The modern world is slowly becoming more and more digital. Everywhere we turn around, there’s someone glued to the screen, someone arguing over the phone, someone scrolling through their social media feed. We’re obsessed with our online presence and how many likes we’ll get on our pictures, and even engaging in yoga is sometimes just an excuse for us to pose for a new photograph to show off just how healthy and mindful we are.
But even the biggest digital fiends among us are feeling exhausted and overwhelmed with this kind of lifestyle, and most people long to finally get some rest from the online drama. If you’re a yoga practitioner, something like this is within your reach—a yoga retreat could be an entirely healing experience, and here’s why you should couple it with a complete digital detox.
It’s healthy to get off the grid occasionally
Spending all our time online tends to give us the impression that the world will break unless we keep checking out emails and our social media all the time. What on earth will people think of if we don’t instantly respond to a comment? The answer is—nothing. People won’t think much of it, and missing out on online events is far less terrible than missing out on real life that’s actually happening around you. Couple this with yoga and you’ll actually remember what it feels like to breathe deeply and quiet your racing thoughts. You’ll stop worrying about drama and do something productive for yourself.
You’ll connect with nature
An important part of every good yoga retreat is nature. If you decide to travel to a more distant location you’ll have the opportunity to be surrounded by wilderness and peace as you go through your asanas in a meditative state. From Kamayala in Thailand, to ecoYoga in Scotland, there are plenty of gorgeous retreats that you can choose as your destination. If at all possible, leave your phone behind when you travel away, or switch it up for an old-school device that won’t allow you do anything more complicated than make phone calls or send occasional texts.
You can see the world better
How many times have you gone to a vacation and ended up worrying more about how to properly pose in front of a museum rather than actually focusing on the art inside it? Even when it comes to yoga, a lot of us keep thinking about how a certain asana might make us look instead of simply enjoying the process. Doing a digital detox removes a lot of the expectations and the need to always be ready to document our life—instead of looking at it through the lens of a camera, we can actually see it with our own eyes.
If you travel away somewhere like Thailand for your yoga retreat, you’ll actually get to explore it at your own pace. When you’re not working out, you can roam slowly and explore everything at your own pace. Why not make it exciting and travel Vietnam by motorbiketo really get a feel for the city? You’ll awaken your inner adventurer and you’ll be much more incentivized to live in the moment and pay attention to what’s going on around you—when there are no pictures to document every little detail, then you must look with your own eyes and commit everything to memory.
You’ll stop overthinking everything
Social media tends to make every problem look bigger than it really is. People are quick to point fingers and give unsolicited opinions on everything, and you constantly have to think about how you’ll come off to others. Removing yourself from that kind of environment makes you stop overthinking everything so much—you can relax and actually do things because you want to do them. Yoga practices will become much more personal and enjoyable because you’ll be able to focus simply on doing something good for yourself.
Your relationships with others will improve
We all have an online persona, but when you can’t hide behind the computer screen then all masks come off. A digital detox in a safe environment will make it possible to focus on other people and see them as human beings again. And it’s not just about other yoga practitioners that share your exercising space—everywhere around you, you’ll get to talk to others and learn about them in a more natural manner rather than immediately asking them for their social media accounts.
Yoga is already a liberating experience that nurtures our spirit, but you can make it even better by finally setting your phone down for a while. Open your eyes and look what’s around you instead of constantly staring at the screen, and you’ll feel more connected with the world and people in it.
