At the same time, Mark Zuckerberg promises a parallel digital reality where he can hold a work meeting with all the members of an international team, each one connected simultaneously from their home in different parts of the world, in a boardroom recreated in a configurable virtual scenario. , with instant translation of any language at the moment and with superimposed information and graphics floating in space…, at the same time, we said, 25 people lock themselves in a beautiful farmhouse in Montseny, lost in the heights, near Espinelves, so as not to do anything. nothing.
Ahead, eight days of meditation and silence await you. In vipassana retreats, speaking is completely prohibited and it is mandatory to go to bed when the sun sets and get up before it rises to pay attention to one’s own mind and concentrate on breathing. Nothing else. And nothing less. In short, to connect with yourself while disconnecting from the outside. The mobile phone is left out.
Attendance at vipassana retreats, as well as yoga and meditation, have grown in number of followers in recent years, among other factors, due to the coronavirus pandemic, confinement and restrictive measures that have pushed many people to look inside. Also due to the excess of external stimuli that so-called smart devices subject us to, which for some are just distractions that force us to jump from one task to the other, generating more stress than necessary.
Although many people still do not dare to practice in-person yoga centers out of fear – which has forced some centers to close their doors or reduce the number of classes – the outdoor or online sessions internet are going through a sweet moment. “The pandemic has served to further accentuate where each person was starting from. On the one hand, we are seeing those who are refractory, who have devoted themselves disproportionately to the sensory. You just have to try to reserve a table for lunch or dinner in a restaurant in Madrid and you will see that they will give you an appointment within a month… On the other hand, there are the sensitive ones, who have taken advantage of the confinement to connect with themselves and develop awareness” explains Ramiro Calle, scholar, teacher and one of the pioneers in introducing the yogi discipline in Spain.
Overwhelmed by social media notifications, news headlines, political crises, climate warming and the constant feeling of an impending cataclysm, many people have chosen to abstract themselves from the madding crowd and disconnect from the outside, something that translates into different areas of culture and that the industry tries to commercialize. From minimalism in the home promoted by Marie Kondo, who advocates leaving the house with white, uncluttered walls and orderly, semi-empty closets, to the fashionable online game: Wordle, in which you have to guess a word in six attempts and only allows one play a day. A single play a day with the aim of not hijacking our attention.
Also influencers who previously recommended the more followers and experiences the better, now advocate minimalism: fewer relationships but of higher quality. Even digital media no longer only seek large audiences, but are committed to establishing a relationship of proximity with users. Faced with excess stimuli, attention is presented as an antidote to have a more conscious and serene life. Even, in the case of companies, to obtain better economic results.
Even on Netflix, the series Headspace has been released, an invitation to meditation with techniques and guided exercises to start meditating at any time and from anywhere. An authentic cultural revolution around focusing attention: forgetting the past, not projecting into the future and focusing on the now. A now free of notifications and multitasking, of course.
The person who has best described the chronic fatigue of today’s society is the philosopher Byung-Chul Han in the book The Fatigue Society (Herder), where he warns that each era has its emblematic diseases and that the current ones are sadness and chronic fatigue. Han points out that current society, through overproduction, superperformance or supercommunication, and its multiple stimuli for perfection (you have to be the one who produces the most in the company, the one who gets the best return from your free time, the one who has a perfect family and is always surrounded by friends and full of plans, etc.), generates frustration and depression. Faced with this excess of stimuli, the pendulum shifts to the opposite side: yoga, meditation, vipassana.
It is not simply abstaining from the madding crowd; It’s the addition of regaining control. Yoga, meditation, vipassana, as well as the different forms of minimalism, are different paths to reach the same point: an inner well-being achieved through the recovery of attention that isolates us from an increasingly chaotic and noisy external world. It is simply a defensive response.
