Making Room for Freedom
While reading an article by a writer I follow on Substack, I came across an app called Freedom, designed to lock you out of your phone so you can focus on other things. She poked fun at the absurdity: using an app to block herself from the very apps that steal her time, worrying about AI taking over in ten years, and still relying on AI-driven products to get work done.
What kind of paradigm are we living in now?
In yoga, freedom—mukti—means something quite different. It is liberation from the stories we tell about ourselves, from the ego-driven identity that clouds our perception, and from being caught in the grip of thought.
One of yoga’s key teachings describes the five layers of being, or koshas: the physical body, the energetic body, the mind, the intuitive consciousness—the inner observer—and the layer of bliss.
Through asana, meditation, contemplation, and breath, we move through these layers. I sometimes think of practice as gently wiping the lens of intuitive consciousness, clearing away what obscures our view so we can see more clearly.
And perhaps, for a moment or longer, experience freedom.
I don’t have a great answer for apps and scrolling and AI and existential doom, given the strange times we live in. But there’s something worth noticing in all of this: the moment a tool begins to decide how we live, we’ve surrendered some measure of our freedom. The same is true of the stories and thoughts that quietly begin to run our lives. We need practices that help us see them—and loosen their grip.
Sorry, there’s no app for that.
What I do know is that the more time I spend with my journal, in nature, or on my mat, the less I need an app called Freedom to offer me mukti.
I’m making a little more room for those places of return—with Weekend Unwind on Sunday and Listening Inward, a 7-day on-demand practice of reflection and journaling, beginning Monday, September 21. You’re welcome to join me there.
Jai,
Susan
About The Author
Susan Mathis, M.Ed., E-RYT 500, RCYT, YACEP
Susan is deeply committed to the practice of yoga, pranayama, and conscious living. A Professional Level, Kripalu Yoga Teacher, she offers steady guidance, practical knowledge and infuses the deep wisdom of yoga philosophy into her teaching. A lover of the natural world, adventure, and travel, Susan engages with nature through hiking, biking, and scuba diving. She is the owner and director of alleyCat Yoga and Yoga to Grow.