Inspired by your digital detox stories, I'll share one of mine.
A week ago (or two? so hard to recall), I was in Montreal for a conference. During the conference I was on my phone a lot, trying to keep tabs on all of you, and my other class, and life at home, and things happening elsewhere at the conference (because of course we all gather together and then tweet about it or gather on Whova).
But then, on my last day there, I played hooky for the afternoon. I went here: https://botabota.ca/
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| Jeangagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
It's a spa, mostly on a boat with adjoining gardens and pools. They have a water circuit -- multiple steam rooms, saunas, pools of all temperatures, and relaxing spaces with swinging chairs, bean bags, etc.
I booked a 3 hour circuit and a 1 hour massage. It was a brief digital detox while there, but it was an absolute one. Those 4 hours were powerful.
When you walk in, you are immediately presented with 2 rules:
- no phones
- no talking (unless in the garden, where you still must be quiet.
The atmosphere is chill. There is spa music playing and aromatherapy all around.
I immediately settled into the silence, and the afternoon passed quickly as I steamed, soaked, and sat. I sat with my thoughts. They were all I had. There were no screens. There was no possibility of an alert or alarm going off, of a message coming in. And there was no way to live vicariously through others.
It was heavenly.
When the time was up, I showered, dressed, and reluctantly pulled my phone out of the locker. I didn't want to turn it on. I walked out onto the street. It was so loud! I plugged in my pods and turned on my phone, trying to drown out the street noise with an audiobook. I wasn't ready to go there yet with emails and social media alerts.
That evening I thought about how at home I turn to my screens to relax. Winding down? Look at Facebook or the news on my iPad. Need to chill out? Dial up a mediation on the Pelo app. Etc.
Ha. Even as I write this post, I have the quiet of my fingers tapping on the keyboard, dog at my feed, fan humming along, interrupted by my husband hitting play on a video on his computer (the sound, so loud, assaulting my senses).
I long to return to the spa and spend some quiet hours in a space where communicating with the outside world is forbidden.
That sounds like an amazing experience with no talking and no phones. I am glad you were able to have that moment in time where you did not have any digital influences.
ReplyDeleteMontreal is a gorgeous city and one I would love to visit again. After hearing about this spa, I'm convinced I need to return sooner. It would be wonderful to have a spa like this close by where I could visit 2-3 times per month. Thanks for sharing this inspiration of the dual detox experience!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate you sharing this experience. I find your last sentence about longing to return to a space where outside communication is forbidden particularly interesting! While the spa provided the rules to forbid technology usage, I think it is not the only vessel upon which we can stipulate our technological usage. I think there is such a necessary dependency we have to have on ourselves and self-control in today’s era that we can create these technology- forbidden zones. It just requires a self-control that I certainly am struggling to achieve.
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