I live half of my life intensely studying modern and futuristic technology and the other half deeply engaged in the ancient practice of yoga. Constantly, I look for ways to bridge the two. I’m sure my life would be must simpler if I could choose one path, but a one-pronged approach to my career doesn’t feel right. The two will have to come together
I’m halfway through my Bridge program at ISHTA Yoga, and one of the greatest pieces of wisdom I’ve heard in our lectures is that yoga is a spiritual technology. I turned that phrase over in my mind for several weeks – in my meditations, during my personal practice, on my way to work, while doing my laundry, and walking Phineas. I like the phrase, but I wasn’t exactly sure of its meaning under the hood.
Then I put the phrase aside and just thought about science in its purest form. What do scientists do during their waking hours? They investigate; they search; they form hypotheses and test them. Scientists and yogis – we aren’t so very far apart after all.
We’re all searching for truth, for meaning, for understanding. We’re all searching for a way to be free. Scientists search from the outside in and yogis search from the inside out.
Last weekend, Michael and Amy (friends and fellow Compass Yoga board members) came over to my apartment to shoot our first set of homespun yoga instruction videos to upload to our new YouTube channel. The channel is now live and we would absolutely love to have you stop over there and let us know what you think!
For veterans and their families
We created this first set of videos specifically with veterans and their family members in mind. As many of our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq return home in the coming months, they will go through an adjustment period as they transition. These videos are meant to be a resource to turn to in moments when they feel anxious, are unable to relax, and feel tension, depression, or fear. Though inspired by the needs of veterans and their families, the videos are available for free and unlimited viewing to anyone who has an internet connection so give them a whirl and let us know what you think!
How you can be a part of our YouTube channel
Additionally, we’d also like to post videos that inspire people to live lives that have a focus on health and well-being. If you have a video that you’d like us to upload – and it could be something as simple as you speaking into a camera and explaining how you’re living a healthy life – then we’d love to post it. Drop me a line and we’ll talk about how to send it over.
In the coming months, we’ll be filming and posting more short sequences as well as guided meditations. We hope they will be of great benefit to a wide range of people across the globe. Stop by and let us know what you think!
I’ve changed my mind a hundred times on which e-reader to buy, that is once I decided I did want an e-reader. I love books, the feel and smell of them. I even like the feel of the weight in my hands, but not on my shoulders.
I just finished Conversations with Myself, a collection of papers, interviews, and letters from Nelson Mandela’s archive. At 480 pages, it is a hefty item to tote around on the crowded NYC subway to and from work. I looked around the car and saw everyone on their devices that slide easily in and our of their bags, no sign of trouble when flipping the page or holding it close to them as they navigated the too-small space between them and their closest neighbors.
I, on the other handle, was fumbling to such a degree that I just packed the book away in my overstuffed bag, where it barely fit. On my subway car, I was the only person with a paper book, a book I borrowed from he library! Despite that I make my living working in mobile technology, I was a relic of a time gone by. Books made out of paper? They call those antiques!
And now it was time to take a serious look at my decision tree. I have been comparing models of e-readers since the first Kindle was a whisper in the market. I took my friend, Susan‘s, advice from job searching and applied it to my e-reader decision. I stopped comparing models and considered my perfect e-reader, available options aside.
Here’s what I need, in order of importance:
1.) A comfortable reading experience – I spend so much of my day looking at shiny screens and I’m already worried about my eyes. I need a near-paper reading experience.
2.) Borrow library books – I love the New York Public Library and I’d like to be able to download e-books from the library to my e-reader.
3.) An electronic notepad – I do my best writing while I’m traveling and carrying my laptop with me is getting to be a burden. I don’t need anything too fancy – just a way to easily jot down my thoughts and upload them to my laptop when I get home.
Now that I knew what kind of e-reader I really wanted, it was easier to evaluate options. By getting clear on my needs, the clear answer rose to the top: meet my new e-reader, the new Kindle Touch, featuring e-ink, library book borrowing, and personal annotation capabilities (Kindle does one better on this last point by sinking all my documents across all of my devices.)
And this is just the beginning of what it offers. It will be ready to ship around November 21st and I can’t wait to get started on it. My shoulders are going to be so happy with this decision. Already I can hear them sighing, “It’s about time!” Indeed, it is.
There are plenty of people out there playing pundit about the fate of Apple now that Steve Jobs has stepped down. When I heard about his resignation, I at first felt a real sadness and then my attention quickly turned to gratitude for what he gave to all of us. While Apple and its team have drawn so much benefit from his leadership, I also realized that just by watching and studying him and interacting with the products and staff of his company we have gained so much. We owe him so many thank yous.
