Generally I always look at the teacher unless perhaps it is a talk I have heard many times before. I like to look at the teacher because I never really know what the teacher is going to do physically in order to explain the answer. There are so many of our little stories that Rosemary and I give, like the fire story, I purposely scrunch that yellow cellophane as I give the talk to make the people who have their eyes closed aware that something odd is happening. I'm basically saying, "Hey, open your eyes, otherwise you are going to miss something." Because if they don't see me scrunch the cellophane representing fire, how are they going to understand what I am talking about? A brand-new person, who hasn't seen me give that talk before, how are they going to really get it if they don't watch me? They're not going to get it. They are going to get what they think I am talking about, which may be different to what I am actually talking about. So opening the eyes to me is very important, especially with new teachers and new talks, so that I really see how they are expressing it with their physical language.
Now one thing in particular, if you ever get sleepy during a talk, it is absolutely essential, it is absolutely important, it is absolutely necessary to open those eyes. But that is often not good enough when you are sleepy during a talk. So make yourself uncomfortable, and I mean really, make yourself uncomfortable, do something that makes you feel uncomfortable to keep awake during the talk. Don't let sleepiness attack you during a talk, you are wasting an opportunity. By making yourself uncomfortable it is very hard to stay asleep.
Even in the formal sitting, when people have trouble with sleepiness, we have techniques to help keep them awake. One technique is to touch the ground with your fingers and push a little to feel that contact. You may have seen statues of the Buddha sitting with his fingertips touching the ground. This posture is indicating the moment of the Buddha's enlightenment, he touches the earth and basically says, "I have done it". The earth shakes, acknowledging that, yes, he has done it. I use that pose when I am sleepy during a talk, I push with my fingers a little bit, I want to stay awake, I don't want to sleep. So opening the eyes and making yourself uncomfortable are certainly ways to not fall asleep during the talks. I personally prefer to keep my eyes open. I want to see the physical expressions of the teacher as it gives me more understanding of what they are actually talking about.