7 ms·

Why I take sketch breaks instead of surfing the Internet

234 points by glenbo 15y ago

docgnome 15y ago
I use a pomodoro timer to prevent breaks from lasting too long or being too infrequent. (It's important to rest your eyes!) I like this idea though, it would be less, irritating to have your break end when you're in the middle of a doodle than when you're in the middle of an article.
- countersixte 15y ago
  Agreed. The pomodoro technique is great for keeping your breaks time-bound. I often just walk around the office for a few minutes and refill my water bottle, etc. Gives me a chance to stare at something else than a screen.
- openczun 15y ago
  To combat that, I usually use my short breaks to collect articles using Read It Later, or Instapaper... then use the longer breaks to actually read them.
  - docgnome 15y ago
    Yeah. I should do something like that. What I end up doing is just not reading stuff. Or taking breaks that are way too long.
ilcavero 15y ago
scratch that, just doodling is enough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik2CZqsAw28 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik2CZqsAw28 no need to even pretend you know how to draw
vph 15y ago
and the first to do about that is blogging about it.
nosequel 15y ago
I write with my hands on paper as much as I can to get my eyes off of the monitor and my hands off the keyboard. Yes taking notes on something like evernote is more useful down the road, but for me there is something more free about jotting notes on paper. It gives me a mental break, a physical break, and if I come up with something really useful, I'll type it in a note program. As an added bonus, the retyping of it usually lets me come up with something new to add.
- cpeterso 15y ago
  I write some of my best code with pen and paper. :) Stepping out of the keyboard+screen context helps me focus and opens up more creative thinking.
brador 15y ago
Problem with using physical media - STORAGE. Trust me, I have literally 1000's of pieces of paper lying around here with ideas, sketches, the works, built up over 15 years. I'm never going to scan any of it. Get a tablet before it's too late.
- xibernetik 15y ago
  The problem with moving to explicitly tablets is that the feel of different papers/pens is radically different than any electronic technology can provide. There are smartpens now, but there's still a loss of texture when storing images, and displaying them on a backlit screen alters them as well. That aside, a tablet completely wrecks the point of getting away from all the distractions that come with your computer.
  - befuddled 15y ago
    This is so true. I was given an iPad 2 earlier this year and I love it. Reading, surfing, planning, wireframing, does it all. But doodling? Brainstorming? There is no app in the world (yet?) that can match a pad of paper and a good, comfortable pen.
    - marcocampos 15y ago
      I use a Wacom pen especially built for the iPad screen and an app called Penultime. Works pretty well.
- tomjen3 15y ago
  You know you can get a scanner with a feeder right? You just have to drop the paper in the feeder and it will produce a set of pdf documents. It is more expensive than normal scanners but in your case it would properly be worth it.
  - ChuckMcM 15y ago
    This is so true, I've got a Fuju Scansnap 1500 and it really really made my life easier. Drop pages in poof they come out as scanned on both sides or just one (it figures out blank pages), as a pdf, with text ocr'd off if it can recognize it so its searchable. They automatically drop into a shared folder on a filer. Paper goes in box with a date, dates > 3 yrs go to shredder.
lean 15y ago
scumbag blogger encourages drawing instead of reading blogs makes blog post about it
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
davesims 15y ago
My G&L Tele is out of its case leaning against the wall most all the time for this very reason. 5-10 minutes of working on my Knopfler bends and I'm good. Time well spent.
- cpenner461 15y ago
  I've got a couple of guitars sitting close by, but I don't use them often enough during the work day. Have been thinking about doing something other than surfing for breaks, might have to start working some Knopfler bends myself!
  - electromagnetic 15y ago
    Do it. The world can always do with a little more sweet music, and god knows the wife will be pissed if I try to fit music making into a 5 minute break with her.
- juliano_q 15y ago
  I do the same with my bass when I am working at home. My only problem is that sometimes I get so excited playing it that is hard to stop.
  - electromagnetic 15y ago
    As I said elsewhere (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3170702 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3170702) I used to play bass when I wrote. I once had to edit tablature for a song I was writing out of a movie review - oops. That was a "I can do two things at once, but maybe I shouldn't" moment.
- biot 15y ago
