Can you believe that yoga’s roots were built for these times? There are many benefits of yoga for beginners. Let me tell you a story about how in 300 BCE, when Yogis, Vaidyas (Ayurvedic doctors) Rishis and Sanyassi’s gathered in Indus Valley to reflect on how busy people’s lives had become, how inundated with info, and the ensuing imbalance… they were really concerned! So they continued to develop and craft yogic tools like mantra, mudra, pranayama, elemental balance, and other practices to help folks be in harmony with themselves and the world around them. This was 300 BCE! 

I’ve seen data that a thousand years ago humans consumed about 30-70GB of data over a LIFETIME. Now, each of us consumes over 30GB per DAY. This is a 350 percent increase over nearly three decades, according to researchers at UC, San Diego.  

Since that fateful yogic meeting concerned about overwhelm and harmony, we’ve had so many “advancements” in technology: moving into more evolved cities, agricultural revolutions, industrial and even digital revolutions. Today we are moving into a fourth revolution – the era of Meaning – an evolution in Intelligence and Empathy. 

But you wouldn’t know it yet. 

In today’s world, technology is so deeply intertwined with our daily lives. 

We can be near everything but present at nothing.

Tech exists to support us – but sometimes, it can feel like we have no choice, or like we’re playing by someone else’s rules. Do you relate? 

The way I see it, the problem isn’t technology. Technology is always changing – and it’s changing again. Rapidly with the rise of AI, Large Language Models, Social Media, and Machine Learning. The problem is the ethics behind how it’s being used as well as our lack of ability to shift towards this new era of Meaning and Empathy.

Unfortunately, a lot of tech products – especially social media, or online games for example – are designed to be addictive, to unconsciously keep you coming back for more – to keep us stuck in the Digital age – embedded in glut of information but a lack of meaning.

Companies are focused on profits, not on people, not on the earth, not on advancement and growth as a species. Even social media isn’t focused on creating social wellness or actually building thriving communities. Instead, these apps take advantage of our social nature to keep us hooked on consuming content. 

But I don’t think we should let the current tech landscape define our future. 

In this new age we see a shift towards

Empathy > information. 

Presence > profits.

Meaning > consuming.

Yoga for beginners can be easy to start. A simple breath or stretch can go far. And as beginner or experienced yoga practitioners, we are actually ahead of the curve of this shift towards an Era of Meaning. It can be up to us to lead the way to a more ethical world. We can put yoga ethics that have a flow on effect of empathy into practice in the way we relate to technology. 

Brahmacharya (“energy management”) often comes to mind when I think about how I can create a more balanced relationship with tech. 

When I notice that I’m spending more time online than I want to be, or that the activities I’m spending time doing online feel like they are draining me, I will sometimes put special attention on Brahmacharya when I am practicing yoga on or off the mat. 

A simple return to my breath helps. Focusing on “in breath” and “out breath” brings presence.

As does checking if 50% of my attention is outwards, 50% is inwards. And balancing it out.

I believe that we can evolve as we reclaim our tech. 

I have found that screen time can nourish me, and leave me feeling more connected to myself and others than before, if I’m intentionally engaging with ethical platforms.

We created Yoke Yoga to be one of these ethical tech platforms that can help us care for ourselves and our communities – to prioritize connection, empathy, presence and meaning.

Check out Yoke Yoga as a great way to start or deepen your yoga practice – social media for the Meaning Era.