In 2012, I pinned to my computer case a cut up T-shirt from The Onion (a satirical news publication) that said “90% of Waking Hours Spent Staring at Glowing Rectangles.” I was both a yoga teacher and a web/graphic designer who felt extreme friction, almost pain, when I moved between the state of consciousness I embodied while coding/designing and the other state required for practicing/teaching yoga. At the time, they were two very different states of awareness.
For the past 1.5 decades I’ve pondered ways to redesign technology to better support our natural humanness and its layers (known in yoga as the koshas: physical, energetic, emotional, mental, & spiritual). Can we live in a world that interfaces with online content in a way that actually encourages us to stay connected to all the layers of ourselves? Or at a minimum, save us from crooked necks and bleary eyes?
In the quest towards this, I’m coining two terms: Soul Hangover and Web Yoga.
Soul Hangover = the empty, soul-tearing feeling you get after spending too long on social media.
Like regular hangovers, you can alleviate the discomfort of a soul hangover by getting back online for a short time, using the proverbial “hair of the dog that bit you” cure. But, most experts agree this method for curing alcohol hangovers can only provide temporary relief, and the ensuing suffering will hit even harder. The same is true for a soul hangover.
Instead, it’s best to set a timer or create some sort of breaks or pauses, so that you can ideally avoid over-consumption. Luckily, apps are popping up to help with this.
If you do accidentally wind up with a soul hangover, the symptoms are most effectively alleviated by staring at a plant outside and breathing, or simply doing ANY real world activity that requires your physical body and full attention. Treat yourself gently, and do something to actively get yourself back to a baseline awareness of yourself.
Even better, though, would be to find ways which prevent us from getting a soul hangover.
Web Yoga = a practice using yogic strategies for remaining centered, steady, and whole while navigating online.
Social media and the www can be used for humor, to inspire, educate, and uplift the spirit. So why do we so often end up with a soul hangover? Because, social media platforms are designed to keep us scrolling. They use emotional drama, ignorance, forgetfulness, and the “monkey mind” as a way to keep us swimming in online waters. As dedicated yogis we regularly bring our yoga practices “off the mat” and into our daily lives. Now, it’s time to bring our yoga practice with us virtually. Your screen is your new yoga mat.
Yogis regulate our own actions and emotions, despite whatever insanity is being thrown at us. Just as we do with our postures and meditations on the mat, it is possible to use the online world as a tool to change our state into one of balance and harmony, and to learn about our inner landscape by watching our reactions. The online world is regular life, made exponential, and it requires continual discipline and awareness to maintain inner balance. The virtual world is a superhuman test in focus and self-awareness that no ancient yogi could’ve dreamed of. And yet, I believe those ancient yogis prepared us with all the tools we need to succeed.
Yoga means Union
Yoga is a spiritual path that bases practices upon the understanding that individual consciousness and universal consciousness already exist in union. When the mind is under the delusion it is purely an individual identity, separated from everything else, we experience suffering. Yoga techniques are meant to dissolve this illusion that we are divided or separate.
In yoga we refer to this distorted perception as avidyā – ignorance, not-knowing, or forgetting. When we see ourselves only as a finger, and forget that we are actually the hand, we misunderstand reality and become disempowered and disconnected from our true selves. We are more likely to experience suffering and create personal chaos.
There are three types of thinking that lead to avidyā…
- Vikshepa – Commonly called monkey mind, this is the mind’s tendency to focus outwardly, wander and jump thought to thought, and follow distraction. We cannot know ourselves when our reality is wavering.
- Mala – In short, selfishness, this is thinking in a way that feeds the creation of a singular ego, and creates momentum for seeking out self-benefit.
- Avavana – is the identification of ourselves as only our human body form (ignorance of the soul). When we operate from this perspective, we focus only on things we desire in the immediate moment. Impulsive desires are not wrong, but when left to run things, they can obscure our experience of life and cause suffering.
Consider your mental, emotional, and even spiritual experience scrolling through social media and re-read those concepts above. Understand why you feel the soul hangover? The way we currently navigate the online world is a deep path to suffering, both because of its current design, and our unconscious use of it. If we are indiscriminate about our steps forward in how we interface with technology, online interactions may very well lead to a rapid degradation of consciousness. One that we immediately feel, but sometimes can’t quite articulate, and often choose to ignore.
We call it “surfing the web”, and a surfing metaphor is the perfect way to look at our task. Surfers constantly attune themselves to their internal state, in each moment they respond to the external fluctuations. Most of us are not surfing the internet well, and sometimes we get pummeled by waves. It IS possible to navigate and curate our www experience to create balance within ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally. But, when was the last time you stayed embodied for more than 30 seconds while looking at a screen?
Turn your online time into a yoga class.
Start applying yogic practices to your online interactions and see how it changes you!
First, decide your practice length (try 10-30 min to start).
Then, stare at your blank screen and take a breath. Feel the boundaries of your body. Notice your physical, emotional and mental state. Consider what you need to find balance within these dimensions of yourself. Do you feel sluggish and need some humor? If you’re feeling lonely, can you ingest something that reminds you of love and connection? Set the intention for your practice: What influences will you seek out to find balance, self-awareness, and ease?
Set a timer to ring once every 4 minutes, which will cue you to realign with your intention. As you start to surf or scroll, notice the reactions you have to the content. Recognize that the content is just a mirror of you. Each post is an opportunity to notice the reality of your inner landscape, physically, emotionally, & mentally.
Keep scrolling. Breathe evenly (to include the physical body in your experience). When you lose yourself down a rabbit hole, close your eyes, take a breath, and come back to your own center. Notice what is helping you feel balanced and nourished and what is starting to toss you about in emotional waves. Use your intuition about what to watch/read, and make clear decisions to stop anything that feels like a deviation from your intention.
Now, close your device, close your eyes, breath evenly, recenter. How do you feel? Reflect on what worked for you and what didn’t. Mentally note the choices you want to make in your next practice. In future sessions, you can experiment with other yogic principles during your time online (such as focusing on a specific Yama or Niyama).
Become a Virtual Yoga Pioneer
While technology may eventually be redesigned to support the whole human, I do not sense that will be a priority for many decades. Current tech is developing too rapidly, designed by individuals unaware of and unconcerned about supporting the whole human. In the meantime, to remain healthy and centered, we can do what we’ve always done: YOGA.
So, keep practicing! And, if you would like support in developing the ability to self-regulate and hold center in the evolving tech landscape, email me at: [email protected] to join a free weekly practice designed to support your whole being’s health in this new technological frontier.
