Hi Jean-Louis,

> In most cases, people have a job that is not physically demanding
> (like working in front of a computer) in the sense that it doesn't
> involve using a lot of muscle.

Well, I CERTAINLY wouldn't say "in most cases!!!" I'd say that most
of the world's population in general, and most of the population in
the US (my country) or France (yours) has jobs that are, in fact,
physically demanding, and involve using lots of muscle.  !!!!

> Of course, one may be physically
> exhausted after such a day's work, but this is mainly eye strain, and
> perhaps tensions in the back from the sitting posture. One may also
> have nerves on the edge if the job is particularly
> stressful.

As far as office jobs like you're discussing here, I don't think the
importance of the _enormous_ demands on energy required for long
periods of sitting still under fluorescent lights and dry heating or
air-conditioning, doing close-work, dealing with dead-lines, office
politics, bosses and management, and all the other stresses, can be
underestimated. I think this kind of environment is much more
exhausting than hard physical work in the outdoors. (That's my
opinion, anyway).

>  and exercise may help release tensions and nervousness,
> especially yoga and tai chi chuan, but even running does: when I jog,
> I try to respect the two criteria:
>  -breathe through the nose (this ensures I am not out of breath)
>  -be able to talk without effort (same purpose).
> Running faster and being out of breath might add tension, instead of
> releasing it.

For a person with a sedentary office-type job, I would think it
would make sense to go through a "conditioning phase," in which you
just train your body to get used to the new movements, and the new
daily "rhythm" of actually being physical active on a daily basis.
Then after that, a gradual increasing of the
strength/intensity/duration of the sessions. Always increasing in
tiny increments.

> Maybe people don't want to exercise because they feel
> that working out exhausts them nervously and physically, but in my
> opinion, if exercise is done correctly, it should _recharge_ your
> batteries, not exhaust them.

Yes, it should, but it all depends on just how "ennervated" (to use
a cliched Natural Hygiene term) they are to begin with. For example,
I'm sure you'd agree that someone just coming off of surgery would
not find that excercise would recharge their batteries. In other
words, for some people, the first order of business is _rest_.

Love Liza
--
[log in to unmask] (Liza May)