Yoga and Steno!
As you probably know by now, I try to apply everything I learn outside of steno to steno. It's amazing how many little things you learn elsewhere that translate into all kinds of learning - especially steno.
I just finished my 6th yoga class, so I'm not expert in it, but I'm still clear on certain things. First off - breathing. If you're not breathing properly, you're not getting the full benefits. You have to work those lungs constantly and get the blood pumping through your body at a steady pace. If you're not breathing, you're not getting oxygen to the parts of the body that need it most at that point - like your brain :) A steady, shallow breath is best. I have to breathe out of my mouth because my nose is messed up inside, but when you can, nose breathing in is best - mouth out. It expels that bad air and takes in the good.
Relaxing the face and shoulders are two big things in yoga. Most of the time you don't even realize you're doing it. I'm VERY aware of it and I don't do it, but I see those around me straining with their faces with their shoulders up around their ears. Again, it's about blood and oxygen flowing when and where you need it most. Take a moment to relax...breathing.
Yoga is all about muscle stretching - muscle memory. We take our muscles to a certain spot...then make them go a little further, careful not to damage them. But first we need to train the muscles where they SHOULD be to start. This is done by repeating a pose over and over and over till your body instinctively knows where to start going. Much like we're trying to teach your fingers on the steno machine. Of course this can only be done - this muscle memory can only be learned - if we're doing it the correct way each time.
Then once we've learned the poses and have created some muscle memory, we start to push a little more, asking more of those muscles - asking them to hold poses for longer - asking them to go a little deeper into a pose. BUT - also careful not to do any damage. We want to push - not damage. In steno, this would be pushing to hang on, but not pushing so hard that accuracy goes out the window.
Finally, you have to have the confidence and vision that you can eventually get into a pose and get the full benefits from that pose. That can be hard to envision at times when I can barely touch my knees, let alone my toes : ) But I DO think I will get those toes some day.
So breathing...relaxing...muscle memory...pushing...confidence and vision. Yoga is steno. Steno is yoga. And it doesn't stop there. So many things follow the same exact learning curve. Your job is to think about these points each day and do your best to put them into play.
Namaste :)