Here is a start:
Never give up; rely on your intuition – After his board sent him packing, it would have been very easy for Jobs to slunk off into obscurity. Instead, he started another company and invested in this little start-up called Pixar. Jobs trusts his gut above all else, and that authenticity that “knowing beyond knowing” has paid off in spades for me, albeit spades that have been hard-won.
Be unreasonable – There are several business legends about how infamously unreasonable Steve Jobs is. He is a relentless, restless seeker of quality and he demands of everyone else what he demands of himself – excellence.
People don’t know what they want and we can’t expect them to – If Apple got bogged down in consumer product testing and consumer product research, it’s unlikely that we’d have any of the magic Apple has built its brand on. In a time of user-generated content / input craze, Apple took a completely different approach – its products shaped the desires of consumers rather than the other way around.
Invent by alleviating pain – Apple has always paid close attention to what gives consumers pain, and then invented products and services to alleviate it. It is a brilliant point-of-view from which to invent, and it has won them consumer loyalty by the boatload.
Everything is possible; you can make something out of nothing – Jobs took his interest in personal technology, got out a white piece of paper and built Apple from nothing but a handful of computer components. For any entrepreneur with little more than a dream, Steve Jobs shows us what’s possible with passion.
Our future really is in our hands – I suppose Steve Jobs could have played it safe as a young man and gotten a job working for someone else. Instead, he paved his own road from the very beginning and never looked back. He knew his future was actually safer (and more fun!) in his own hands rather than in anyone else’s. His story will be one that’s told and emulated for many generations to come. I can’t wait to see all of the new Steves that spring from his inspiring path.
My friend, Pam, recently posted on Facebook about a new service she’s trying out from Me You Health. After a quick sign-up, Me Youth Health will email you one simple step every day that will bring you closer to wellness. Clean out your closet for 15 minutes. Stand up and stretch your abs. Trade your sugary snack for a healthier choice. Click the “Done” button in the email after you’ve completed it and you’re awarded points that can be redeemed for content that helps you improve your wellness is a specific area of your life.
You’ll be able to track your wellness overall, as well as in specific areas of your life. With a few quick questions, I was able to get a clear snapshot of how the pieces of my life are fitting together and which ones really need my attention. It helped me focus my efforts and chart a path to success, exactly as I define it. It’s a brilliant example of how technology can further health.
The site is incredibly interactive, easy to navigate, and has a great community where it’s easy to participate. Ah….everything a social site should be. And all in the name of wellness. I’m in! Join me and add me as a connection so we can share the goodness and encourage each other along the way.
http://nscblog.com“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.” ~ George Sheehan
I read this quote earlier in the week on a daily email I receive from Tiny Buddha. MJ, one of the wonderful readers of this blog, recommended it to me a few months ago and I’ve been reading it daily ever since. In line with my year of writing about new beginnings, the ideas that it raises really resonate with people who are always in the process of becoming.
George Sheehan’s quote hit a cord with me today as I wrestle with a possible career / life transition that allows me to combine my love of health and wellness with my equal love for technology and writing. For the past few months, I really thought I could make my money through one avenue and have my other personal passions live in my post-work hours. After SXSW and IHS, I’m recognizing that this dual-life takes much more energy than its worth. And since I can’t let go of any of these passions, they’re all too near and dear to my heart, I have to do some personal R&D. I need to find a way to fuse them together to create a happy and financially stable life for myself.
I’m aware that this is a tall order, and if I could get away with less believe me, I would do it. But I can’t. I have to become who I am meant to be. Anything less would just be a huge disservice to all of the people who have given me so much for so long. My family, my friends, my mentors, my teachers. There’s so much that the world needs and to make the most use of my time, I need to bring to bear everything that I have.
You do, too. A lot of us spend a lot of time being less. Now, I’m talking about running ourselves ragged for the sake of doing more, more, more. I’m talking about taking a look at what really makes our hearts sing, what really makes us come alive, and finding a way to do those things more of the time. Yes, we are still occasionally going to have to make choices that are less than ideal, though if they serve a long-term higher goal of getting as much happiness as possible in this lifetime, then we just need to recognize these less optimal stop-overs as exactly that – incremental steps to fully becoming the people we’re meant to be.