  To save someone else as musically ignorant as I some googling: G&L is a guitar brand. "Tele" is short for "Telecaster", a model made by Fender (who also makes the Stratocaster) which is presumably used loosely for similar models from other guitar brands as well.
beagledude 15y ago
There is a Ted talk that goes over why Doodling should actually be encouraged: http://www.ted.com/talks/sunni_brown.html http://www.ted.com/talks/sunni_brown.html
- joeyespo 15y ago
  Awesome talk. I'm guity of being caught doodling in class. As early as first grade. I still remember one particular day long ago where a teacher noticed me doodling during class. The lecture halted. My notes were confiscated. Then torn up and tossed into the trash. I was horrified. And yet, to this day, I've never stopped doodling. It's quite soothing. Some of my best works of art started as "just a doodle."
  - georgieporgie 15y ago
    That just made me remember that I used to draw during class often. Over time, teachers forced me to stop. Looking back on school, I started out as a well-behaved, good student, and finished as disinterested, depressed, and moderately disruptive. I wonder if there was a connection.
igorgue 15y ago
Relevant NPR story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101727048 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1017270...
kirpekar 15y ago
Am I the only one who first read the title of the post as "stretch breaks" instead of "sketch breaks"?
- contentvoid 15y ago
  No
owlmusic 15y ago
The first word of your post needs another vowel :)
- glenbo 15y ago
  yikes! Embarrassing, but fixed nonetheless. Thank you.
scottmcleod 15y ago
I've been doing this for a few months. Painting would be ideal, but my new location doesnt allow for it.
rev087 15y ago
It would be interesting to know what other people in the technology industry do during their breaks. I usually go for a smoke and a cup of coffee, and maybe getting to know what other people do could inspire me to avoid this bad habit.
- ChuckMcM 15y ago
  At previous jobsI've played the a Korg piano I've got, sometimes I juggle, sometimes I doodle, if I've not had any exercise yet sometimes I'll walk around the building.
- njharman 15y ago
  I go talk to people face to face.
- bufordtwain 15y ago
  I go for a walk outside.
- danso 15y ago
  I bring a camera to work, and if the weather is nice, I'll walk around outside and take photos. And even if the weather is terrible I'll take photos just to capture the scene.
- brk 15y ago
  I recently bought a couple of CDJs and a DJ mixer and have been experimenting with mixing/scratching and music in general. It's fun, challenging and has lots of opportunities to weave in bits of technology too.
chernevik 15y ago
I do this too. I also take off my shoes and do little toe-tap drills with a soccer ball. (Which can become a respectable work-out in 6 square feet.) They're both non-verbal, I can almost feel myself using a different part of the brain. It's a good little rest, and erases my mental "context" of the problem -- I catch a lot of silly errors when I return to work.
- paufernandez 15y ago
  Same thing here, only with an instrument. I work at home a lot and have a Clavinova in the same room as the computer. It's 10 seconds to change chairs. It clears my mind, and it also helps my piano technique.
brudgers 15y ago
A good book on sketching and it's application as a business communication tool is Dan Roam's The Back of the Napkin. http://www.amazon.com/Back-Napkin-Expanded-Problems-Pictures/dp/1591843065/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319827762&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Back-Napkin-Expanded-Problems-Pictures...
gzmask 15y ago
I use meditation. same idea though, keeps the mind sharp.
Harkins 15y ago
I do origami. I especially find modular polyhedra, folding simple one piece over and over to assemble something beautiful.
radius 15y ago
If you're not into pen and paper, there are a bunch of cool sites that let you doodle in the browser. I've been using this one for a few weeks and it's actually pretty cool: http://doodle.ly/ http://doodle.ly/
- skeletonjelly 15y ago
  I'd recommend going down the dead tree route, if only to rest your eyes, also it helps walking somewhere else to sketch to get the blood flowing.
praptak 15y ago
There is some interesting reading about relations between drawing, perception and various modes of brain operation in "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards (excerpt here: http://drawright.com/drsbread.htm http://drawright.com/drsbread.htm )
jhuni 15y ago
Unfortunately, I live in a small apartment and the only desk I have has a computer on it, which makes it hard for me to concentrate on sketching or anything else. I guess I should go to the library more.
- keithpeter 15y ago
  hard backed book? Clipboard with a few sheets attached? Window overlooking a street?
  - cshesse 15y ago
    Dyed black hair? Tight pants? Single speed bike?
