YOGA Goes With To Work, Play, and Life

At first glance, such activities as feeding fabric through the sewing machine and negotiating a mountain turn on a Harley may seem to have little in common.

Yet, what they do share is yoga. Yoga teachers who are also involved with other activities find that their yoga practice makes them feel more comfortable at their sewing table or spending hours on their bike.

Kat Robinson, award-winning seamstress and former corporate executive, developed Sewing Yoga from her home in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri to counteract the rounded shoulders, collapsed posture, and cramped hands that are often side effects of hours spent at the sewing machine.

Kat unfurled her program at the American Sewing Guild National Conference several years ago and a she’s released a DVD featuring a short, specialized program gives practitioners the stamina to sit at a sewing machine. Her helpful hints include advice to get up and move around during breaks in long sewing sessions and to set up an ergonomically correct workstation. (activekatyoga.com)

In San Diego, Institute of Progressive Therapies owner K. Lee Kappmeier combines her love of yoga and bikes with classes, a book project, and even a calendar featuring motorcycle goddesses. At yogawell.com, aficionados can join a discussion group of yogi bikers and contribute th neir thoughts to this growing community.

Off the bike, and at the computer, the film animation company Pixar is one of many corporate conglomerates that have come to realize that yoga can make a person’s time at the computer more comfortable. Pixar purchased a copy of Darrin Zeer’s bestselling Office Yoga (Chronicle Books, 2000) for each of their employees. Simple postures that can be done in chairs provide work breaks that refresh. Zeer’s humorous cartoon alter-ego, along with ideas for an Office Spa can be found at relaxyoga.com.