Is Zoom Time A Pain?

Literally...

I just totaled up the number of hours I was on Zoom last week, 30 hours, THIRTY HOURS!  Oh wait, those 30 hours don’t include the time I spent writing, answering emails, completing other tasks.  You can probably add another ten hours.  Thirty or forty hours, that is a lot of time regardless.

The time I spend in front of a screen is causing pain and fatigue.  I find it way too easy to sit there and wiggle around from one uncomfortable place to another.  The discomfort I am not acknowledging are signals from my body that I am ignoring. (similar to the signals we get when we are playing.)

Here are 5 steps I am taking to make the most of my Zoom time, if you guessed they will also be informing my playing, you are spot on.

1. Changing my seat

   Desk chair, piano bench, Swiss ball, & standing.  I am rotating my seat every 25 minutes to keep me from being static and succumbing to suboptimal positions.  This gives me the opportunity to tune into how my sitting bones are contacting the chair.

2. Standing

   Find my tripods on the floor and practice shifting weight!  An opportunity to practice being “grounded” and moving dynamically, but not too much that will distract my colleagues from the conversation. How little can I do and feel the adjustments?

3. MOVE! 

   Of course move.  Weight shifting gently on the sitting bones.  Allowing the spine to respond, noticing movement ripple up through the spine and torso.

4. Take breaks

   Don’t schedule so tightly there is no time to get up and walk around.  If you can take a 30-minute break.  (Even 15 is beneficial)

   Go for a walk or lie down on the floor allowing gravity to help your muscles release.

5. Balance on a Rail

   You read that right, balance on a rail or a book.  The conversation will be lightened up if all of a sudden you tumble off the screen.  The laughter that ensues is beneficial movement too!

Time for me to get up and move around!

Be curious…