Following is an article written by Gina Casazza discussing the merging of technology with traditional wellness practices to make self-care more accessible and integrated into our daily lives. The article is part of Exeleon’s 2024 Women History Month Celebration.
We live in a fast-paced world, where the days seem to fly by. Everyone seems to be always on the go and extremely busy. We want everything now, and our patience is quickly fading. Our phones have become an extension of us, and we live more online than we live in the present. Self-care has never been more vital, yet it often seems like a luxury that we can’t make time for or can scarcely afford.
this is where technology and traditional wellness practices are starting to merge; because if you can’t beat them, you have to join them. This merge is not just convenient, since we all seem to live on our phones these days, but it also makes it easily accessible and effective in bringing self-care back into your daily life.
The Evolution of Wellness
From the beginning of time, self-care and wellness practices have deep roots in traditional forms of healing. The Romans used to spend hours at the Roman bathhouses engaging in a series of hot and cold baths, steam rooms, massages. Native Americans put on various physical and spiritual healing ceremonies for an entire day or half day, their entire village would participate. In Ancient China and still today, they practice Qigong and Tai Chi. Although both are very different, they require immense concentration, controlled breathing, and movement to help maintain health and spiritual balance.
Some of these practices, though effective, often require time, space, and a certain level of expertise to implement. However, in current times, we don’t lack that time; instead, we have become more fast-paced and highly stressed. Because of this, it demands a more innovative solution where wellness can be seamlessly introduced into our daily routine.
Technology: The New Frontier in Self-Care
Merging technology and traditional wellness practices offers an innovative way to make self-care part of your daily routine. Having easy access through an application on your phone or a subscription on your TV or computer allows you to access it anytime, anywhere. Some wellness applications offer personalized meditations, guided breathing exercises, and workouts directly for the user. Plus, with products like wearable technology & smartwatches, technology has elevated our fitness tools as they can now monitor our heart rate, track our steps, analyze our sleep patterns, record our stress levels & so much more all from our wrist!
Even everyday jewelry is getting an upgrade! DiscoverOmnia.com, a tech jewelry company founded by me, has created a crystal bracelet using NFC technology that connects you with a web application called Elevate.
Elevate is a wellness hub that offers over 200 pieces of self-care content like journals, breathing exercises, meditations, wellness exercises all tailored to the themes of their handmade crystal bracelets—Calm, Joy, Love, and Inspired. By tapping the NFC charm to your phone, users are connected to a resource that supports their emotional well-being, seamlessly integrating traditional healing elements with cutting-edge technology. Plus, Elevate can be accessed not just on the phone but soon the computer as well.
The Personalization of Wellness
One of the most popular advantages of merging technology with wellness is the ability to personalize self-care. Smartwatches that track your steps or remind you to stand up after sitting for too long are revolutionary in helping people stay healthy.
With the vast improvements in AI, we now receive customized recommendations for meditation and exercise. This saves us time searching for things we might like or dislike. Being able to interact with AI to get a customized nutrition plan or exercise routine based on our preferences and goals is groundbreaking. This level of personalization increases user engagement, keeps us motivated, and enhances the effectiveness of our wellness practices.
The Challenges Ahead
With growth and evolution come new challenges. The most apparent is privacy concerns, mainly with companies collecting personal health data and selling it to other companies. Additionally, our reliance on technology, as previously mentioned, becomes an extension of us, leading to a disconnect from the real world.
Constantly being on our phones takes us away from the present moment, connecting with those around us, and engaging in critical forms of self-care like being outdoors and active, which could significantly decrease. We are already witnessing a serious decline in outdoor activities. Moreover, the way we communicate has shifted to be less face-to-face and more through our phones or computers.
The Role of Community
An often-overlooked aspect of wellness is the role of community. Humans are social beings who thrive on interaction. It energizes us, allows for the spread of ideas, fosters deeper meaningful connections, and gives us a sense of belonging, which fuels our life force. The upside of technology is that it allows us to connect with people across the globe.
Online forums, virtual wellness groups, and social media platforms foster a sense of community and bring support and inspiration to individuals pursuing their self-care and wellness journey. This is particularly beneficial for those who might live in areas without access to activities like Kundalini yoga or breathwork classes. They get to explore their interests while also connecting with like-minded individuals, making them more likely to commit and stick with it.
Looking Forward
It’s clear that technology is here to stay, and the integration of self-care and wellness into various technological platforms will only continue to evolve. Innovations like those introduced by DiscoverOmnia.com mark a step forward in this journey, offering a glimpse into the future of self-care. Soon, we will add 360 meditations where you can hear sounds from all around you, not just from the right or left.
Gyms like Planet Fitness have introduced wellness pods where you can do breathing exercises and meditations while watching a video that transports you to another location, complete with scent sprays to immerse you fully into that reality. We’ll see an increase in virtual reality meditations. The iPhone’s latest update includes a journal application, another game-changer for self-care. You can add photos or videos of your day, share entries with others, or follow the journaling prompts it offers.
By merging self-care with modern technology, we now face a future where self-care is not just a luxury but a seamlessly integrated part of our daily lives. It’s easily accessible and something we can do anytime, anywhere, empowering us to live more balanced, healthy, and peaceful lives.
About Gina Casazza:
Gina Casazza is the founder of the tech jewelry e-commerce company DiscoverOmnia.com. She created the company after wanting a product to help her to control & regulate her emotions. She is also a children’s author (You Really, Truly Do Belong), Podcaster (Mindset: Lessons from the Field) & Filmmaker. She is constantly bettering herself & lives by her company’s slogan: Elevate Your Life.
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