Friday, March 29, 2024
News, analysis and commentary by UBC Journalism students


Why yoga?

University students are experts at abusing their bodies. They work hard, drink hard, play hard, and run off coffee after…

By Sarah Buell , in On the Mat: The student yogi life , on March 31, 2010 Tags: , , , ,

University students are experts at abusing their bodies. They work hard, drink hard, play hard, and run off coffee after pulling repeated all nighters. They tend to get away with it because usually they’re relatively young and healthy.  However every body needs some TLC. That’s where yoga comes in.

“We all know that students are quite overworked when it comes to living on the edge,” said i, a yoga instructor, Co-founder of Yoga for the People and a Research Psychologist at UBC, “it’s a lot of work on the body, a lot of stress on the body.” But according to Slocum- Gori, the mind-body connection of yoga can help to reverse some of these effects.

“Yoga itself on the mat triggers the parasynthetic nervous system which is the nervous system that is responsible for restoring, so it restores [the body] at the cellular level,” she said.

Not only does it restore, but the mind body connection created in yoga improves overall focus off the mat.

“The goal of yoga is to utilize the mat as a training ground for the mind and body,” said Slocum-Gori. She said that once the mind has been trained to focus, the benefits will be apparent in every day life, including studies.

The list goes on

Yoga’s positive impact on the student body doesn’t end there. There is a l that regular practice will create. Some relevant to the hardworking student include increase in learning efficiency, energy levels and memory.

A healthy focused mind is a beautiful (and beneficial) thing.

Photo courtesy of flickr user Axel Bührmann

It’s not just university students who are going to benefit from yoga. Some elementary schools are realizing the healthy impact of yoga on their students.

A school in and one in have adopted the downward dog. In, there’s also a studio just for kids. Each school emphasizes the importance of stress release, regular psychical activity and just teaching kids to chill out as their reasons for implementing the practice.

If an eight-year-old student can learn yoga to chill out, then I don’t see why a 19-year-old or 25-year-old student can’t do the same.

The best yoga poses for the release of stress

* (sarvangasana

),

* (halasana),

* (ardha matsyendrasana),

* (shalabhasana ),

* (simhasana)

Namaste