Yoga for Geeks

Thanks to a post by Degan over at Beyond Robson, I was contacted today by not one, but two different CBC people interested in talking to me about Yoga for Geeks. How exciting!

Tomorrow morning I will be on the Early Edition at 8:15 out here in BC, and then I will possibly also be on Freestyle later this week. !!!! Tune in if you're interested in hearing more...

I recently bought myself a 9-week intro pass at a studio here in town. It's always nice to practice with others, and there is no greater inspiration for teaching, in my estimation, than being a student and observing how others teach. On Sunday evening this studio offers a class in "restorative yoga", and, definitely in need of some restoration, I attended it. I've always loved restoratives, but during this class I realized that it's a practice I wanted to share with geeks everywhere. Read for for a bit of an explanation, as well as a relaxing pose you can try yourself at home.

Restorative yoga refers to the practice of using props to completely support the body in a relaxation pose, so as to facilitate deep relaxation and release. Generally you spend at least 5-10 minutes in each pose, and a restorative class is generally a very meditative, blissful and soothing experience. You'll usually do a supported forward bend or two, a supported backbend or two, some twists, and an inversion (often just something as simple as lying with the legs up the wall, as in the image to the right). Inversions, for the record, are one of the best things you can do for yourself. As Judith Lasater says in her book, Relax and Renew, 

Because we stand or sit most of the day, blood and lymph fluid accumulate in the lower extremities. By changing the relationship of the legs to gravity, fluids are returned to the upper body and heart function is enhanced.

Of particular value for the computer-bound set, I think, is a supported backbend. This is described and depicted about half-way down on this page. If you are prone to sitting at your computer with your spine rounded forward (who isn't?!), then you probably find yourself accumulating tension in the upper back and shoulders, and getting tighter and more restricted in the area below your front ribs. This pose will help to counter that.

I'm going to skip giving the full directions here, as they are given very clearly at the link above. If you don't have a bolster, a firm sofa cushion will do (but a squishy pillow would not). The one thing that can make it difficult to incorporate restorative yoga into your normal life is that it requires props (bolsters, blankets, blocks, etc). However, with a little geek creativity, I think you could improvise and still get all the benefits!

Give it a whirl and see how it feels. I highly recommend some conscious relaxation in your day, and restorative yoga is a great way to do it. 

My friend Evan sent me a crazy link this week – to iYoga. Anyone who's interested in Yoga for Geeks should check this out... it's interesting stuff. I'm not sure what to make of it.

iYoga is a special purpose word processor with speech and timing capability. To create an iYoga class, you simply type text like this:
To begin, practice Mountain Pose for 10 breaths.
Feel the natural curve of your lower back and the even grounding of your feet against the Earth;
Because you control each word that iYoga speaks, your practice can be tailored to your needs, going beyond the repetitive instruction and music of CD's and DVD's. 

So it's software that allows you to create your own yoga classes to listen to. You can choose the voice, and your computer will soothingly (or not, depending on your voice choice) talk you through a lesson.

During a class with iYoga technology fades away as iTunes plays music in your sacred space and your Mac provides words of guidance from the pragmatic to the poetic.  

An interesting idea... I just can't imagine it for myself. I'd be interested to hear what others feel about the iYoga idea? My sense is that it requires a certain level of knowledge of the practice and the poses to begin with. But hey, I'm excited that there are developers out there working on this sort of thing!

It makes me feel like I really should get going with my YFG podcast I keep thinking about. I'm finally getting the audio skills down enough that it might be a possibility in the near future... Stay tuned. 

Watch out – your poor geeking-out posture stands to do you more harm than you might realize.

My friend Thomas sent me a link to an article that pretty much sums up why I think Yoga for Geeks is particularly necessary and timely these days. (Of course, geeks aren't the only ones who spend too much time at a computer... these days, a lot of people do, many of whom would never identify as geeks. But since I have such a fondness for so many of the loveable, hunched-over geeks that I know, I'm choosing to put my energy in that direction).

It shouldn't come as a surprise if you've been paying attention to your body *at all*, but as it turns out, "a slew of ergonomics and other posture professionals... all voiced the sobering truth that human beings were not designed to fold themselves into computer workstations each day." And in case you were wondering,

"The most egregious ergonomic crimes I see include sitting without any back support for more than one hour at time; extended reaching in any direction, causing problems for the shoulders, neck and upper back area; awkward neck positioning and rotating the neck repeatedly; and people … pitch[ing] forward off their chairs," said Deborah Read, MOTR/L ergonomics consultant.

Also really bad, apparently (and also unsurprisingly), is cradling a phone between your ear and shoulder. Buy a headset. (I'm guilty.)

What probably scared me the most was the description of the earliest warning signs of repetitive stress problems – because almost everyone I know experiences them. These include tightness and soreness in the upper back and shoulders, and unfortuantely people tend to carry on as usual until they have symptoms down into their wrists and elbows.

Most geeks I know describe pain around their shoulder blades and upper back. Almost everyone has this pain right where your arm joins to your back, kind of around the back of your armpit on your mouse arm. (You know the one. And you know what it's from.)

So what are we doing to ourselves!? Are we all going to end up crippled down the road? Are we all going to end up dropping out of the wired world and moving to a small community to walk barefoot and free in our organic gardens, where our bodies can slowly return to a state of ease and comfort? (Oops, perhaps that's just my own fantasy.) Will technology save us and will our governments start providing all computer workers with proper workstations as a public service?

My advice is to take this stuff seriously, starting now. If you want to be able to keep saving the world through code, design, and online communtiy building, you'd better start making it sustainable.

• If you can afford it, invest in better equipment for your workstation.
  
• Don't sit slouched over the laptop for hours.
  
• Drop and relax your shoulders.
  
• Take regular breaks to stretch your neck, shoulders, and wrists.
  
• Don't ignore persistent pain.
  

And dammit, go to a gentle yoga class (or tai chi, or pilates, or whatever) once in a while. Your whole self will thank you for it.

I'm at the NetSquared Conference in San Jose this week (today and yesterday) – talking with many fabulous folks about technology for social change. Having already talked about Yoga for Geeks with the organizers a while back, and having come to the conclusion with them that the room set-up wouldn't allow for it, I wasn't planning on offering any.

But then late yesterday I was asked whether I'd like to offer a "Tips and Tricks" session for people to come around and drop into, and I agreed. Other offerings were things like "Tuning Your MySql Database", "CSS Tips" and "How to Blog", so I figured a space for a little bit of stretching out would be welcomed. ;) It's been an intense couple of days, after all.

It was quite different from what other YFG sessions have been, as this one was not a class per-se, but rather just people coming and going and asking about sore spots and trying things out on the fly. It turned into a bit of a "skill-share" actually, with everyone exchanging tricks for combatting desk fatigue. I got some great new ideas for future sessions  – thanks to those who came out!

We did some work with chairs, and some stuff on the floor. We stretched our wrists, necks, shoulders, backs, and even our eyeballs. And then... (this was sheer brilliance)... someone had the idea of doing a little massage circle. Oooh, it was great. Look for that one at many future Yoga for Geeks sessions!