Unplugged, happy and free.

I have noticed over the last few months that some friends and colleagues have been opting out of online life. Taking a break from Instagram or Facebook posting, deliberately not checking email or even doing an all-out break from all things online. After a year and a half of having more of an online life and very little of an actual one, I get it.

When I was living in San Francisco, 10+ years ago, I remember seeing ads for digital detoxes which were marketed to the very people who created the devices, apps and social media platforms we now find ourselves so damn addicted to. Ironic, or logical next step?? These retreats were located in far-off campgrounds somewhere in Northern California. Kind of like a vipassana retreat, participants had to hand in their phones, devices as well as any other identifying materials. John Smith who was the president of so-and-so well-known tech company became suddenly just John, with no last name or title. The group hung out kind of like middle school campers - out in nature, around campfire circles, swimming in the local streams and having real, in-person interactions. Exclusively. Ahhh, like the olden days that we like to glorify.. :)

This concept intrigued me 10 years ago. Even then, I remember observing people waiting in lines or on the metro and very, very few people were not completely absorbed in the shiny, bouncing images on their screens.

We know technology changes our minds, our emotions and our sense of self - sometimes in good ways like getting to connect to loved ones or watching a video of our favorite musician, writer or hero. I think we all can see at this point how our minds are being shaped in not so good ways when we are online and connected 24/7. There has been a precipitous drop in attention span since the advent of music videos and game culture in the 1980s. Our attention spans continue to shrink, and it has effects on our basic mental health. For more on that, (insert ironic online recommendation) watch the Netflix film, The Social Dilemma.

If you attend vipassana meditation retreats, you may be asked a short series of questions to assess if you have a basic level of mental health fitness. The questions are basic but if you are anything like me, you may be unable to answer YES to all of them.. especially in these pandemic/post-pandemic/where-thef^%$are-we-in-the-pandemic times.

These questions are.. are you ready?

Do you sleep well? - meaning 7-8 hours of sleep without waking or having trouble getting to bed, so you wake up RESTED?

Are you able to focus on one task at a time for 1 hour? This means even while watching TV or reading a book in your leisure, can you do that ONE thing that without grabbing a snack, throwing in a load of laundry or checking your email or imessages? Kinda hard to do, huh?

and last..

Do you make time daily for deliberate relaxation and doing nothing? What may count for this includes yoga nidra, sitting in nature, meditation, or savasana at the end of a yoga class. What would not count would be sitting with a glass of wine in front of the tele or getting a massage or manicure. It means having nothing in particular you are trying to do or accomplish.

At the end of a seemingly endless fall/winter/spring lockdown here in Munich where much of my work life and some of my personal life shifted entirely to online, and my way to connect with people or just keep up with my community was posting something online, I, for one, would really like a break from online living. I am also missing the real connections that occur between teacher/student and student/student as these barriers break down and we merge into being just people wanting to be together.

Soooooo… TA DA… My first ever Digital Detox Retreat in Yviers, France September 7-12. It is a pretty easy choice to make it a Digital-free as it’s located in the middle of the French countryside, far away from restaurants and shops, and nestled in fields of sunflowers, vineyards and bucolic farmland and with not the best internet connection even when it is connected. Few places on earth, let alone near by, does it seem like time stopped, and we can go back to a simpler existence - awake to the sounds of birds chirping and sun streaming in on our faces, smell the lavendar and local flora, swim in local streams, and eat simple, seasonal and local food lovingly prepared. Not to mention yoga and community. :) Check out the French Retreat’s website. Don’t worry, I won’t take your phones or make you assume an anonymous identity, unless you so choose. :) Register before July 20th and get an early bird special - 10% off the yoga portion of the retreat. Join?

I find as an individual and as a culture, we often need to vacillate to one extreme to jump to the other, in hopes of having a healthy and sane relationship with it somewhere in the middle, when we return to our “regular lives”. Our phones, email and social media accounts are like that. We kind of have to learn how to control our use of them so they don’t control us.