At SXSW, I had the great good fortune to meet Michelle Ward, a.k.a. The When I Grow Up Coach, through my wonderful friend, Amanda. A few weeks ago, Michelle sent out a tweet about decision-making, encouraging all of us to go for the choices that make us say, “Hell yes!” Now, isn’t that just about the best decision-making tool you could imagine. So elegant. Option A makes you say, “Eh, maybe” and Option B makes you say, “Hell, yes!” End of contemplation. For people like me who have a tree diagram for every decision they make as well as pro con lists out the wazoo, this little test is a life-saver. I’ve already used it a dozen times and reduced my stress considerably as a result.
Michelle’s test is a sure way to get to exactly the successful state that George Sheehan describes in his quote. Our courage, determination, and will become so much stronger, and honestly easier to have, when we have “Hell yes” on our side. Give it a go and let me know how it turns out!
This image available at http://jolly-rancherzz.deviantart.com/art/DONT-UNPLUG-ME-177079124SXSW was a connect-fest. I was tweeting, Facebooking, and blogging to my heart’s content. In a land of free and available-everywhere wi-fi, a tech lover like me thought she fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. These online connections led to wonderful off-line connections, too. I met two really amazing women from DC who got a whole group of us together on Group Me, a cool new app that makes it easy to group text message, making the coordination of group plans much easier. These ladies brought in a few others while I got my pals from New York to team up with us, too. It was a wonderful lesson in online connections facilitating off-line interaction.
Balancing our online and off-line existence
Recently I have had some concerns about being a hyper-connected person. My multi-tasking nerd nature still rears its head on occasion and I start to get concerned about its clear ability to consume my time. I have to consciously remind myself that my offline connections need to be of greater proportion than my online ones.
SXSW had me thinking about connections and the growing cross-pollination between offline and online interactions. The wall between the two is slowly breaking down, and now we’re able to more easily facilitate the interactions in both directions. This realization made me feel a bit more comfortable with how many channels I now access to stay connected. Still, I wanted to test myself a bit. Could I survive mostly offline for a few days and not feel lost, not obsess about what I was missing online?
Can we ever really be off-line?
Once I got to Orlando, where I stopped in to see my family after SXSW, I made the conscious decision to take myself offline for a great majority of the time. I wanted to see if I could do it. I wanted to really be there with my family, no distractions. Rather than feeling any anxiety about my disconnection, it felt amazing. After being hyper connected at SXSW, it felt great to shut off my shiny screens and just be in the world. I felt lighter, and I recognized beauty in a clearer way than I have on previous tech fasts.
Once my family dropped me off at the airport and I explained to my eldest niece, Lorelei, that she wouldn’t be able to get on the plane with me this time, I worried that I’d go right back to my device checking ways. But you know what? It never even occurred to me to take out my mobile while I was waiting in line to check my bag.
Unexpected, and delightful, connections
Instead, I was focused on those around me. I worked to keep Phin clam in his travel bag, and I chatted with some people in line. Both the person in front of me and the person behind me had dachshunds, too. While going through security, I met a woman from Iowa and she told me all about the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, a program I’ve been wanting to check out for quite a while. “Here’s my card,” she said. “If you ever get to Iowa, please feel free to stay with me and my family.” I met a man, Francisco, at the gate. He was traveling to Bogota and was worried he was at the wrong gate. With my very rusty Spanish and his equally rusty English, I was able to help him out. In exchange he told me all about his life in Colombia and how he had just retired after many years of working very hard in the agriculture industry. If I had my earphones on or been obsessively checking my mobile, I would have missed all of these interactions. I would have missed the very human element of traveling – time with others.
Weird is where you are
Even once I landed back in New York, I was able to still feel light, and I didn’t have that obsession with checking my mobile device. Austin somehow shifted my take on technology. I don’t see it as a burden but as a great luxury, something I can take or leave depending on my mood and circumstances. It’s no longer giving me a Monkey Mind. Maybe my quest to keep the lightness of Austin with me even after I return home will be an easier road than I imagined. Can I keep it weird wherever I am?
I am currently at the Apple pop-up store in Austin. The store was late breaking news development that geeks here at SXSW are very happy about. The line for the new iPad is currently extended around the corner.
I have been slightly skeptical about tablets, worried that I would be duplicating my Droid X, which I love, and my MacBook which I love even more. However, I began to covet the glowing machine at SXSW because my laptop is heavy to carry around all day and blogging on my DROID is a less than ideal.
I took myself over here to the Apple store before grabbing some lunch in preparation for my SXSW talk this afternoon. From first touch, I developed an infatuation for little Mac Jr. Successful first date, though I need a little more time before I decide whether or not we’re destined to move in together.
