meditation on social media

Today, I wrote my first of three blog posts (to be published elsewhere, will keep you posted) on social media and community building for yoga brands.  The modern yogi(ni) is Linked-in, Facebook, Twitter, Texting, Emails, Facebook connecting to twitter, the blog, Linkedin.  Joining groups (you know and don’t know), Liking and Un-liking pages, connections with people you know and their connections who you may not know…Comments from the groups you are connected to and know but not personally, connecting through cell phones and apps and sync-ing with your computer, your laptop, ipad…Sigh.  Incredible.  We have adapted to technology and it is unbelieveable how much we can connect just by learning what is available ….

The word YOGA is from the verb, yuj, meaning “to yoke, harness”(Feurstein). In the Upanishads, it also meant “spiritual endeavor” (Feurstein) and later, in the Bhagavad Gita – we are talking 3rd or 4th century BCE- it denoted “spiritual discipline” or methods of “self-realization (Feurstein).  Check out this beautiful verse from the Gita (Stephen Mitchell): “Strong in the practice of yoga, with a mind that is rooted in me and in nothing else, you will reach the Supreme Person that I am.” We commonly say YOGA means union, connecting…mind+body+spirit, because in this fast-paced world, they don’t always feel in the same place at the same time.

So I ask you, are you linked-in and plugged-in professionally and personally?  Do you actually turn your cell OFF in yoga class or just to vibrate? Or could you benefit from turning off cyberspace connections for a moment and tuning into the one link that unites body and mind=the Breath.  Go ahead, try.  Breathe in calm, breathe out tension…Feel YOGA’d-in….