Two years ago, I made a New Year’s resolution to do yoga once a week. Well, actually, my New Year’s resolution was to be less stressed, but since that isn’t a tangible goal, I changed it to be more concrete. So, I began my journey with yoga.
Before really getting into yoga, I felt indifferent about it. I would do it as a way to stretch, not really understanding the mindfulness behind it, but liking the idea of it. I remember first doing yoga in a middle school gym class, and kids would giggle during downward dog, or pretend to chant “Om” as a joke.
It wasn’t until I got to college that I started to take yoga more seriously. More precisely, I started to take my journey with yoga more seriously, because the act of doing yoga has just as much to do with your mental state as your physical state. I started going to yoga classes at the Rec Center at UMass. At this point, I mostly thought of yoga as a good stretch, to loosen my body, and maybe take some deep breaths. But, going to these classes and seeing how seriously people took it, unlike in my teenage years when my peers would make fun of warrior one, I began to understand that yoga was more than just a stretch, it was a mental state, a state of being, a practice of mindfulness. It was refreshing and almost inspirational to see how much focus people put into each yoga position, and the deep breaths they took as if they were unaware that anyone else was in the room. After experiencing these yoga classes I was determined to become as focused and centered as the people in the class with me, I was determined to get in touch with my mindfulness.
I started listening to meditations. And I even continued yoga classes on fitness apps when we got sent home for Covid. Rather than forgetting about my yoga experiences during this abrupt, stressful interruption in our lives, I became even more focused on my mindful goals. So when the New Year came around, I incorporated yoga into my resolution to help me with my routine and control my stress. Unlike other resolutions, such as going to the gym or starting a diet, doing yoga every week did not feel like a chore. There were definitely times when I felt very busy and it was hard to fit yoga into my routine, but that reminded me of the reason I was doing yoga in the first place: to find time in my day just to focus on myself, to not worry about what I have to do later, or what I did yesterday, but to just focus on the present moment and be grateful to be there.
This fall has been one of my busiest semesters in college. The feeling of nonstop work and classes made me feel like I was losing touch with my mindfulness. So, rather than sitting in this discomfort and continuing to do the work, I ensure that I still give myself my “me” time. So, I made a goal to do yoga twice a week. I know myself well enough that I won’t be productive if I am overwhelmed, overworked, and stressed. To be my best self I know I have to have balance. So, having more work this semester means that I need to find time to have more mindful time. For me, that is through yoga.
What began as what I thought was just a deep stretch is now a time for me to focus on myself, do breathing techniques, and get in touch with my mindfulness. I mean it is definitely a benefit that I am also able to easily touch my toes now (something I used to struggle with A LOT), but the positive outcomes of yoga on my mental state have been observable and something I recommend to someone who has never tried it before.
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