I have a love-hate relationship with my phone. It keeps me in touch with the people I care about, my schedule and my clients. It supplies me with endless inspirational and hilarious Instagram posts, Youtube clips of Ellen or Jimmy Fallon hashtags, and Facebook updates of that guy I knew in high school and talked to that one time in the hall after gym class. You know, important stuff.
But ultimately I feel mentally fractured after spending too much time on my device. I feel scattered and emotionally irritated if I spend a long time scrolling through my phone. A part of me knows what I’m searching for (connection, purpose, inspiration) is not going to be found on this tiny screen.
Phones constantly pull our consciousness elsewhere. Never have I seen so many quotes on Instagram about “living in the moment” and yet seen so many people walking with their heads down, looking at their phones and strolling into oncoming traffic while chasing Pokemon or checking Facebook. I get it. I’m guilty of the same thing. If my phone vibrates, or even if I feel what turns out to be a “phantom vibration” I’ll immediately detach myself from whatever I’m doing to reach for it. Like Pavlov’s dog, my mind starts to salivate at the thought of receiving a text.
Thanks to Yoga, and the presence of mind it’s teaching me, I’ve been slowly training myself away from this reaction. Like a young puppy, it’s taking some time for me to learn.
I was chatting with my dad the other day about having a polite, yet firm conversation with a student who insisted on texting….in the yoga studio….as the class started.
Situations like this are tricky. It’s kind of like asking an addict to put away the very thing that gives them a sense of pleasure and control when you tell someone to kindly put their phone away. There’s a moment where I fear a little bit for my safety, when they look at me like I’m a heartless sadist for asking them to relinquish their iphone for the next 60 minutes. Ultimately, I know the request is worth their death glare.
As I shared this story with my father he aptly (no pun intended) pointed out how yoga for most people is the one time during the day where they put their phone aside and get lost. He was so very right. Every day I watch people as they get lost in breath, body and movement. This is so incredibly precious and important. During this one hour, people relearn how to slow down and be present.
I usually like to start classes with everyone lying down. The initial five minutes of the practice are spent arriving and decompressing. I like to think of it as the “de-clutter” time. Where people breath in the quiet and breath out the noise. Like a chalkboard brush, the breath starts to wipe the body and the mind clean of thoughts and concerns. You can’t do this with a phone in your hand.
I’m trying to let my phone remain a device and not a tiny plastic dictator. I want it to be something that enhances my life, not something I live my life through. Every time I come back to the practice, this task becomes much more manageable.
I can acknowledge that smartphones are pretty much here to stay. But yoga has been around for a few thousand years, and doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere anytime soon. Just sayin’.
So outsmart your smartphone, step onto your yoga mat, and scroll through your own thoughts. Hit the like button of your brain for any thoughts that bring you joy and peace. Take mental pictures of your favorite moments and practice dwelling on them. Share breath in the body like that hilarious Youtube clip you posted on your Facebook page. Let it bring a sense of lightness and freedom to the body. Your phone will be fine. You will be fine. Like that quote I saw on my Instagram wall,
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes. Including you.”
