The Internet to the Inner-Net: Five Ways to Reset Your Connection and Live a Conscious Life

by Gopi Kallayil

The Internet has become humanity’s invisible central nervous system, connecting us at the speed of thought. More people today have access to mobile phones than have access to clean drinking water. Yet the most important technology is still the one within our brain, body, and consciousness. A fast-paced career in the high-tech industry combined with a deep yoga and meditation practice has allowed Gopi Kallayil—Google’s Chief Evangelist for Brand Marketing and one of the leading voices encouraging yoga and mindfulness in the workplace today—to integrate his inner and outer technologies to a remarkable degree. Wisdom from his yoga mat and meditation cushion guides his professional career, and his work life provides the perfect classroom to deepen his wisdom practice. The Internet to the Inner-Net guides the rest of us to do the same. In some three dozen wide-ranging, sometimes provocative essays, Gopi shares his experiments in conscious living and offers insight, inspiration, and rituals—including yoga, mindful eating, and even napping—to help us access our own inner worlds. If you’re looking for grounded practical wisdom that might simultaneously help you become more creative, adaptable, enthusiastic, effective, or resilient, you’ll find it in this user’s manual for the technology within—along with colorful insight into the successful Google culture. In five sections, from “Log In” (which offers mindful ways of connecting and engaging) to “Clear Out Your In-Box” (shedding what doesn’t serve you to make space for what does) to “Thank You for Subscribing” (a reminder to live with gratitude), Gopi lays out practices and perspectives that you can use starting right now to live with more purpose, fulfillment, and joy.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published October 6, 2015

About the author

Gopi Kallayil is the Chief Evangelist, Brand Marketing at Google. He works with Google's sales teams and customers and helps grow customer brands through digital marketing.

Reviews

[Gopi Kallayil]

It was interesting reading what I had written earlier and recognizing some things familiar and some new nuances.

[Diane Holcomb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you overwhelmed by social media and technology? Are you feeling more and more disconnected from yourself and others as your life spirals into sensory overload? I was, so I picked up this book to get some tips on how to tune up--and tune into--my inner technology.

From a background in meditation and yoga in India, to a position as Chief Evangelist for Brand Marketing in the "fast-paced, warp-speed, hyperinnovative environment that is Google," Gopi Kallayil needed to find balance between his outer and inner worlds. In a series of short essays, he shares with readers the principles for living a conscious life.

He shows how to "log in" through connection and engagement, how to "clear out your in-box" through mindfulness techniques, and "optimize your system" through nutrition, sleep, and a one-minute trick to center your mind and body. "Just goggle it" is Gopi's way of saying take the leap and trust that what you need will come. And "thank you for subscribing" is his reminder to live with gratitude. He assures the reader that there's no need to unplug completely from the Internet or move to an ashram to reconnect with the inner you (whew!). Rather, he advises: "Take the time to friend yourself, listen to the tweet of your heartbeat, pay attention to the status update from your body, and respond to the urgent chat request from your brain."

A few of his tips made me sit back and say, "Wow," and "So true," and "Yes! That's exactly what I'm feeling, and if I do that my life will be a whole lot easier."

A lot to ponder here.

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

It´s an interesting book, a long Ted-Talk about achieving the best you can trough meditation and yoga and trying to be connected to yourself instead that to the WWW. As a matter of fact the author is indeed a brilliant person, but after he said everything he did in his life, instead of feeling myself motivated I was feeling depressed...

Questo libro é molto interessante, puó essere considerato una lunga Ted-Talk rispetto a quello che possiamo ottenere attraverso lo yoga, la meditazione e la mindfulness per tentare di rimanere connessi con noi stessi piuttosto che con la rete. Devo dire che, dato per scontato che l'autore é veramente brillante, dopo aver letto tutto quello che é riuscito a fare nella sua vita piuttosto che motivata mi sentivo depressa....

THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND HAY HOUSE FOR THE PREVIEW!

[Sandip Balakrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful read.The connect is not missable.There is this writer and person whom I would love to meet.This is a book for every corporate worker to read.

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book right after reading Thomas Friedman's Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, which left me feeling depressed. This book was a good antidote, helping me make peace with technology that seems to be running away from our human ability to keep up with it. This is accomplished through focus on inner life and human connections and not letting the speed of life around us take away from what is really important.

[Vishvas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gopi Kallayil the person, and his adventures and anecdotes are fascinating (more so as an Indian with a similar background). It's a page-turner - your dopamine system will keep you going, and you can collect a few worthy quotes and anecdotes.

His advice might be useful for some people, but fortunately it was mostly what I've long internalized. At a personal level, they're good. At a social level, his comments are meh (Thankfully that part is small).

[Fontaine Foxworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a world that feels ever-connected, finding space for oneself seems nearly possible. In The Internet to the Inner-Net, Gopi's perspective is powerful because it's not asking us to disconnect from the internet entirely, but to take a moment to reconnect with ourselves before engaging.

His lessons were sprinkled among dozens of interesting personal stories. Often, in leadership books, authors are abstract and prescriptive. All of Gopi's recommendations are anchored in his real-world experience. The world at large would benefit from more connection to all of our own 'inner-nets', and certainly the tech industry specifically would be served with more conscious leaders like Gopi helping shape it.

A wonderful read if you're looking to reform your own relationship with technology