Keep Your 3D Experience Front of Mind

For those of us who are now looking at many more months of continue virtual work, our daily experience is limiting to the confines of our remote office set up.

No matter what your remote from work set up is, chances are your body is spending a good deal of its time in the same posture. Regardless as to what the posture is, any body that is not moving around on the regular, is going to experience discomfort. If you are so zoned into your work that you don’t notice your discomfort, you will notice it later.

Discomfort turns into tension, tension into stress and this will leak into your daily communications with others, virtual or in person.

What can you do?

The simple answer is to stretch out regularly.

The body is a constantly moving ecosystem. Our bodies are most happy when our blood can flow freely from one end to the other. When our bodies are in a stagnant or locked position (which happens just as much when you are standing and hunching, locking back into your knees, as it does sitting slouched over your laptop), our body’s inner circulatory system becomes compromised.

The quickest solution is to arm yourself with a series of simple stretches to perform once every 45 minutes. This may sound drastic – but please don’t worry, I am not asking you to launch into a full-on yoga practice.

The Best Way to Stretch it Out

At the beginnings of every CFB program, including those I have been leading virtually, I take my clients through a series of stretches all designed to alleviate tension, increase blood flow and overall body awareness. These stretches are all subtle – meaning you can do them while standing, or seated in your office or home, you can even do many of them on the go. I go over these stretches in my eBook on all things Virtual Presence.

When it comes down to it, your body craves movement. These movements don’t have to be anything fancy. Even just a few shoulder and head rolls can do the trick.

When your body feels free and smooth, as opposed to clunky and stuck, you free up your full focus; ideas and energy are yours for the taking.

Setting Reminders to Help Yourself

Since we can easily get stuck in our work zone, so here are a couple pro-tips:

-       Set a timer to buzz every 45 minutes. Every time it goes off, do one or two stretches to get your body back into the picture.

-       Pay attention to how much time you are spending in prolonged periods of the same posture. If you can, move from seated to standing at least once every hour.

Start with these two simple things and I promise you, your body and your brain will thank you for this relatively small effort, that will reap massive rewards.