Too Much Sitting

Is this you?

Yesterday, I spent the day with my SEO/Webmaster, as we worked on overhauling and updating my website.  We had quite a few changes to make, so I arrived at her office by 10am.  What inadvertently happened was that the meeting reminded me of the type of continuous, immobile sitting my clients generally do -- day in, day out.  And the toll it can take on your body.

It isn't that I've not experienced office jobs like that before: I certainly have, working previously at dotcoms, and various other corporate jobs. And it's not like I don't sit in front of my laptop, doing admin work for Melt Therapy -- I totally do.  But since opening my business, and working in Thai Yoga Massage, I don't tend to sit for such long, continuous periods of time: my body gets me up, I walk around, practice yoga, and when I massage, I'm constantly moving in an energetic flow.  Yes, my body gets tired, but in no way does it get tired the same way constant sitting does to my bones, muscles, and energy level.

Posterior tilt of pelvis while sitting.

After 2 hours of focused computer work, I turned to my webmaster, and said, "I'm hungry.  Wanna get lunch?"  She replied, "I'm OK...not hungry, just gonna keep working.  You go ahead."  Um, OK.  This response is something I used to do working at dotcoms too -- forgetting to eat, only focused straight ahead at my monitor at the task ahead.  I go out, experience the LA sun on my face, and find a tasty Thai vegetarian restaurant, and am back at hers in 45 minutes.  Guess what?  I find her locked in the same, exact position as when I left!! OMG.

We work until 5:30pm, but towards the end, I am fidgety as all hell.  She's  eaten some brie and cracks and drank nothing the whole time I've been with her.  Or peed.  On the other hand, I got up, drank Kombucha, peed several times, took a 20 minute nap, and did some downward dogs!!  I couldn't help it!  I wasn't trying to be a slacker!  My body just wasn't enjoying or used to that much sitting.

I was really grateful for my webmaster's dedication, focus, and attention, and we managed to get a nice chunk of the website done.  I really empathized with her style and type of job, having done it for a decade myself.  And it was a good reminder of my clients' daily lives, and why they come to see me and get stretched out.  All in all, the day made me a better practitioner, empathic to the plight my client's body's go through.