Why Bartenders Need Yoga
Why and how yoga is massively beneficial to bartenders, waiting staff and all round service staff and how to reap the benefits today!
Bartending isn’t easy
Being on you’re feet all day, constantly bending down, reaching up and shaking drinks leads to pain and aches. It’s a job that evolves not just being on your feet all day, but moving around in inconstant ways. At this point i’ve done enough unintentional pirouette behind the bar that I should be fronting Swan Lake…
Unbalanced
The worst thing is that its constantly unbalanced. Take the simple act of scooping ice. You hold that scoop in your dominate hand, bend on that side and scoop on that side. You do that hundreds of times a night without your other side getting the same treatment.
The same goes for simple acts like pouring a pint. One hand is constantly lifted to pull a pint and whilst this doesn’t seem like a difficult strain on the body. After hundreds of times, what you end up with is one side of your body constantly stretched out and the other side not. All these acts end with a unbalanced body.
Bartenders Generally Lead Unhealthy Lifestyles
From working a 60 hours week to suddenly working 20 hour weeks. Not knowing next weeks rota till Sunday night. Working long shifts and not knowing whether you’re going to be able to have a break all lead to inconstant working weeks.
All these things lead to two major lifestyle issues. Not having a good sleeping pattern, and not easting healthy. Two things that Yoga can help with massively (as well as finding healthy meal recipes, quick meal recipes and techniques for a good nights sleep)
How Yoga Can Help Bartenders
So how is yoga massively beneficial to bartenders? Well, for starters it helps equally stretch out the body. Fitting a quick 10 minute yoga routine in before or after a shift is something that is easily manageable but will help massively. Just a quick 10 minutes will help you fully prepare your body for a lengthy shift bending and stretching. As well as helping even your body out post shift.
It will also help you identify when parts of your body need a stretch and give you the techniques needed to help stretch them out. You will often catch me behind the bar stretching out the left side of my body because I’m naturally over stretching my right side.
There’s an on-going belief that bartenders have bad backs and that’s just part of the job. But it doesn’t have to be that way. And by practicing yoga, you can prevent joint problems later on in life.
Apart from the beneficial side of directly stretching out your body. There’s also the mental wellbeing that comes with yoga. Bartending is a stressful environment that often comes accompanied by anxiety and a sense of constant urgency.
By having a moment, whether that be an hour or just 5 minutes where you relax your mind and focus solely on the smallest task like stretching out your leg, you train yourself to relax. Yoga isn’t just about stretching but it also comes with a meditation like mindset which is hugely beneficial to people who work in stressful or fast past environments. I.e. bartending. Something I’ve covered before when talking about how 10 minutes of yoga helps reduce stress.
How Bartender can stick with Yoga
One of the more difficult parts about getting bartenders to try yoga is getting them to stick with it. Its one of those things that get more and more beneficial the more you do it. Doing yoga once isn’t going to offset years working behind a bar. And doing it once a month isn’t going to offset a month of working lengthy shifts on your feet.
One month of doing yoga twice or three times a week however, and you will start seeing the benefits. If you can keep that up for 6 months, even a year then you will massively feel the benefits. But lets be honest, that’s harder said then done. So how do we go about sticking to yoga for the long run and not just trying it once?
Well for starters, don’t over do it. Routines are difficult to get into so don’t set yourself unrealistic tasks like “I’m going to do 25 minutes of yoga before and after every shift” chances are you wont be able to keep up with that and when you don’t, you’ll feel less enthusiastic about doing it.
Instead try setting yourself a goal of doing a 10 minute routine twice a week. Shoot for the start of the week and at the end of your last shift of the week. This will be easy to keep up with and allow time throughout the week to make up for sessions that you may of missed the week before.
Do it at home. At least to start of it, its going to be a lot easier to practise yoga from home where you don’t feel you have to be as committed to take it seriously.
Invest in gear. I don’t know about you, but personally, I feel that much more committed to doing something when I’ve invested money into it. Yoga is great because you have the ability to start with nothing but your own bodies worth of space. But its also easy to get caught up in other commitments and forget about it. Having something as simple as a yoga mat or yoga pants is staring at you will be a constant reminder to do it.
Not only that but it just feels that much more involved when you have something like a proper yoga mat or proper yoga clothing to feel fully in the moment.
And i’m not saying you have to spend hundreds of pounds or dollars committed to yoga. Just the simple things will do.
How to get started with Yoga as a bartender
Getting started with yoga is easy. You don’t need to go enrol in classes or courses. It can be as simple as finding a quick 10 minute follow along video to stretch along with at home. Check out this one by “Yoga With Adriene” specifically designed for people in the service industry who are on there feet all day. Its 17 minutes long and does what you need perfectly.
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