Lately I’ve been feeling tired, drained and a little over it. I’ve been putting this down to winter, needing a holiday, struggling with sinus issues, low iron…whatever excuse I could come up with at the many points in my day when I found myself wondering why I was feeling so crap. Then it hit me almost literally, smack bam in my face, my phone. Checking it for the 5th time that day and it was only 10am, when had I become so obsessed with social media? I’ve always prided myself on being very balanced in the art of the internet and technology in general, but lately I’ve allowed it to creep in to parts of my day I never had before and I was feeling the effects.

As a small business owner social media is most definitely a necessary evil, however the Yogi in me really struggles with this and I feel it is almost hypocritical of me to use it at all, let alone as much as I had been. Let’s all be honest with ourselves, Facebook is a time sucker and Instagram makes us feel like we are lame photographers who can’t live up to the standard that is being set by some of the big ticket holders out there, yes? While I appreciate the fact that marketing my business is a, mostly, free commodity these days that I can handle by myself, I do not appreciate the time, energy and focus it requires when I could and should be spending those things on better, more meaningful pastimes. Like doing yoga. Or spending uninterrupted time with my family.

So I have checked myself before I wreck myself (sorry, lame, I know) I’ve pulled my head in and started to look up for the majority of my day, and it feels good. Have you ever noticed how much you look down? Not only is this causing havoc on our necks, shoulders and upper bodies but it’s stopping us from seeing the world around us. This has always been my issue with using technology to shut your kid up from a young age – shouldn’t they be looking out the window of the car, rather than looking at the back of the headrest at a dvd? And when being pushed in the pram should kids not be taking in all the stimulation on offer from the world, rather than creating bad postural habits and playing games on Mum’s phone? It is easy to fall into these habits yes, but being mindful is all we need to do to take note of how participating in these energy draining activities is taking a toll on our health, both physical and mental.

I know myself pretty well, I’ve had to get to know as my body and mental state won’t put up with being ignored, and I know that I have been feeling rather rubbish due to too much time online. So time to cut back and maintain a state of balance. Some ways I keep myself in check with technology –

• I never check my phone as soon as I wake up – I meditate and if I’m not teaching I’ll do my practice, then only look at my phone when I go to teach class. Checking of email/FB/Insta comes around lunchtime after I’ve finished my work for the morning.
• I upload what I need to then I get off – I rarely look at the ‘newsfeed’ on FB, I will scan through Insta of an evening once Lotus has gone to bed for some food and Yoga inspo. Of course I check messages, comments etc and respond but I will usually only do this once a day, rather than constantly having alerts going off and responding straight away, I have turned all alerts off.
• I try hard not to use technology around Lotus – This doesn’t always happen, the simple fact is I need an online presence and this requires time and effort online, however I am very aware of this and tell her I am ‘working’ when on my phone so she knows this is not a ‘fun’ habit of mine, merely a necessity.
• I turn off over the weekend – I will usually (much to the annoyance of my family) turn off my phone over the weekend, you will rarely see me post on a weekend, it is simply family and ‘me’ time and neither of these include social media.
• I turn everything on silent at night – I don’t sleep with my phone next to me, not only is this for limiting my exposure to radiation but also it is time to sleep, isn’t it obvious you shouldn’t have your phone with you when you are supposed to be sleeping?

Some may see these little rules as extreme, but for me they work and it is only when I start to break my own rules that imbalance begins to creep in. At the end of the day I may be doing myself out of a few ‘likes’ by posting this, but my message is pretty clear, be in the NOW, and for me to teach this message I need to help navigate this very real problem of social media. Turn it off – and look up.

Alicia xxx