From Treehugger.comI went to an incredible panel yesterday about biomimicry and its implications for the design of technology projects. The talk was put together by several key personalities in this space. If you are curious about bioIogy or design or both, I highly recommend taking a look at Biomimicry.net and Beedance.com. Representatives of both organizations were represented on the panel.
At the end of the panel Holly Harlan of E4S and Michael Dungan of Beedance said two very profound points that have stuck with me since the panel and I think they hold very important pieces of advice for living, particularly for people passionate about technology. Holly said that if we’re really curious about design, really interested in learning from nature then we need to dig around in the dirt. It’s all well and good to read and research and ask questions of others. It’s necessary, though the greatest learning is found through our own personal exploration of the physical world. Michael encouraged us to put down our devices, unplug, and look around. Really see what’s happening in our natural environment. It sounds so simple and yet the world is whizzing by us at a dizzying pace while we remain glued to our glowing screens.
I found these two pieces of info particularly poignant last night at the Foursquare party. I was with some friends from work and we were having a great time dancing and enjoying a really beautiful and balmy Texas evening. As I took a look around, I was blown over by the number of people who were with other people but not present. Every 30 seconds they were on their mobiles, half listening to the people talking to them, lost in some digital experience of some kind. It made me wonder and start to worry about what all of these devices are really doing to our personal awareness. Despite constantly being in the know, constantly being “connected”, flooded with information on every conceivable subject, we seem to be in a fog of our own design. Existing, though not living. We really may be entirely disconnected from our own intuition and from others.
I’ll be the first to say I love technology and its potential for good. I love piles of information. I love design. I also love, in equal if not greater proportion, the trees, the grass, and the sky. I have yet to come across any piece of technology that wows me more than something that the natural world has created from its own immense intelligence and experience. To design as nature designs is the ideal, is the genius we’re all so desperately looking for. To take in its teachings requires dirty knees and a clear mind. I’m making a vow to unplug more often, get out into the world with more compassion than ever before, and live. I hope you’ll join me.
Austin, I’m heading your way! A month from today I’ll be presenting at the SXSW Interactive Festival. Back in August I put together a proposal for a session entitled Taming the Monkey Mind: Yoga and Creative Focus. I’ve never been to SXSW, though from the description of it from friends who have gone it felt like the perfect setting to discuss my interest in helping creative professionals use yoga as a tool to spur their imagination at will. Plus, SXSW will allow me to indulge every nerdy tendency I have (and there are many!) In January, my session was accepted by the SXSW selection committee and I’ve been off and running on the planning and preparation front ever since.
As part of being a speaker, I have the opportunity to bring along a co-presenter. SXSW is such an incredibly inspiring experience that I felt selfish not sharing the goodness so I asked my friend Jennilyn Carson of Yogadork.com fame if she’d be interested in co-hosting the session with me. Thankfully she accepted, submitted to the SXSW committee, and was accepted. I couldn’t be more excited! Her blog on yoga pop culture is one of the funniest, savviest, and honest channels out there. She’s an incredible writer, community-builder, and meticulous researcher. I feel honored to have her join in the fun.
Our session will be on Tuesday, March 15th at 5:00pm, room TBD – the last slot of the interactive festival. It’s the perfect way to close out the SXSW experience – sharing ideas and thoughts about the creative process and the use of yoga to enhance our imaginations. No pressure, all fun. Stop by and see us!
I’ll also be teaching a yoga class on Monday, March 14th at 9:30am thanks to the gracious Ari Stiles. Again, it’s a very chilled out beginner level session that’s meant to help you relax and recharge for the last two days of the SXSW Interactive Festival. Come play!
Here’s a description of the session from the SXSW site:
The perfect way to wrap-up your SXSW experience: a lively and carefree conversation about how yoga can help you easily access your creativity and imagination at will. We all know this feeling of being under the gun with a deadline, needing to access our most creative ideas at a moment’s notice. When we really need our creative muse to show up, she somehow has the uncanny ability to hide like a needle in a haystack and then show up at 3:00am as we bolt upright out of bed, making our way in the dark to scribble down the ideas she’s handed to us. For too long we’ve accepted that’s just the way creativity and imagination work – unpredictably.
Yoga – physical postures, breathing techniques, and visualization – helps us tap into our imaginations at will and with ease, exactly when we need them. A regular yoga practice keeps our minds sharp, helps us make connections between seemingly disparate bits of information that may otherwise go unnoticed, and imagine solutions to complex challenges. It gives us a way forward. This session is helpful for everyone who needs to tap into their own creativity on a regular basis – from performers to programmers, in all mediums.
This blog is also available as a podcast on Cinch and iTunes.
Christa Avampato 