Mindfulness is a term that's used so often
nowadays and sometimes we forget what it
really means. Being mindful is just being
really really present;
it's about being really connected to and
aware of what's going on right now in
our minds and in our bodies.
Practising mindfulness involves learning
a set of exercises that you do on a
regular basis.
The aim of the exercise is learning
to focus on being really present,
so you would start for example with
being focused on an object and then move
on to being focused on sensations
in the body and then move on to being
focused on the breath.
A digital detox is taking a certain period of time away
from technology, so that would be things
like smartphones, laptops, Internet in
general and televisions. And the
reason a digital detox is important is
because our brains aren't really evolved
to cope with information overload which
is what the internet can really do,
so taking some time away from all of
this and allowing your brain to be
really present and actually really
mindful is really beneficial.
The benefits of a digital detox
are actually quite similar to the benefits
of mindfulness. when you first do a
digital detox, you might feel as if
you're at a bit of a loose end and you
might feel a bit bored because you're not used
to just spending some time without your
smart phone or your laptop. With time
however you may find actually
that you start to enjoy activities that
you used to do before, or you might just
start to enjoy your own company.
Mindfulness can be really really useful
in terms of digital detoxing. A great
place to start is actually becoming
aware of how often you on your phone. A
lot of us are on our smartphones but not
really thinking about it, and if you
just become a bit more aware of it
you'll start to notice there's a habit
that you can break. Another way of using
mindfulness to detox would be to make
some time maybe once a week once a month
to put away everything that's technology
or internet-based and make some time to
do something that's quite basic, quite
normal. Maybe it's eating or preparing a
meal, or going for a walk really focusing
on it away from everything else.
I've personally done digital detoxes
before as part of my mindfulness
practice and as part of my teacher
training. What we often do when
practising mindfulness is that we choose
to put away our smartphones, laptops,
anything to do with technology, and also
decide not to get in touch with
anyone on the phone for example for a
day, unless we have any emergencies or
important phone calls to make.
What also happens on a formal
mindfulness retreat sometimes is that we
decide to be silent, which is probably
what I describe as sort of a next level
in terms of mind and in terms
of digital detox. I remember I first started
doing these retreats and started doing
the silence and the detox, and I used to
feel quite uncomfortable. It was quite
interesting that I always go in prepared
and I think you know this is going to be
easy and about halfway through the day
I'd miss being on social media or I'd
miss checking the news for example. But in
general by the end of the day I just
feel much more grounded and feel almost
better in myself for not having to always
be checking what's going on in the world.
And so every so often, if you're inclined
to do so, I definitely recommend
a digital detox.