jocular fashion, to refer to self-absorbed pursuits.