    - keithpeter 15y ago
      Nope, beard, loose clothing, bus pass as it happens. Its a UK thing.
  - jhuni 15y ago
    Nah. I have a huge hdtv on my only desk, so I always want to put it to use when I am sitting there. I think I will just go to the library or the park when I need to do take a break from my computer, and besides, its nice to be outside at the same time.
AceJohnny2 15y ago
Try juggling. What's interesting about it is that I have to consciously turn my forebrain off to juggle successfully.
- T-hawk 15y ago
  Juggling is good. I do that, and my other mental-break hobby is Rubik's cube type puzzles. Sometimes spending five minutes deeply in thought but a completely different kind of thought is exactly the right refresher.
namank 15y ago
Excellent! It has an implicit deadline AND its actually relaxing. Surfing the net, unless its social, does a little to relax your eyes, your brain, or your body's posture. I don't have any physiological proof but moving away from the screen is the first step to a purpose-seving 'break'.
justinj 15y ago
In terms of eye health, it's beneficial to get outside and look at things in the distance. Constantly focusing on something right in front of you sucks. doodling is awesome but doesn't provide the variety your eyes need.
parallel 15y ago
When I was a student I found juggling to be a useful distraction when taking a break. It kept the mind engaged but took my focus completely away from my studies. I think this the key to a good break activity. You want to stay sharp but completely distract yourself. There are probably also benefits that come from using your motor skills, different parts of the brains and even shifting your focus to follow moving objects. It was also quite rewarding to slowly see myself improving.
mannicken 15y ago
I study art and freelance as a designer. As you can tell, sketching is a big part of my life. Doodling, sketching, brainstorming, laying out wireframes on paper, value and abstract studies all involve touching some sort of a pen tool, be it a tablet pen or a graphite stick. From what I found, I prefer sketching with a 2H pencil to tablets. There is just a lot more feedback, and like the author describes it, I'm a lot less likely to get unfocused when sketching on paper than when sketching in Illustrator.
- se1sm 15y ago
  Wacom Inkling promises the best of both worlds: draw on paper, upload the bezier curves into Illustrator http://www.wacom.eu/index2.asp?pid=9226&lang=en http://www.wacom.eu/index2.asp?pid=9226&lang=en I haven't tried it myself, but enjoyed using Logitech's early io Pen years ago http://www.logitech.com/en-us/support-downloads/downloads/digital-pen http://www.logitech.com/en-us/support-downloads/downloads/di...
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
Francon 15y ago
A recent article in "scientific american mind" argues that our sub-conscious mind solves problems when we sleep or daydream. I see no reason to think that when you are scribbling some doodles, the same thing isn't happening in the back of your head. This also probably helps to rest your ocular muscles and gives your retinas a break.
wollw 15y ago
There is a dead comment here that mentions meditation and as this is my main method for taking breaks I thought I'd share (as I doubt the comment is dead for mentioning it). When I find I'm stressing over a project too much I just put whatever I'm working on away and meditate until my thoughts aren't being pulled all over the place. The word "meditate" can have a lot of different meanings but basically what I do is just focus on something like the breath entering and leaving my body; doing so consistently (and going back to it whenever my thoughts wander) always clears my head and makes whatever I was working on a lot easier to do.
- bostonvaulter2 15y ago
  Do you ever feel awkward at work because you're meditating?
  - wollw 15y ago
    I'm currently only in school but I've never felt awkward doing so in public. It's not like you have to sit cross-legged or anything to meditate. Keeping a good posture can help with meditation but it's really an entirely mental thing. If I'm working in class I just stop working, sit back, and breath; I'm sure I just look like I'm relaxing. If I looked like I was meditating the fact that I would probably be pulling people's gaze might weigh on my mind a bit. For this reason keeping an inconspicuous posture is something I find helpful.
  - Estragon 15y ago
    It doesn't have to be obvious. It can just look like you're thinking.
paraschopra 15y ago
Did anyone else read it as stretch breaks? I think that would have been quite relevant too.
agumonkey 15y ago
doodling , or wishful-writing conveys a very nice feeling of letting your brain 'be himself', and often surprise yourself. On the musical side, odd time 'swing' drum rudiment at slow pace , while sustaining a deep breathing pattern is very relaxing. ( actually it's something close to what steve gadd advice for learning/enjoying drumming )

