Tuesday, June 17, 2003

By The Washington Post

Not all the heavy breathing on the Internet comes from sites you don't want your kids to see. Some is prompted by sites you'd rather keep from your boss and co-workers.

Dozens of online meditation and relaxation Web sites promise frazzled souls relief from the daily grind. They offer virtual escapes to nature and desk-chair exercises (deep breathing, meditation and yoga) aimed at restoring that sense of well-being you lost at the fax machine.

But isn't it counterproductive to try relaxing in front of the same computer on which you've been working all day?

"Not necessarily," says physician Martha Howard, an online presence at a leading relaxation site and director of the Wellness Associates of Chicago, a center that combines Western and non-Western approaches to health and medicine. People tend to hold their breath while working and concentrating, becoming tense and tight, robbing brain and body tissue of oxygen.

"Taking a break to do deep-breathing exercises ... could actually increase productivity," she says.

Howard, along with 22 other medical practitioners including wellness gurus Andrew Weill and Bernie Siegel, doles out soothing advice at Desktopspa.com.

Other sites include:

www.canyonranch.com/

www.mydailyyoga.com

www.unwind.com

www.beliefnet.com