5 Ways Technology Can Help You Practice Yoga And Meditation In The Comfort Of Home
Shopping Product ReviewsTechnology often gets a bit of a bad rap when it comes to physical and mental well-being. With squinting at our phone screens, watching television, hunching over our laptops, and being exposed to unnatural indoor lighting all day, it’s no wonder we tend to think about technology that negatively impacts our physical health and mental.
However, in addition to the bad impacts of technology, there are many new technologies that have emerged to help us take better care of ourselves. In particular, in this article I want to focus on 5 technologies that anyone can use to meditate or practice yoga at home.
It is widely accepted that both yoga and meditation are great for reducing stress and anxiety and generally helping us to be relaxed and more positive. Focusing on our breath and body in the present, even for a short period of time, be it 5 minutes or an hour, is enough to calm our minds and get rid of all the thoughts that buzz around our heads in the modern world of today. Yoga is also great for building core body strength and physical flexibility, which is especially good if, like me, you suffer from back pain and stiffness.
Often the problem with meditating and doing yoga is actually finding the time and motivation to get started. For some people, it’s also having the confidence to give it a go, especially if you go to a class where you might think people will judge or just be better than you.
The 5 technologies can help anyone get the most out of yoga and meditation practice at home.
1) Practice “Stop, breathe, think” with Amazon Alexa
Amazon’s voice-controlled smart home assistant is called Alexa. There are many different devices available now that Amazon has launched with Alexa. They include the Amazon Echo (a larger speaker for playing music) and the Amazon dot, which is a smaller version without the large speaker but can still hear it and respond to commands. Alexa has thousands of different useful skills that can be activated with a voice command. There is a whole section of skills in the Health & Fitness category, one of which is the “Stop, Breathe, Think” skill. You can say “Alexa, open Stop, Breathe, Think” and one of the various meditation routines will be activated. The calm, soothing voice will guide you through a guided meditation rather than trying to clear your busy mind alone in a quiet room.
2) Stream yoga classes at home with Yogaia
Armed with just a laptop or tablet and some decent Wi-Fi, you can now stream live yoga classes from home. The benefit of this service that is available for a monthly fee (which is cheaper than many individual yoga classes) is that you get the best of both worlds. You get the combined convenience of following a video at home with the ability to have a teacher observe your technique when you participate in a class.
3) Get the right mood with smart lighting
The problem with traditional interior lighting has always been its harshness. Incandescent bulbs trick our bodies into thinking that it is time to be alert and active. Great when you’re trying to focus on work, not so great if you’re trying to relax! Sails are great, but they can be an effort to install and a potential safety hazard indoors. Now with the smart lights, you can control your lighting so that you have a more relaxing sunset color when you try to do yoga or meditate, or when you try to sleep. You can automate them to change at a certain time, use a remote control, or even control them with your voice using a smart assistant like Amazon Alexa or Google Home.
4) Download the Headspace app
This app is available on Apple or Android and offers a multitude of ways to practice meditation and mindfulness at home (or wherever you are indeed). The app has a free 10-day mindfulness program called “Take 10”. After that, there is a subscription fee to access many guided and unguided practices. Headspace also shares the love by donating a free subscription to someone in need for each person who pays.
5) Invest in an essential oil diffuser
Yoga and meditation are all about breathing, so why not make sure that the air you breathe also helps improve your physical and mental well-being? Essential oils are known to activate receptors in your brain responsible for controlling emotions, and one of the most effective ways to use them is in an electronic diffuser. It uses innovative ultrasound technology to emit the oils in a powerful mist that will fill the entire room with a scent that can help you get the most out of your yoga or mediation practice.
I hope that using these 5 technologies will help you get the most out of yoga and meditation to improve your well-being without having to leave home!