I was recently invited to become part of the Om Yoga Magazine bloggers community- you can take a look at all the bloggers involved and the posts we’ve written here.

This month’s magazine is out now, featuring a host of awesome articles on yoga poses, kit, holidays and techniques.

This particular piece jumped out at me…

These days we’re surrounded by technology and constantly connected, via mobiles, laptops, tablets and computers. It’s completely normal to see everyone on your train or bus with their heads bent over their phones, totally oblivious to the outside world.

After a weekend of tweeting and Instagramming in Geneva, this might sound a little hypocritical! And no, I’m not telling you to switch off your PC and stop reading my blog (haha), but I do think it’s important to have a balance.

A recent legally binding labour agreement in France between employers federations and unions says that “employees will have to switch off work phones and avoid looking at work email, while firms cannot pressure staff to check messages” outside of the hours of 9am-6pm.

And while an email ban in the UK probably wouldn’t work, especially across some sectors, a better approach is to think about work-life balance. Or even social media-real life balance!

I know that when I went travelling around Thailand for 3 weeks, apart from the odd Internet-cafe stop to inform family I was still alive, I was totally disconnected. And even going camping in the UK, rural areas have no signal or your phone battery dies (without an electric hookup) – it’s blissful to just experience that peacefulness and create some real life memories.

So maybe don’t make checking your phone the first thing you do when you wake up- have a cup of tea instead 🙂 Or take an hour out of your week to attend a yoga class, where you can switch off and escape to a place of sanctuary and relaxation for a while.

Do you think an email ban would work in this country? How do you “disconnect” and take some time to yourself? 

If you’re interested in reading more or subscribing to Om Yoga Magazine, click this link.

Previous Om Yoga magazine blog posts:
April- Get Running Fit with Yoga

Beki x

NB: For full disclosure, I’m a member of the Om Yoga Magazine affiliate bloggers scheme which means I make a small percentage on any purchase of the digital magazine made through my personal link.