Macy is a junior at VCU and a guest contributor for Her Campus VCU. She has been practicing yoga with her mom since she was a child and is now working towards her RYT 200 (Registered Yoga Teacher). Please join us for a yoga session led by Macy on Wednesday, April 22 at 6 p.m. in the park at Catherine & Hancock St. Click here for more details.
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As a student, the body and mind take a certain amount of abuse on a regular basis; this may be due to a lack of sleep, bad eating choices, drinking, smoking, high stress level or occasional depression and anxiety. Together, all these factors can work synergistically to lower one’s mental and physical health – the mental and physical health that is absolutely essential to do well in college. What most people don’t realize is that doing a little bit of yoga, even just three to four times a week for 10 to 15 minutes, can drastically improve their all-around well-being and help fight off some of the negative side effects of being a student.
Mentally, yoga reduces stress and anxiety, like the kind we all feel during finals week. Every style of yoga uses a controlled breathing technique in which a move is paired with either an inhale or an exhale. This method of breathing activates the body’s parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), the system that calms the body down. By activating the PNS, your brain is able to slow down and release its worries. This in turn lowers stress and anxiety, and increases the feeling of mental well-being. Yoga can also help combat the inevitable feeling of ADHD that is experienced after sitting in the library for too long, and helps improve test scores. Yoga is a mindful practice which requires focus on the breath, body and mind all at once while moving through the asanas (poses) and again at the end during the meditation period. This selected focus helps train the brain to concentrate on what is actually important and how to block out whatever else may be going on around you. This translates over academically; people who practiced 20 minutes of yoga a day were found to have better concentration and higher scores on cognitive tests.
Physically, yoga can help one attain the shape they desire, and really, who doesn’t want a yoga butt? Yoga strengthens, tones, tightens and lifts the entire body. Each different asana activates many different muscle groups at one time, and as one flows through a series of poses, the entire body is engaged and strengthened as it works to support one’s own body weight. Flexibility is also increased through the practice. This is because a stretch pose is never stagnant. With each inhale one is to let off of the pose slightly, and with every exhale one is to try and go a little deeper into the position. Pairing the pose with breath allows for a deeper stretch and increases one’s range of motion. Yoga’s emphasis on the core also helps improves ones flexibility, balance and posture, because all three stem from core strength. One can also experience a certain amount of detoxification through yoga, which can help cleanse the body after a long weekend. As the body moves and heats up, the circulatory system increases the amount of lymph fluid and blood in circulation, sending toxins to the lymph nodes, kidneys and liver to be flushed out. This process also improves the function of the immune system to help the body stay strong during those times you just can’t afford to feel sick.
As a student, many of us associate relaxation with a red solo cup and a night out, but at the end of the night (and the next morning) all we’ve really done is set ourselves back. Yoga provides a way to relax that isn’t destructive to our bodies and mind. At the end of every yoga class or flow is the meditation period when one takes the time to lay down and recuperate in savasana (corpse pose). This is arguably the best part of the practice. In savasana all you have to do is lay down, spread your arms and legs out and focus on the breath. Savasana is a powerful tool when done properly – maintaining a steady breath, letting go of background thoughts and noise, and focusing on a mantra or mental color to keep the attention from wandering. It brings immediate relaxation to a person, and over time trains the brain to quiet down, release and restore itself back to a peaceful nature. Meditation does the brain wonders in problem-solving ability, time management, stress management and sleeping ability.
Starting a yoga practice provides a positive change in one’s life mentally, physically and academically. We all want to be successful students, but that doesn’t mean we have to jeopardize our overall health along the way.