Ben Epstein is a 1st year postbac premend from Greenwich, CT. Pretty standard, until you consider the fact that this guy in his 20s has managed to start and run one of the most successful spirituality blogs on Tumblr. With over 75,000 followers, his blog, Lazy Yogi, is a go to place for quotes, pictures, and powerful advice about the things we all struggle with but don’t really express.
When did you start your blog Lazy Yogi?
I started the Lazy Yogi during the second semester of my senior year in college—2011. Originally it was just a place for me to keep up with my writing and journal my spiritual interests.
How many followers do you have?
I have 75k readers.
What’s been the most rewarding part of having a blog that gets such a high level of readership?
A central component of my blog is responding to questions submitted by readers. It’s a privilege to witness a small slice of the diversity that expresses itself through humanity. It’s not only fascinating to see what are on people’s minds as times change, but it’s also heartening to see the ways we share the same fear and love and beauty.
How do you think TUMBLR and other forms of social media are affecting the way we connect with one another and relate to each other’s experience?
I’m not too sure, really. It seems like social media has an amplifying effect. If we are fixated on ourselves in an egotistical manner, social media can be like a mirror in which we can’t stop looking at ourselves. More often than not when we look in the mirror, there is something superficial we feel compelled to change.
On the other hand, for someone with a passion, inspiration, interest, or appreciation, social media can be a miracle. There are so many things that can be discovered, people from whom we can learn, and new perspectives to which we can awaken.
Most valuable thing you’ve learned being a “lazy yogi” :)
Perhaps that life cannot be known by thinking about it. Things are not what we think they are, nor are they otherwise. Being alive is not something that can be put in a box by the mind, by culture, and by society.
Being alive came first.
Spring Break plans?
I’ll be going on a meditation retreat in Santa Cruz, CA. It’s exciting; I haven’t done something like that in a few years.
Favorite place on Columbia’s Campus?
I’m usually haunting the halls of Butler so I can’t say I’ve had much of a chance to explore but I’m a fan of Saint Paul’s Chapel.