Lessons from Yoga

 I've been doing Yoga for a few years now, and its now part of my daily routine. And as it has become part of my life, I've been reflecting on the lessons that I've learnt from the practice, and how they relate to the world of creating and changing software.

Pausing

In Yoga, we focus on our breathing, to calm and centre ourselves. We breathe in, we breathe out. And there's a small pause after we've inhaled, right before we exhale. And similarly, there's a larger pause in between each breath. We act, then we pause.

Similarly, at the end of a Yoga session, we rest in Shavasana. We lie on our backs, and relax completely, for several minutes. This is a pause to let us relax, to loose any tension, and  to create a buffer between the Yoga and our busy daily lives. We act, and then we pause. 

And when we write software, it can be tempting to skip breaks. We might work for a whole morning without stopping. Or we might finish a sprint, and go straight into the next sprint. Or we might have sprints back-to-back for years... And I think we'd be happier, and more productive, if we paused. 

Instead of  working all morning, work pomodoro-style. Do half an hour of work, and then pause. 

Instead of starting the next sprint right after the previous one, have a break in between. 

Instead of endlessly sprinting do say ten sprints, and then pause. 

We shouldn't be afraid of taking a break. We should act, then pause.

Relaxing

Yoga can be intense. Some postures are difficult, almost painful. And we try and hold them, and then relax into them. Maybe you're stretching your legs, and the feeling is intense. Our bodies normally tense up all during times of stress. But in Yoga, we try and relax our breathing, our jaws, our shoulders, or anywhere else that we hold tension, even as we feel the intense stretch. We find space to be calm.

And our daily work can be stressful. If we aren't mindful, then we can be sucked into feeling stressed all over. Fight or flight can kick in, and we stop responding rationally to the situation. But if we are mindful, we can find calm even while experiencing intense stress. 

Being Deliberate

We set aside a specific period of time for our Yoga. And during that time, we only focus on our Yoga. We try not to let other problems worry us. With intent, we clear maybe half an hour, and practice in a focussed manner. Then we relax, and then we are ready to move on to the next part of our day.

In our daily work, we face competing pressures for our time, and it's easy to be pulled into trying to do many things at once. Instead, we should pick the most important thing, and, with intent, set aside a period of time (say, half an hour) and work exclusively on that. If something else is also urgent, then it will still be urgent in half an hour, and can by dealt with then. 

Conclusion

I think all of these can help us to be focussed, to be calm, to manage ourselves and our work better. We don't need to let the stresses and pressures of work control us. We don't need to avoid them. We can accept them, and be comfortable with them, knowing that we are improving as we work.