I'm Taking Some Time Off for Yoga!

Headed for the hills for a few weeks

The author takes a shameless selfie in his hostel

Tomorrow I start phase 3 of The Unfamiliar Movement Project, my yoga teacher training! I’ll be attending Kindred Spirits Wellness Academy in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica.

I could not be more excited, especially because Yoga teachers are highly sought after on Workaway, meaning that I’ll be able to trade my skill for accommodation in hostels and resorts throughout the world.

Since the academy itself has no wifi, and they recommend doing a “digital fast” during the training to get the most out of it, I’ve decided to step away from The Well-Lived Life for the duration of the training. I’ll also be locking my phone behind their counter to break its hold on me for a while.

Surfing and silks have started to give me my sanity back in the last few months, but because of running the blog, meeting people in hostels, and communicating with potential freelance clients, my phone and my laptop have wrapped their tentacles around my mind. It’s time for a digital fast.

Thank you for reading, I’ll see you in a few weeks!

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In the meantime, if you’d like to read along with The Unfamiliar Movement Project or you know someone who could benefit from The Well-Lived Life, consider supporting this project or gifting a membership to someone else:

As always, if you’d like to join but you feel you can’t afford it, just message me your email and I’ll add you for free, no questions asked.

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As a catch-up, here are what I consider to be the five “essential posts” of The Well-Lived Life if you’re new here or you need a catch-up:

Number 5:

Guerilla Mindfulness: How I Use Ads As A Free Course In Happiness

While teaching an advertising unit to my students a few months ago, I realized something important. Advertisers know exactly what’s wrong with our society. But rather than helping, they exploit our weaknesses as pressure points to sell us crap we don’t need.

In this piece, I break down a few ads for you, introducing mental filters that I call “Guerilla Mindfulness.” The point of GM is to look behind advertising, to condition yourself against buying products/services you don’t need by looking for the problem in society that the advertisers are exploiting when you are assaulted by ads. I also introduce two amazing ad blockers that will eliminate a huge amount of ads in your daily life.

If you’re looking to boost your happiness and keep more of your money, this is the piece for you!

Number 4:

How To Reclaim 7-11% of Your Wasted Brainpower

I think by now we’re pretty aware of the fact that our phones sap our mental energy. But how much do they actually take from us?

Turns out, if your phone is visible and you are trying to accomplish something you don’t need your phone for, you are a measurably stupider person. In this piece, I outline one of my favorite scientific studies, and talk about ways you can break up with your phone.

Number 3:

Give The Gift of Time

Two years ago, while traveling in Southeast Asia, I volunteered at a dog rescue in the hills of Thailand. On a particularly challenging day, I had to bury a dog who’d been poisoned by a local farmer.

I realized in that moment that I felt fulfilled, more than I’d felt at any job I’d ever been paid for.

Why is it that our work culture sucks the life out of us? Why is the time we give away so much more fulfilling? This story is my attempt to answer that, through the lens of my experience at Pete’s Mission.

Number 2:

The Life-Changing Power of Last Week’s News

Have you ever heard of ‘empathy fatigue?’ This phenomenon happens as a result of our 24-hour news cycle. Our minds cannot wrap themselves around the scope of worldwide human suffering in real time, so rather than giving proper care and attention to each tragedy, we numb ourselves. Basically, we overdose on tragedy. We end up saying “that’s terrible!” and then moving on. Then something horrible happens the next day. And the next. And we get exhausted, not knowing how to help.

There’s a better way! In this piece, I lay out ways that we can specialize. It’s perfectly ok to pick a few issues, and apply your attention `deeply to them, rather than not being able to care about all of human suffering. In this piece, I offer my own tips and tricks for how I achieve this in my own life.

Number 1:

My Nepali Brother Taught Me The Meaning of “Enough”

One of my favorite personal stories, this piece outlines one of the most intense moments I had in Nepal when I was getting fitted for a sport coat and my host brother offered to help me pay for it.

For a bit of context, my host brother was in the middle of constructing his house himself and hadn’t finished his top floor or kitchen yet. And he offered to help me pay for a gratuitous item that I’d wanted simply because I wanted it. I was shaken, and I learned several valuable life lessons.

This is the most-read and most-shared piece I’ve written on here, and it’s also the piece I’m proudest of. I hope you take something from it!