Stretching Out

If you still associate yoga with the longhaired, tie-dyed image, you've got

it all wrong. This age-old practice has now donned suits and is going corporate.

In an attempt to improve performance, help employees focus, a growing number

of companies have already started rolling out their yoga mats on the boardroom

floor.

This "corporate yoga" does not have any one particular form. It's

not all about lying around on the office floor. A company like TechSpan has

found an innovative way to get its employees to stretch with its "desktop

yoga" progam. The $100-million software and services consulting company,

focused on the e-Business integration market, now has made "desk-top

yoga" a part of the work schedule for its 350-plus employees at its Noida

and Bangalore facilities.

"This is a simple, soothing workout for anyone who works long hours at a

computer. The workout begins with a warm up to loosen the shoulders and arms.

Next you can choose standing poses or moves to stretch the head and neck, arms

and wrists or back & torso," says Rabia Priyadarshini, a qualified yoga

instructor who has been hired by TechSpan to put all the employees on a Yoga

regimen.

No mats, no dress code, and freedom from typical keyboard crunching ailments

like Capital Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), that's

the promise of "desktop yoga".

"Ailments like repetitive strain injury and capital tunnel syndrome

(inflammation of the wrist) are common in the IT industry because employees use

only certain parts of their body while working. So each terminal has a

powerpoint presentation of the exercises. Pop-ups appear on the screen to ensure

that employees practice them regularly," she says.

According to Priyadarshini, each pose is designed to stretch the muscles most

taxed by sitting. All exercises are done while sitting (except the standing

poses) and can be done individually for short workouts or together for longer

ones. The employees get workout reminders in time durations of their choice

making it an excellent way to reduce stress right at the desk. Office yoga

reduces the number of sick days because it revitalizes the immune system and

major organs of the body, and also reduces the risk of back pain.

UNWIND & RELAX: Just to complement the yoga, TechSpan's café soothes you with an extremely unusual but refreshing setting. Just relax with old Delhi nostalgia, complete with a 1953 Morris that functions as a salad bar! Just u

Says corporate manager, people development, Monica Mudgal of TechSpan

India,"Given the nature of the information technology sector, which works

essentially on the me-and-my-PC mode, the need (for desktop yoga) was felt to

devise an exercise regimen to enable employees to stretch and keep themselves

fit from chronic problems."

"Problems like backaches and cramps are common in our sector. Desktop

yoga has really helped our people reduce the stress levels and get anytime,

anywhere relaxation," she claims. TechSpan has been taking some initiatives

on the employee motivation. The initiatives include: running ongoing campaigns,

activities and annual events. And, as Mudgal enthuses, "these have been

successful in keeping employee motivational levels high". "A big

challenge for employers today is to keep employees happy and motivated. We are

now taking positive steps to ensure that our employees are offered opportunities

to relax and rejuvenate," she says.

Building Brands



TechSpan has also branded some of its motivational tools thereby bringing in
greater interest and participation from the employees. TechSpan, as a company

believes in the power of branding- to the extent that all the conference rooms

within the office are branded! The rooms go by the names like e-volve,

e-inspiration, Nasdaq, imaginer.com (Training Room), e-nergy (the rooftop

gymnasium), knowledge.edu (the library), mind.org, Capital, and Wall Street.

Even the functions have been given their distinct brands-the tag-line for

people development (HR) is Think People!, for services & systems

administration it is Think Customer!, for recruitment it is Think Talent!

Now, just stretch out and rest easy!

C R Jayachandran in New

Delhi

The Way to Desktop Yoga

Bend-on-Board:

Sit on your chair and pull back away from the desk, resting your palms on the desktop. Lift the ribs up, let ht shoulder blades

slide towards the desk, make sure the head is extended from the spine with the chin towards the chest.

Lean-on-You:

Stand by your desk and place your palms on the desktop with the fingers pointing toward your body. Stretch the lower arm and

wrist. This is useful for CTS sufferers. Releases tension in the

wrist by stretching it in the opposite direction to what it is

placed in when at the computer.

Gridlock:

Reach the right arm into the air, exhale, bend the elbow and reach

your fingers down the back. Bring the left hand up behind your

back and try to hold your right hand. Relaxes frozen shoulders.

Opens your lungs as you are sitting straight and stretching your

spine.

Bear-Hug:

Hug you arms around your chest and then put one elbow under the

other, the hands facing each other and fingers to the ceiling.

Exhale and raise the arms so that elbows level with the shoulder,

keep the shoulders down. Repeat on the other side. Flexes stiff

shoulder blades.

Monkey-Face:

Sit upright, relax shoulders and extend the side torso up. Relax

your facial muscles, the jaw and tongue. Circle the eyes clockwise

and then counter-clockwise eight times. Close your eyes and

breathe deeply a few times. Let those facial muscles go.

Twister:

Sit on your chair, feet planted on the floor, sitting, bones

pressing into the chair. Extend the side torso, and twist to the

right, one hand on back of the chair, one hand on its side. Now

repeat the other side. This pumps blood to all parts of your

nervous system, rejuvenating you.