Underground Yoga

If you’re anything like me, throughout January you’ve been trying to shift that excess ‘baggage’ that you built up over Christmas and resolved to be more healthy.

I think this is why January feels like the longest month of the year, as we struggle with ‘Dry January’ or ‘Veganuary’. And gym membership and attendance go through the roof.

But we know good health isn’t, and should never be, a twice-yearly event. Yet we still do it. 

Health becomes our focus in January (New Year’s resolution!), and June (Beach body ready!), and while we repeat the cycle every year, we seem amazed when we have to repeat the process due to ill health the following year.

Good health is a lifestyle

Recently I’ve done a lot of travelling around the UK, visiting clients, new and old. During a recent trip to London, while waiting in the morning rush hour for the tube, my mind turned to new ways to stay healthy and keep fit.

As my colleague Jenna Bryant and I waited patiently on the platform with around five rows of people separating us from the train, we watched people squeezing themselves onto the already packed tube, and it got me thinking.

Every day, people take this journey.

Every day, they do the same thing.

Every day, people get frustrated with other people.

Jenna and I stood watching people squeeze their bodies into impossibly small gaps, and almost de-capitate themselves as the doors slid shut, narrowly missing their heads.

We finally boarded the tube ourselves and stood shoulder-to-shoulder, toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose with complete strangers, but never spoke a word to them. Instead Jenna and I joked that doing this journey everyday required a level of flexibility that should be mastered.

And that’s when we created ‘Underground Yoga’.

Underground Yoga

If you’re new to Yoga, it’s worth knowing that 

a)    It’s both a spiritual and physical approach to health. Yoga uses breathing techniques, exercise and meditation and can help to improve health and happiness.

b)    All the cool kids are doing it

Being flexible so you can squeeze into small gaps and being able to breath while keeping a calm mind seem like great skills to develop when travelling on the Underground.

But these skills are also important if you’re going to be successful in developing your cybersecurity framework too.

Cybersecurity; Physical

Cybersecurity isn’t all about IT and digital devices. While on the tube Jenna and I both commented on how many people must have their physical assets stolen. “Pickpockets are in operation” is a message that we often hear played out over the tannoy system.

If you’re going to be successful at implementing cybersecurity you need to think about how you protect information in ALL forms.

A pharmacy in London learnt a very expensive lesson when they were fined by the ICO, £275,000 for failing to ensure the security of sensitive personal data. The pharmacy left the information in unlocked cabinets, accessible by anyone.

Yoga Practice: Every day, bend your mind. Turn your head left, and right. Look around you at the people on the tube, on the train, in the elevator, or in the office.

• Are they chatting about clients, or discussing deals?
• Are they reading things on their devices?
• Can you see this information over their shoulder?
• What can you learn about people from just looking at them?
• Do they have ID badges, or carrying bags, or files that betray who they work for?

Data is all around us. What information are you leaking on your way to the office, and how can you protect it better?

Have you spoken to your teams about this and made them aware? Perhaps now’s the time to do just that.

Cybersecurity; Meditation

When people think about meditation, they often think it’s about sitting cross-legged and chanting “Ommm”. But there are many forms of meditation. Meditation is about focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity.

Meditating on cybersecurity means taking time out of your day to think about all the different aspects of protecting the data you hold.

Cybersecurity is about people, physical aspects, policies, processes, pc’s and providers. 

Take time out of your day to quietly think about the data you store and the importance of this information to your organisation. We need to carefully consider the impact on people if their information was lost, stolen or destroyed.

They say just 10 minutes of mindfulness (being in the moment), and meditation helps to improve mental wellbeing and health dramatically.  

The average tube journey is around 15 minutes.

Yoga Practice: Focus your attention on your breathing. Breath in for the count of 7. Hold your breath for a second then breath out slowly for the count of three. Do this three times.

Now focus your mind on your organisation, and the people you serve. 

• What information do you hold?
• Where is it stored?
• Who has access to it?
• What would happen if it was lost, stolen or destroyed?
• What can you do today to improve your security?

Underground Yoga

If you practice our underground Yoga every day, not only will you be more cyber secure, but you may even enjoy travelling on the tube more. 

People watching is a favourite pass-time of ours.  And it should be one of yours too.

Underground Yoga has a lot to offer and can improve your cyber-health.  It might make you more flexible too, as you see the gaps in your cybersecurity capabilities and begin to fill those gaps or stretch your thinking further.

Yoga is a daily activity, and so is cybersecurity.  These aren’t things you should do just twice-a-year.  They require commitment and internalising if you’re ever going to reap the benefits they have to offer.

I hope you enjoyed our Yoga practice today.  I hope it’s given you something to meditate on, while you squeeze yourselves on to the tube today.

Remember – Underground Yoga is about ‘practicing’. So, make it a daily practice.

If you’d like to book a session with us to discuss Underground Yoga, please get in touch.

Namaste.