The primary reason I like vim over emacs is that my hand movement distance away from the home row is very low (even as a programmer). However, the one main time that I do this is leaving insert mode, by pressing Escape.
I recently learned that I can use Ctrl+C to leave insert mode as well. However, this isn't really an improvement.
How can I exit insert mode without having my hands leave the home row, and without massively impacting what I have the ability to type? Note: I use a mostly vanilla vim with a dvorak keyboard layout, though I'd love to hear solutions for a qwerty layout as well.