This week, work.
As in, paid efforts in capitalism and how they help or hinder our chances for 100.
For me, I answered the call for international brand building and writing work and have been lucky enough to chart a course in this career.
I now realize we spend somewhere between 20-25% of our time working. And poor posture was just one externality of the occupation I chose.
Here’s a shot from a workshop at Emirates Airline. I can see so many things not serving my body in this picture from the chair to the lighting to my shoes. (Clearly, I’ve always pursued therapy work!)
Today’s intention is to raise our awareness of how most workplaces are seriously harming the well-being of employees. If you haven’t seen this, here is a TikTok of a wax model “Emma” created to demonstrate the effects of office work on the human body. If you don’t go look, she has a hunched back, pale skin, is overweight with varicose veins.
But here’s the thing, other than instructing pilates, naturally, there are very few occupations that have a net-positive impact on one’s health. In fact, I believe most of us would benefit from a mindset shift from “person who works” to “executive athlete.”
I invite you to make this mindset shift if you have not already.
Here is the question I am asking myself:
How can I be nourished within this profession and thrive for years?
Here’s how I choose answer this question these days:
I choose to protect my eyes.
We can do this for free by getting daylight into our eyes first thing in the morning for 10-20 minutes.
We can do this with eye exercises. First, by looking up from the screen and focusing 20 feet away. Benefits the muscles and works with evolution. Focusing on one thing on the horizon was generally a hunting thing, and it raises stress and anxiety.
Second, with eye movements for a few minutes a day to take those tiny eye control muscles through their full range of motion. We might need a timer set to chime and remind us.
We can also choose to protect our vision by wearing blue light blocking eye protection when we use a computer or phone for an extended period. I have a basic pair and would love any recommendations for some you’ve found and have a preference for.
I choose to move my body.
Last week I showed you one photo of droopy orca fins. Here’s another
I invite you to reconsider the social maxim that “sitting is killing you!” Because people with standing jobs have their fair share of struggles, too.
It’s not sitting versus standing. Or even lying down, though the Altwork desk felt pretty freaking ergonomic to me and perfect for deep work!
The answer is movement.
I don’t know the exact right perfect amount. But it’s way more than is typically included in the average day of holding your head in one direction for back to back video meetings.
I’ve found I do my own best work when I aim to never stay in one shape for more than 45 minutes. I have a window to look out of while hanging, a rebounder to move my lymph and a pilates reformer. I sit on the floor, I sit at a desk with my hips higher than my knees. Travel gets me sitting waaayyy too long, though.
I choose to seek out stress relief.
No health insurance or corporate benefits I have experienced covers proactive massage, Craniosacral, acupuncture, pilates, Gyrokinesis, floating or sauna sessions. All the things I have found to clearly reduce my stress levels and be good for my body long-term.
I have experienced a few workplaces offering yoga classes (I don’t believe asana practice is the best use of precious movement time!), I’ve experienced other fitness or meditation sessions. I’ve freelanced at places that offered reduced cost massage, acupuncture, talk therapy or access to a meditation app. I don’t think this is nearly enough if we’re aiming for 100.
I choose to avoid alcohol, gluten, sugar, caffeine, processed foods, and plastic cups and containers. And use lunchtime for sunlight.
Whew. There is plenty of research evidence that indicates all of these choices lead to a longer life. But the workplace is a huge influence on whether we can possibly live within these guidelines.
Am I a total office buzz kill?
Because I won’t be eating the birthday cupcakes or enjoying birthday mimosas in the bathroom anymore. I can bring my own cup for tea. But I have very little will power when it comes to coffee. Not eating out in restaurants isn’t so weird, but I really don’t want to field comments over the lunch table about my food choices.
This imaginary outside lunch table.
Ha! What am I thinking? I’m American. I’m meant to eat at my desk!
Nope, I’m not doing that because I’m going outside for the 20-30 minutes of sunlight exposure the human body needs. Which is possible in some places, but counter culture or simply not weather permissible in most places I have experienced.
All of these thoughts have surfaced as I consider a return to full-time work in an office. Because there are some big benefits of working in a group: (Good) people are good for our health! We need to be challenged!
For me, it’s taken getting to the point of feeling total shit to listen to a naturopath tell me to adopt “the guidelines” and be the weirdo swimming up-stream in a work culture that thinks wearing high heels is normal and wants to sit down and hash out some ideas over a beer.
Now, I’m wearing my no-drop shoes and bringing my yoga mat to the meeting drinking water. NBD.
I choose to practice Transcendental Meditation.
This one is a little long.
I share this one with you because I had tried many other forms of meditation, group coercion being the method that worked best for me: everyone else around me in a room doing it, too. But that’s not practical in my life.
It wasn’t until I met Michael Morgan, a diplomat level CranioSacral therapist who taught my introduction to CranioSacral therapy course. We became friends and I had the pleasure of interviewing him about his life, which is fascinating!
After completing his studies in both philosophy and physics, he was invited to a Transcendental Meditation (TM) session in the late 70s and ended up working with the organization for over a decade. He’s traveled the world teaching the method and helped the founder, the Maharishi, establish a university in Ohio.
My previous impression of TM was that it is a cult.
But also that high-profile people like Jerry Seinfeld and Katy Perry are proponents.
Michael Morgan said that TM would help me in my CranioSacral work and that it is not a cult, just a way of doing meditation. I already had been to a month of yoga school and thought I understood mindfulness practice, though I had not been able to get myself to do it regularly.
So I signed up. You go and sit for four sessions with a teacher and a few other students. There are some slides, some meditation, and some going around the room reflecting on the experience then and at home as we set out on this twice a day, 20 minutes per session habit.
You do have to pay, and it’s not cheap, I believe I paid $860 in 2019 with the referral discount (mention me if I convince you, I don’t get anything). They do sliding scale, they do payment plans. I tried to think about it as an expensive yoga class because the introduction sessions were over an hour each in a nice space with a guide.
The first thing that convinced me was this slide. The teacher allowed me to snap a photo:
What this shows is that the other types of meditation I had been taught yielded different brainwaves than TM practice. And that these TM brainwaves were even more restorative than other types of meditation. It’s Super Meditation™.
There is also an individual ceremony.
Now, would I design the mantra delivery ceremony this way if I were in charge?
No way, José.
But as it is, you show up with a few items and the teacher performs a small ceremony speaking in sanskrit and tells you a mantra that is a sanskrit word only for you. I think it’s based on your birthdate and time, but who cares?
Humans have evolved with rituals. Millions of people have been through this one and find the practice transformative to their lives. The organization uses the money to do the research that usually only corporations can afford, except they are not profit driven. There is a community component and you can be as involved as you choose: things like daily online Zoom group meditations and meditation workshops.
You know meditation works, especially for the stress relief needed to counter-balance modern work. It is also proven to lengthen your life. See that link above and dig in.
What will you do this week?
What can you do this week that resonates with you that can get you 1% closer to a course of a robust 100? Please leave a comment or reply to this message.