The Power of Yoga
By Isabel Berckemeyer
I used to consider the practice of yoga to be “not a real workout.” I preferred my daily workout of 30 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes of lifting weights. However, after a friend encouraged me to go to Bulldog yoga with her on a rainy day, I became shocked by how challenging it was and how rejuvenated I felt after.
I quickly learned that a fast paced 98 degree yoga flow for an hour was something I had been missing. Now that I go multiple times a week, I learned: the effects of sweating – especially crazy amounts of it; how to be thankful for all the factors in my life – including those I don’t love; and, the power in a community – even if most of the members are ten years older than me.
Every time I go to yoga, I enter the studio completely dry and I leave drenched. This may seem unappealing, but there are many benefits to the amount of sweat. Not only am I releasing toxins, regulating body temperature, and improving my immunity, but I also leave in an entirely different mood. Sweating is known to enhance mood and lower stress hormones which is crucial for college students who experience stress on a day-to-day basis. It also helps to center you and put things into perspective.
Yoga is all about gratitude, and this was made clear five minutes into my first class. The instructor asked us all to get into downward dog and think through three things that happened in our day which we would classify as “good.” This is a positive practice, and it felt necessary to me after long stressful days.
Additionally, yoga helps with knowing you are not alone. Yoga promotes and builds community and the importance of togetherness. Through frustrated grunts while holding planks for three minutes or pulses for 60 seconds, yoga breeds community. It’s a challenging practice, but being able to look around a room of twenty plus people and know that everyone is going through exactly the same thing you are is a valuable exercise.
Yoga has also taught me that I can find friends in people of all ages. Most of the people I do yoga with are older than me and at different points in their lives, but with this comes a new group of people I can lean on for support and advice from diverse perspectives. I have become friends with many people in the yoga practice who have offered me babysitting jobs, career advice, and who uplift me when I am having a hard day or feeling far from home.
Through breaking a sweat, channeling positivity on hard days, and being a part of a community, I notice my management of stressors and anxiety have improved. Yoga has positively impacted my life, and I am confident it can have that effect on others as well.