234 points by glenbo 15y ago

I use a pomodoro timer to prevent breaks from lasting too long or being too infrequent. (It's important to rest your eyes!) I like this idea though, it would be less, irritating to have your break end when you're in the middle of a doodle than when you're in the middle of an article.

countersixte 15y ago
Agreed. The pomodoro technique is great for keeping your breaks time-bound. I often just walk around the office for a few minutes and refill my water bottle, etc. Gives me a chance to stare at something else than a screen.
openczun 15y ago
To combat that, I usually use my short breaks to collect articles using Read It Later, or Instapaper... then use the longer breaks to actually read them.
- docgnome 15y ago
  Yeah. I should do something like that. What I end up doing is just not reading stuff. Or taking breaks that are way too long.

ilcavero 15y ago

scratch that, just doodling is enough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik2CZqsAw28 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik2CZqsAw28 no need to even pretend you know how to draw

vph 15y ago

and the first to do about that is blogging about it.

nosequel 15y ago

I write with my hands on paper as much as I can to get my eyes off of the monitor and my hands off the keyboard. Yes taking notes on something like evernote is more useful down the road, but for me there is something more free about jotting notes on paper. It gives me a mental break, a physical break, and if I come up with something really useful, I'll type it in a note program. As an added bonus, the retyping of it usually lets me come up with something new to add.

cpeterso 15y ago
I write some of my best code with pen and paper. :) Stepping out of the keyboard+screen context helps me focus and opens up more creative thinking.

brador 15y ago

Problem with using physical media - STORAGE. Trust me, I have literally 1000's of pieces of paper lying around here with ideas, sketches, the works, built up over 15 years. I'm never going to scan any of it. Get a tablet before it's too late.

xibernetik 15y ago
The problem with moving to explicitly tablets is that the feel of different papers/pens is radically different than any electronic technology can provide. There are smartpens now, but there's still a loss of texture when storing images, and displaying them on a backlit screen alters them as well. That aside, a tablet completely wrecks the point of getting away from all the distractions that come with your computer.
- befuddled 15y ago
  This is so true. I was given an iPad 2 earlier this year and I love it. Reading, surfing, planning, wireframing, does it all. But doodling? Brainstorming? There is no app in the world (yet?) that can match a pad of paper and a good, comfortable pen.
  - marcocampos 15y ago
    I use a Wacom pen especially built for the iPad screen and an app called Penultime. Works pretty well.
tomjen3 15y ago
You know you can get a scanner with a feeder right? You just have to drop the paper in the feeder and it will produce a set of pdf documents. It is more expensive than normal scanners but in your case it would properly be worth it.
- ChuckMcM 15y ago
  This is so true, I've got a Fuju Scansnap 1500 and it really really made my life easier. Drop pages in poof they come out as scanned on both sides or just one (it figures out blank pages), as a pdf, with text ocr'd off if it can recognize it so its searchable. They automatically drop into a shared folder on a filer. Paper goes in box with a date, dates > 3 yrs go to shredder.

lean 15y ago

scumbag blogger encourages drawing instead of reading blogs makes blog post about it

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

davesims 15y ago

My G&L Tele is out of its case leaning against the wall most all the time for this very reason. 5-10 minutes of working on my Knopfler bends and I'm good. Time well spent.

cpenner461 15y ago
I've got a couple of guitars sitting close by, but I don't use them often enough during the work day. Have been thinking about doing something other than surfing for breaks, might have to start working some Knopfler bends myself!
- electromagnetic 15y ago
  Do it. The world can always do with a little more sweet music, and god knows the wife will be pissed if I try to fit music making into a 5 minute break with her.
juliano_q 15y ago
I do the same with my bass when I am working at home. My only problem is that sometimes I get so excited playing it that is hard to stop.
- electromagnetic 15y ago
  As I said elsewhere (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3170702 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3170702) I used to play bass when I wrote. I once had to edit tablature for a song I was writing out of a movie review - oops. That was a "I can do two things at once, but maybe I shouldn't" moment.
biot 15y ago
To save someone else as musically ignorant as I some googling: G&L is a guitar brand. "Tele" is short for "Telecaster", a model made by Fender (who also makes the Stratocaster) which is presumably used loosely for similar models from other guitar brands as well.

