top 3 reasons to become computer literate for yoga

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By: Alanna Kaivalya
Alanna Kaivalya, the founder of The Kaivalya Yoga Method, is an artistic, and inspiring teacher of yoga. Listed as Yoga Journal's Top 21 Yoga Teachers Under 40 (March, 2008), Alanna leads teacher ...
Edited date: November 14, 2022Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Taking advantage of what the digital age has to offer

For some reason, spiritual practitioners have a reputation of being tech-illiterate. While I know this not true in many circumstances, here’s a short list of reasons that technology can help enlighten you to more of the amazing wonders of yoga just in case some of you are on the fence, or haven’t dived in completely.

1. Meet teachers you’ve never practiced with and try out different yoga styles. ”¨This is probably my favorite of the list. For several years, I practiced almost exclusively to yoga podcasts and downloads back in the day. It was a fantastic way to tap into the resources of phenomenal yoga teachers from across the country (and across the globe). Yoga downloads, podcasts and streaming video give us the opportunity not only to take class with teachers that we’ve heard about, or that others have recommended, but it also gives us a chance to practice that new style of yoga we’ve been dying to try, but isn’t yet featured in our neck of the woods.”¨ And, we can do it from our living room. 

Downloading great classes onto our laptop, iPad and other devices makes our yoga mobile and puts the power of our practice back into our hands. If we’re tied up at work and miss yoga class, no problem because class starts anytime in our living room. And, we can find classes that are the perfect length and level. It’s all at our fingertips.”¨ With the advent of awesome websites like yogadownload.comyogaglo.com and ihanuman.com
yogisanonymous.comdoyogawithme.com there’s never an excuse to miss our practice. It’s virtually there, 24/7. Score one for yogis and technology.

2. Interact with yogis you’ve never met. It’s a digital world out there, and for the digital yoga gal (or guy), there’s a plethora of places that yogis are starting to interact with each other and share some dialogue over a 160 word post. The yoga news spreads quickly via the obvious outlets of Facebook and Twitter, but there are also yogi-specific outlets for interaction like the beloved yoganonymous.com and whereismyguru.com. 

These are places where the yoga community comes together over their favorite teacher, causes and news, and where insight and support is shared. ”¨If you wanna know where the best workshops are this weekend, the Yoganonymous (yoganonymous.org) newsletter will let you know, and the Where is My Guru (whereismyguru.com) weekly radio will keep you up to date on exactly what’s happening in the yoga world. 

You can even connect to your own city yoga scene on yogitimes.com. Facebook and Twitter posts keep you apprised of which of your favorite yoga teachers are going to be where and which yoga charity they’re raising money for at the moment. It’s all happening online, and when we get into it, we actually get a lot out of it.

3. Get advice on yoga you never thought to ask. Turns out yogis are awesome writers. And the other great thing about that is they’re bound to write about our favorite topic: yoga. When they do, you can learn things about this awesome practice that you never knew. Kino MacGregor will teach you how to harness your ashtanga yoga power on Elephant Journal. Kathryn Budig will show you how to juice yourself raw on MindBodyGreen and Elena Brower will turn your attention toward the greater good on her HuffingtonPost Blog. It’s a free world full of free information just waiting to change your consciousness. There are great teachers taking the time to post, write and educate via the net. It’s a little more accessible than trying to find the yogi in the cave. Awesome.

There are lots of outlets where yogis can practice, share and learn information. Take advantage of what the digital age has to offer. I’ll look forward to reading your latest Twitter post soon!

Alanna Kaivalya’s classes are available on YogaDownload.com. As a Yogi Times reader, you can download them with the discount code (AlannaK2012). 

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