Wednesday, June 20, 2001


today i was talking to another web designer/information architect about yoga. he was looking for some kind of exercise that would overcome the problems unique to people who work on computers all day for long periods of time in a high-stress client-service environment. here's what i told him. . .

i know it sounds wacky and a little "sissy," but yoga's really great for people in our line of work. why? because our type of work is strangely stressful, and yoga has some components that really conquer stress, more than any other exercise.

further, if you do "vinyasa" or flow-based yoga, where you move through the poses with the breath, it's a killer workout. but one without any stress on the joints or knees, since there's no "bouncing." also, many of the poses are very good for the kinds of aches & pains that come from long typing at the computer -- tight wrists, hunched shoulders, back aches.

did you know the giants football team recently added yoga to the required fitness regime? see: NY Times article on NFL & yoga

yoga builds tremendous upper & lower body strength and improves flexibility. when i started yoga i could touch my toes and that was about it, frankly. even tho' i had been going to step aerobics for years. but within a few months i found myself in all those funny-looking pretzel poses, which are actually strengthening. yoga is largely an isometric exercise, and it has an aerobic component. so it's effective.

finally, it's cheap. all you need are a pair of sweatpants, a $15 sticky mat so you don't slip, and a small patch of living room floor. no fancy shoes, equipment or whatever. you don't even need to spend $15 on a video, tho i recommend it -- yoga videos are available for free all over the web. for example: webmd yoga videos

but if you wanted to drop $15 on a video, you might want to start with rodney yee's am/pm yoga for beginners videos. use them just to learn the basic poses. see amazon link to am/pm yoga videos

and they take only 20 mins. after about four to six weeks of that, move up to his power yoga for beginners, about 35 mins. amazon link to power yoga video


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