The term “rawdogging” has gained a new meaning on social media, in reference to a very specific practice: sitting on a flight without experiencing anything other than the view from the window and the space around you. In other words: no internet, no in-flight movie and no book for as long as it takes to reach your destination.
For some travelers, that might sound unbearable. For others, it could represent a nice change of pace. But there’s also a good scientific reason to engage in it every now and then: It’s useful for your mental health.
Ditch the Distractions, Just Once
As Laura Kenny — author of the newsletter Peak Notions — explained in a recent article for Big Think, this practice “essentially exposes us to our own minds without the anaesthetic of avoidance through constant external stimulation.” And if that sounds a little like meditation, you’re not wrong. Kenny cites Buddhist meditation as a point of reference for this practice, and the process of spending extended periods of time alone with one’s thoughts also recalls the meditation-friendly medieval text The Cloud of Unknowing.
In an article for The Ringer, Austin Gayle described experiencing a cross-country flight under such conditions. (And in a middle seat, no less.) Gayle is candid about the good and bad aspects but did cite one period that brought a kind of mental clarity. “There were moments when it felt like I wasn’t thinking at all. It was an opportunity to just breathe,” he wrote. “I realized I don’t do that a lot: Sit. Breathe. Reflect.”
Gayle addressed the challenge of staying distraction-free, which sounds significant, but also called the experience “like a five-and-a-half-hour therapy session.”
For other travelers, going stimulus-free has more immediate benefits. Earlier this year, travel influencer Ceirra Pipher told People that on flights home, “you just want to comb through your brain and just reabsorb everything that you saw.” It may not be for everyone, and the name could raise some eyebrows, but there do seem to be genuine benefits to the art of rawdogging.
More Like This
The Charge will help you move better, think clearer and stay in the game longer. Subscribe to our wellness newsletter today.