Between the stay-at-home order and the fact that we’re home a lot, we all have been lacking movement. We wake up and rush to our laptops for work. Work is over. We need to decompress; we watch TV. By the end of the day, we spent 8 to 10 hours in front of the screen.Â
The main issue is that as we are on our screens, we adopt a posture that is not good for our spine, creating blockages and tensions. Our minds are also full of images and thoughts of constant scrolling, zapping from one page to the next.
What are the Side Effects of Screens?
By now, we know that falling asleep with a screen on alters the quality of our sleep. It is highly recommended to avoid any use of i-Pads or screens with young kids as we do not know what kind of side effects can arise.
So, up to this day, we are not sure of what kind of repercussions 8 hours of the screen can do to our physical, mind, or soul?
What we know is that we can find alternatives to increase our level of comfort after long days in front of computers.
Yoga and meditation will help you. Incorporating movement and breathing meditation will allow some energy to flow in your body.
Yoga Opens your Body
Yoga can be impressive these days due to all the fancy Instagram pictures we are exposed to. It means union. It is about the union of the two worlds or finding the middle group between the physical and spiritual world.
Yoga can be a strong fiery practice or can simply be an hour of laying down (Shavasana) position. Yoga is about taking the time to honor and listen to your body.
The moment you step on your mat after a long day of work, it is a time for you and just for you. At that precise moment, you are in control of how you want to manage your practice and what type of Yoga you desire.Â
I highly encourage you to start small. On the first days of your yogic journey, simply do a 5 or 10 minutes video. Then, slowly make your way to more.Â
As we’re sitting almost all day long, a couple of exercises of gentle hips openers are always a good start. In Eastern Traditions, it is believed that the hips are this space in our physical body where we hold on to many emotions and trauma. Inviting movement regularly will allow you to surrender any excess of emotions to move through your day peacefully.
Meditation Cleans your Mind, a Spiritual Shower
Another popular sequence that I highly recommend is known as the sun salutation. It is the most known sequence in Yoga. The Sun Salutation, Surya Namaskar, is believed to open 99% of your muscles if that is the first thing that you do in the morning.
In India, in early AM, you can encounter most locals doing their practice and Yoga to awaken the body in the morning. Coffee will wake you up. Yoga will open you up.
Breathing Meditations are an incredible addition to working more on the mind and on a spiritual level. Meditation is similar to a morning spiritual shower.
Starting the day with meditation or implementing a practice will help you have more control over the flow of your thoughts. It improves the flow of energy in the body and increases productivity, confidence, focus, and sleep.
You will give your mind a break from your reality, sitting all day, from work, from home, and from all the different thoughts that are constantly running in your mind.
Come Back to the Center
The journey of Yoga and meditation will help you to let go after a long day in front of screens, but it will also take you on a deeper journey. As the famous Hindu Baghava Gita says: “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self. “
It all starts with a couple of exercises to awaken the spine and bring some circulation. One thing leading to another, you are shedding all of your deepest layers to really come back to your real self and find your real purpose.
Yoga and meditation will help you realize that there is more than the way we are living in front of screens. It will show you the path to your own awakening, the path back to your own self.
It will also simply help you to find better sleep, be more at ease with all the ups and downs of life, and take a break from home while sleeping on your couch.
This journey is definitely worth taking to surrender the daily stress and awaken doors to realms that you did not even imagine existed.
