Internet Week is officially here in NYC!
A week to celebrate the city’s thriving Internet industry and community.
Back-to-back panels and parties embracing social media, technology and a love for connecting and creating online.
But we have one question:

How do you #SIGNOFF?

Editor and blogger Anne Fritz religiously turns off her phone every night at 11 PM sharp. Social media strategist Zachary Adam Cohen hardly goes a minute without tweeting… or a day without Bikram Yoga. “Digital something” Damien Basile tweets proudly about leaving his phone at home when he goes for a run outside.

It doesn’t take much.

So this Internet Week, Spa Week is hosting an Internet Week Retreat with exhale to encourage widespread #SIGNOFF for the folks who need it most–for the online  influencers, innovators, and those who have shaped the Internet into what it is today. A little thank you via massage, meditation, acupuncture and inspirational speakers… and a little reminder to live life in more than 140 characters.

Join in the #SIGNOFF movement!

Tweet your best Internet Escape tips using #SIGNOFF and @SPAWEEK

now and throughout Internet Week, June 7 – 14.

We’ll retweet the good ones from @SPAWEEK, and we’ll blog some of the best ones too.

But don’t worry… we’re not straying TOO far from The Internet. Tune in right here June 10th from 4 – 7:30 PM for our LIVE Internet Retreat inspirational speaker series on how to live better offline for a healthier, happier and more productive you. Here’s the lineup of speakers:

Update: We were not able to live-stream due to a shift in speaker location within the venue, but we’re videotaping everyone and will post their talks soon!

4:20 – Welcome + Opening Exercises with Spa Week and Exhale
Michelle Joni Lapidos (@michellejoni) Social Media Director at Spa Week + editor of Spa Week Daily (@SPAWEEK)
Catherine Hess, Holistic Health Counselor and Senior Teacher for exhale (@exhaleNYC)
Topic: Taking time to EXHALE in the Great Technology Race

4:40 – Zachary Adam Cohen (@zacharycohen) Social Media Consultant, Blogger, Local Foods Advocate, Yogi
Topic: Tweet. Eat. Yoga. Repeat. Learn Zach’s most successful moves—online and on the yoga mat.

5:00 – Keri Glassman (@keriglassman) Author of The O2 Diet, owner of Nutritious Life, Women’s Health Magazine & CBS Early Show contributor.
Topic: How to Be Healthy, Thin And Beautiful (and not just in your avatar)

5:20 – Oz Sultan (@ozsultan) Social Media Specialist at Irisnation, world’s largest private agency.
Topic: Ayurveda and Unani: Growing up with Ancient Cold Remedies in a 2.0 World

5:40 – Andrea Syrtash (@andreasyrtash) Dating and relationship expert, author of ‘He’s Just Not Your Type (And That’s a Good Thing)’
Topic: Your love life—Online and Off.

6:00 – Brett Petersel (@brett) Business Development and Events at Mashable
Topic: Mashable Unplugged! #SIGNOFF advice from the most plugged in of them all.

6:20 – Julia Roy (@juliaroy) Senior Manager of New Media, Coach Inc., Digital Influencer
Topic: The Rules of Disengagement, by Julia Roy

6:40 – Damien Basile (@db) Communications Strategist and Entrepreneur, Simplifier
Topic: Running without a phone in your hand, and other brilliant ways to separate Work and Life

7:00 – PJ Gach (@bettybuzz) Senior Style & Beauty Editor at Betty Confidential
Topic: Offline Excellence, as told by a member of the team that won Min’s 2010 Best of the WebEditorial Excellence Award

Live Broadcast by Ustream.TV

And for all the techies– when our next bi-annual Spa Week event comes around with luxurious $50 spa treatments for all (September 13-19 on the West Coast and Chicago, October 11-17 for the rest of the country), feel free to throw a #SIGNON party in the middle of it. We won’t be mad.

Zachary Adam Cohen is a social media institution. A force of nature that never shuts off. He Twitters at a remarkable rate of 8 tweets per second, he’s a social media strategist with clients up both his sleeves and more knocking down his door, he’s a connector and a foodie blogging about  local foods and social media, and apparently he’s got some sort of TV show coming out. After ditching the Wall Street job just 18 months ago, Zach has taken new media to a new level in his own unique way, and if I didn’t know any better I’d think he never stops for air. But I do know better… and I also know a million and one other New Yorkers — myself included — who “don’t sleep” and could benefit from a few words from him. So I asked him to share with our readers about the balance and success he’s found through one of his great loves, Bikram Yoga.

(This is not Zach.)

Bikram Yoga, also known as hot yoga, is practiced in a room heated to about 105°F (40.5°C) with 40% humidity, and usually last 90 minutes. Classes are guided by specific dialogue including 26 postures and two breathing exercises.

(This IS!)

New York is a tough place to make your mark. Both the young and old continue to flock to New York City because it is the place where dreams can and do come true. Every single day. Of course in the midst of all that dream-making, New York City has a way of beating down its inhabitants. There is the pollution, the long nights working and partying, the never-ending tension to do more, to go faster, to make more money, to see more museums, attend more theater, shop at the coolest store.

Of course, New Yorkers, above anything, know how to do all of the above, and look fabulous doing it. What’s our secret? For me – and so many of us – it’s Bikram Yoga.

New York is a city of Alphas. We are people who expect, NO! we demand a lot out of life. We come to New York, and stay here, because we want access to the best restaurants and clubs, the best cultural happenings, the best job opportunities and in general, to participate in the conversation that this great city enables us to have with one another. It is a living breathing organism, but in the interest of keeping that organism as healthy as possible, I thought I’d offer up my assessment of why Bikram Yoga is the best yoga no matter where you are. Readers of Spa Week Daily have come to expect a certain kind of content about how best to care for themselves, their skin, their love lives, their bodies and their minds. Bikram Yoga should be a part of that routine.

But first a few words on my background as a serious workout-a-holic. I have done everything from spinning, running, free weights, cardio classes, boxing, bootcamp workouts and the like. I’ve also done all sorts of yoga including Hatha and Vinyasa yoga.

Nothing beats Bikram. It is truly an all around workout. Cardio, stretching, meditation, strength-building. Bikram yoga is the complete package; this alone makes it the perfect workout for New Yorkers. But there is more…

The truth is that Bikram is by far the most challenging daily workout you can do.

For those of us who just like “get our sweat on,” 26 asanas in a 100 degree room over 90 minutes guarantees even the most svelte of us are going to see the water weight, the sodium, the bloating and the toxins (including last nights vodka) expelled.

For those who prefer the lengthening and posture benefits of yoga, Bikram Yoga offers the ultimate. The heat warms the muscles and prepares the body for a series of postures that is sure to get you look lean and taut. I’m the thinnest chubby boy in the world because of it!

But whether you are an endorphin-chasing cardio monkey, a peaceful lotus flower who enjoys deep breathing and concentration or something in between, Bikram Yoga fits New Yorkers perfectly by getting us out of our own heads!

I have seen ultimate athletes overwhelmed by the sensations and feelings that a good camel pose or Ustrasana bring up. And I’ve seen 70 year old women do inversions like they were chewing caramels. Bikram is a great equalizer and has as many benefits to one’s ego as to one’s waistline. The internal struggles that Bikram Yoga bring about can humble even the most disciplined.

So if you want to live life to the fullest, like a proper New Yorker, find a Bikram Studio in your neck of the woods and give it a try. We’d love to hear your thoughts about it!