The value of taking breaks

Today marked the fourth official time Office Nomads has been fortunate enough to have Karen Lindenberg of Phyzz Yoga come in and teach those of us who are interested an hour-long session of yoga.After today's session, I have a confession to make: until today, I doubted that we could ever regularly host yoga sessions in the office.  Why, you ask? I am a big believer in the value of a separation between work and "home" (or gym, yoga, art) spaces. Well, today I realized that it was time for me to bend that guideline a little bit more than usual. Because yoga in the office ROCKS.Our hour-long break with Karen each Wednesday is officially my new favorite thing about Office Nomads.  Yoga at the office is providing me (and my fellow Nomads) with a great break from sitting diligently at our desks, a time to get our eyes away from our screens, and to enjoy putting our bodies through the paces that Karen leads us through each week. Coworkers stretch alongside one another, laughing in the moments when we all struggle to hit a pose or letting out a big collective sigh when we all get to relax on our mats. It's awesome. And I'm coming to believe that it is a key part of an effective workday, even when it happens at the office.As coworking spaces and other "alternative office spaces" emerge around the world, I imagine there will be a constant balancing out of the desire for office spaces to put in as much "fun" as possible in the interest of retaining members or employees (this idea reminds me of an old article I read in Utne, titled "Are We Having Fun Yet? The infantilization of corporate America" - the description of working at Aquascape was particularly wild to me) without overly complicating what they're trying to do. You can overdo office "extras," but with the right balance between productive work time and goofing-off time, it actually becomes easier to focus and the day becomes much more productive.At Office Nomads we have a simple goal: to be a home for 40 independent professionals who are looking for a great place to work.  But we don't just want to be a place to work, we want to be a place where people & businesses grow, valuable conversations are had, connections are made.  This means that (even if it blurrs my clearly defined lines between work and home), we get beers together, we go out to lunch together and yes, we do yoga together.  And we're all the better for it.Namaste, baby.