Out of office - well, just my body.

I was recently on a week’s ski holiday with friends.

During our time I observed each of them tend to their highly demanding jobs from afar in the magical snowy mountainscape we were in.

At various points, this looked like:

Jumping on a ‘quick’ conference call before leaving the chalet.

Joining us at lunch because a document needed reviewing.

Scanning emails on the chairlifts.

And, for one friend, even contemplating departing early - as things had “kicked off”.

It got me thinking, has the idea of a holiday in the traditional sense of ‘extended recreation’ become an outdated idea?

Can we ever truly ‘switch off’?

Picture this, you are in the one of the most beautiful corners of this planet, doing the most incredible life affirming activities with friends, then ‘ping’.

Suddenly the mind transports you back to the office, into an imaginary scenario that might play out if you don’t respond to the urgent email that you think has just arrived and must check immediately.

All that in a fleeting second.

‘Off’ goes back to ‘On’.

And this continues for the duration of your “time-off”.

In yoga, we practice taming the mind and bringing it into the present.

This is done with movement or ‘asana’, but other techniques include breathe and meditation.

One way to interrupt this is surprisingly simple: noticing the senses.

Often the moment we realise the mind has wandered is when the chatter begins — triggered by a work thought, a phone ping, or the quiet question: I wonder how things are going.

Instead of responding immediately, take a moment to breathe.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Then gently bring your attention to one of the senses.

In my skiing example, it might be the mountains or the sky.

The smell of alpine air, or cheese drifting from a mountain hut.

The feeling of gloves against your hands, or the crunch of snow underfoot.

Another breath in.

Another breath out.

This is what off feels like.

Maybe there’s space for more of it, particularly if traditional ‘time off’ no longer feels feasible in our modern world.