beagledude 15y ago

There is a Ted talk that goes over why Doodling should actually be encouraged: http://www.ted.com/talks/sunni_brown.html http://www.ted.com/talks/sunni_brown.html

joeyespo 15y ago
Awesome talk. I'm guity of being caught doodling in class. As early as first grade. I still remember one particular day long ago where a teacher noticed me doodling during class. The lecture halted. My notes were confiscated. Then torn up and tossed into the trash. I was horrified. And yet, to this day, I've never stopped doodling. It's quite soothing. Some of my best works of art started as "just a doodle."
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  That just made me remember that I used to draw during class often. Over time, teachers forced me to stop. Looking back on school, I started out as a well-behaved, good student, and finished as disinterested, depressed, and moderately disruptive. I wonder if there was a connection.

igorgue 15y ago

Relevant NPR story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101727048 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1017270...

kirpekar 15y ago

Am I the only one who first read the title of the post as "stretch breaks" instead of "sketch breaks"?

contentvoid 15y ago
No

owlmusic 15y ago

The first word of your post needs another vowel :)

glenbo 15y ago
yikes! Embarrassing, but fixed nonetheless. Thank you.

scottmcleod 15y ago

I've been doing this for a few months. Painting would be ideal, but my new location doesnt allow for it.

rev087 15y ago

It would be interesting to know what other people in the technology industry do during their breaks. I usually go for a smoke and a cup of coffee, and maybe getting to know what other people do could inspire me to avoid this bad habit.

ChuckMcM 15y ago
At previous jobsI've played the a Korg piano I've got, sometimes I juggle, sometimes I doodle, if I've not had any exercise yet sometimes I'll walk around the building.
njharman 15y ago
I go talk to people face to face.
bufordtwain 15y ago
I go for a walk outside.
danso 15y ago
I bring a camera to work, and if the weather is nice, I'll walk around outside and take photos. And even if the weather is terrible I'll take photos just to capture the scene.
brk 15y ago
I recently bought a couple of CDJs and a DJ mixer and have been experimenting with mixing/scratching and music in general. It's fun, challenging and has lots of opportunities to weave in bits of technology too.

chernevik 15y ago

I do this too. I also take off my shoes and do little toe-tap drills with a soccer ball. (Which can become a respectable work-out in 6 square feet.) They're both non-verbal, I can almost feel myself using a different part of the brain. It's a good little rest, and erases my mental "context" of the problem -- I catch a lot of silly errors when I return to work.

paufernandez 15y ago
Same thing here, only with an instrument. I work at home a lot and have a Clavinova in the same room as the computer. It's 10 seconds to change chairs. It clears my mind, and it also helps my piano technique.

brudgers 15y ago

A good book on sketching and it's application as a business communication tool is Dan Roam's The Back of the Napkin. http://www.amazon.com/Back-Napkin-Expanded-Problems-Pictures/dp/1591843065/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319827762&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Back-Napkin-Expanded-Problems-Pictures...

gzmask 15y ago

I use meditation. same idea though, keeps the mind sharp.

Harkins 15y ago

I do origami. I especially find modular polyhedra, folding simple one piece over and over to assemble something beautiful.

radius 15y ago

If you're not into pen and paper, there are a bunch of cool sites that let you doodle in the browser. I've been using this one for a few weeks and it's actually pretty cool: http://doodle.ly/ http://doodle.ly/

skeletonjelly 15y ago
I'd recommend going down the dead tree route, if only to rest your eyes, also it helps walking somewhere else to sketch to get the blood flowing.

praptak 15y ago

There is some interesting reading about relations between drawing, perception and various modes of brain operation in "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards (excerpt here: http://drawright.com/drsbread.htm http://drawright.com/drsbread.htm )

jhuni 15y ago

Unfortunately, I live in a small apartment and the only desk I have has a computer on it, which makes it hard for me to concentrate on sketching or anything else. I guess I should go to the library more.

keithpeter 15y ago
hard backed book? Clipboard with a few sheets attached? Window overlooking a street?
- cshesse 15y ago
  Dyed black hair? Tight pants? Single speed bike?
  - keithpeter 15y ago
    Nope, beard, loose clothing, bus pass as it happens. Its a UK thing.
- jhuni 15y ago
  Nah. I have a huge hdtv on my only desk, so I always want to put it to use when I am sitting there. I think I will just go to the library or the park when I need to do take a break from my computer, and besides, its nice to be outside at the same time.

