Hacking the Tao: Taoist practices for coders

Hackers are, in a sense, brain athletes. They are pushing their nerves, their minds, and their cognition and concentration skills to the limits the way physical athletes push their endurance, strength, and agility. And like athletes, many knowledge workers are noticing the tension and dysfunction that can be caused by overwork (overtraining). Unlike athletes, coders don’t generally have a coach, helping them get the most out of their performances, avoid injury and burnout.

We are tapping a body of knowledge developed thousands of years ago by Taoists: people who were in a sense real high performance nuts, with goals of lifelong growth and development.

Taoist posture, breathing , movement, and mental training methods can help:

• significantly increase your ability to sit comfortably at a desk
• help you practice repetitive movements without strain or injury
• allow you to be extremely comfortable while you work, even under emotionally or mentally stressful situations.
• increase your mental endurance and mental capacity.

In this session we will cover:

• fundamental principles of the Taoist Life Sciences, and how to apply them
• teach practices that specifically relate to coding and typing at a desk; and
• teach some of the classic Taoist practices (qigong, martial arts, healing, meditation)