Yoga for Geeks

I loved this photo so much I had to post it.

With gratitude to Ashley...

Oh noes! You may remember a while back, I wrote a post about the perils of bad computing posture. Many of you probably read it, shuddered, and carried on merrily with your poor postural habits... yes? (Trust me, I am not nearly as much of a model for proper ergonomics as I wish I was. I count myself among those of you who did not rush out to change your entire set-up.)

Well, today, via my friend the Instapundit (who has kindly linked to me on a number of occasions), I came across this quite distressing article. 

Read 'em and weep:

• Back specialists say as many as four in five patients have chronic nerve damage caused by working on portable PCs.
• One expert said he had seen dozens of Xrays showing signs of degeneration in the joints of regular laptop users.
• He is also quoted as saying: "I also see many people in their twenties and thirties with a dowager's hump - a rounding at the base of the neck - after only a few years of looking down at a small screen while sitting slumped on a chair for long periods."

Watch out, my friends. You only get one body in this lifetime. 

So what can you do?

• Take regular body breaks. Stand up, move around. Do some stretches right in front of your desk. (Look for the YFG podcast coming soon, I promise.)
• Get a raised laptop stand and external keyboard for the bulk of your computing. Try not to spend hours in compromising positions (like slumped in a chair with your laptop on your knees).
• Get a good chair. I didn't really understand the power of a good chair until I started borrowing one belonging to a friend where I work... and completely fell in love. I have never felt anything like this chair (it's a Keilhauer and sadly retails for $1200) and I swear I could sit for hours in it without getting most of the weird pains that other chairs cause. I actually spoke to an industrial design / human factors / ergonomics guy recently who told me that you really do have to spend at least $500 to get a quality desk chair. Start saving. It is worth it. If you spend as much time in your chair as you spend in your bed, shouldn't you make sure it's supporting you?
• Take stock of where you could be more effective with your time. If you find yourself wasting time online a lot, you might as well be going for a walk, or doing anything else that gets you out of your chair. Laundry! Play with your kids! Take a yoga class! Your body will thank you. 

I really can't stress enough how important it is to take responsibility for your body before things get bad. Sometimes we avoid making changes because the scope of the issue feels too big (ie, you don't know where to start). So take a deep breath, accept the way things are right now, and start to make small changes. You deserve to be comfortable in your one blessed body.

Anyone who has practiced yoga for a while knows from their own experience that it offers all kinds of benefits – strength, balance, focus, relaxation, deeper sleep, etc, etc – but here, for those of you who'd like to see some documented evidence, is an article about a study that proves it. (Thanks to TA for the link.)

The study demonstrated that yoga (interestingly, all kinds of yoga) tends to elevate levels of a certain brain chemical called GABA. Low levels of GABA are associated with depression, and PMS moodiness, apparently. The end of the article also cites a study linking yoga to reduced frequency and intensity of migraine headaches. 

The key is just regular, moderate practice. Sometimes people tell me that they know yoga would be good for them, but that they didn't really like it when they tried it. If that's you, I encourage you to shop around for a different teacher, studio, or style. There's such an enormous diversity these days that you really can't judge all yoga by your experience in one setting. 

Of course, also feel free to listen to your own wisdom about what is right for you! If it's not yoga, then maybe it's Tai Chi, Aikido, Nia... or something else altogether. You're the boss... but do yourself a favour and try something for your body that's well away from your desk chair. :)

Never been to a yoga class, but feeling kind of curious? I thought it might be helpful to assemble a few tips for newcomers (aka "n00bs") to any kind of yoga – things beyond the logistics like wearing comfy clothes, and not showing up with a full tummy.

The following four are the things that I would most love for new students to consider. If you take one of my classes, you'll likely hear most of them, but they are good things to keep in mind in any class you might attend. 

1. Accept yourself and exactly where you are at today. Now, read that again, and take it to heart! You may have monstrously tight hips, you may be miles away from touching your toes, you may have trouble sitting still for five minutes... and it's fine. Everything transforms in time, and you don't get to decide on the schedule. Accept yourself, and work from where you're at. Take a longer-term view of change, and find out for yourself that your own unconditional acceptance is the best gift you can give yourself (and ultimately everyone else). 
2. Resist the urge to "keep up with the Joneses". Yoga is *not* a competitive activity (unless you're in the Bikram's Yoga Competition, but that's another story). You run the risk of injuring yourself when you try to make your body conform to an outside standard, whether it's a picture in a book, your teacher's example, or the person next to you. Always make sure that the urge to go "deeper" into a pose is not coming from a place of ego, but rather from a sense that there is space for your body to move further, into a place of even more connectedness.  Don't miss the opportunity to experience what actually IS happening, because you're lost in ideas about what "should be" happening. 
3. Respect your teacher's experience, but realize you are ultimately your own best authority. Learn to trust what you feel, and trust what you know. The process of getting in touch with your inner wisdom can be a slow one, but it is exciting, rewarding, and incredibly interesting.
4. Keep breathing. Don't worry so much about any fancy breathing (unless you're being specifically instructed)... but do keep breathing. When you're "in a tight spot"... return to your breath. When you want to get out of a pose and run away from the class... return to your breath. If you notice that you're not breathing, gently inquire into why. Is your mind elsewhere? Are you way past your comfort point? Are you anxious? See what you can do to get your breath moving again, even if just a little.
   

Certainly there could be more than these four, but I hope you find them helpful. I would suggest taking just one of them into the next class you attend, and trying it on for size that day. How does it affect your experience in the class?

Comments? Additional ideas? I'd love to hear about them!