AceJohnny2 15y ago

Try juggling. What's interesting about it is that I have to consciously turn my forebrain off to juggle successfully.

T-hawk 15y ago
Juggling is good. I do that, and my other mental-break hobby is Rubik's cube type puzzles. Sometimes spending five minutes deeply in thought but a completely different kind of thought is exactly the right refresher.

namank 15y ago

Excellent! It has an implicit deadline AND its actually relaxing. Surfing the net, unless its social, does a little to relax your eyes, your brain, or your body's posture. I don't have any physiological proof but moving away from the screen is the first step to a purpose-seving 'break'.

justinj 15y ago

In terms of eye health, it's beneficial to get outside and look at things in the distance. Constantly focusing on something right in front of you sucks. doodling is awesome but doesn't provide the variety your eyes need.

parallel 15y ago

When I was a student I found juggling to be a useful distraction when taking a break. It kept the mind engaged but took my focus completely away from my studies. I think this the key to a good break activity. You want to stay sharp but completely distract yourself. There are probably also benefits that come from using your motor skills, different parts of the brains and even shifting your focus to follow moving objects. It was also quite rewarding to slowly see myself improving.

mannicken 15y ago

I study art and freelance as a designer. As you can tell, sketching is a big part of my life. Doodling, sketching, brainstorming, laying out wireframes on paper, value and abstract studies all involve touching some sort of a pen tool, be it a tablet pen or a graphite stick. From what I found, I prefer sketching with a 2H pencil to tablets. There is just a lot more feedback, and like the author describes it, I'm a lot less likely to get unfocused when sketching on paper than when sketching in Illustrator.

se1sm 15y ago
Wacom Inkling promises the best of both worlds: draw on paper, upload the bezier curves into Illustrator http://www.wacom.eu/index2.asp?pid=9226&lang=en http://www.wacom.eu/index2.asp?pid=9226&lang=en I haven't tried it myself, but enjoyed using Logitech's early io Pen years ago http://www.logitech.com/en-us/support-downloads/downloads/digital-pen http://www.logitech.com/en-us/support-downloads/downloads/di...

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

Francon 15y ago

A recent article in "scientific american mind" argues that our sub-conscious mind solves problems when we sleep or daydream. I see no reason to think that when you are scribbling some doodles, the same thing isn't happening in the back of your head. This also probably helps to rest your ocular muscles and gives your retinas a break.

wollw 15y ago

There is a dead comment here that mentions meditation and as this is my main method for taking breaks I thought I'd share (as I doubt the comment is dead for mentioning it). When I find I'm stressing over a project too much I just put whatever I'm working on away and meditate until my thoughts aren't being pulled all over the place. The word "meditate" can have a lot of different meanings but basically what I do is just focus on something like the breath entering and leaving my body; doing so consistently (and going back to it whenever my thoughts wander) always clears my head and makes whatever I was working on a lot easier to do.

bostonvaulter2 15y ago
Do you ever feel awkward at work because you're meditating?
- wollw 15y ago
  I'm currently only in school but I've never felt awkward doing so in public. It's not like you have to sit cross-legged or anything to meditate. Keeping a good posture can help with meditation but it's really an entirely mental thing. If I'm working in class I just stop working, sit back, and breath; I'm sure I just look like I'm relaxing. If I looked like I was meditating the fact that I would probably be pulling people's gaze might weigh on my mind a bit. For this reason keeping an inconspicuous posture is something I find helpful.
- Estragon 15y ago
  It doesn't have to be obvious. It can just look like you're thinking.

paraschopra 15y ago

Did anyone else read it as stretch breaks? I think that would have been quite relevant too.

agumonkey 15y ago

doodling , or wishful-writing conveys a very nice feeling of letting your brain 'be himself', and often surprise yourself. On the musical side, odd time 'swing' drum rudiment at slow pace , while sustaining a deep breathing pattern is very relaxing. ( actually it's something close to what steve gadd advice for learning/enjoying drumming )