Josh Falcone – General Assignment Reporter –
With the end of the semester upon the university, and finals staring Southern in the face, this time of year is extremely stressful for many students.
Last Monday, April 22nd the Southern Counseling Services along with the Fitness Center and the Active Minds Student Group held an Earth Day Yoga Event in the Academic Quad outside the Buley Library and Earl Hall from 11:30 am until 12:30 pm, where students were invited to “celebrate Earth Day and Unplug…Tune In…and Recharge” under a sunny Spring sky.
Denise Zack from Counseling Services said that the hope for the event was for students to take a break from the stress they currently face and give their body and mind a healthy, relaxing rest.
“Many students don’t give themselves a break,” Zack said.
“We want to give them an opportunity to meditate with yoga, to relax their mind and breath.”
The first 15 people who participated were given a free yoga mat. There was a suggested one dollar donation for the event and the proceeds were given to the Fellowship House, located in New Haven.
The event had participants partaking in Hatha yoga, the most common yoga in the United States. Hatha yoga is a combination of three elements, physical poses, controlled breathing, and a short period of meditation.
According to a 2009 Harvard Medical School report, Hatha yoga reduces the feeling of stress and anxiety, decreases the heart rate, lowers participants’ blood pressure, and improves respiration.
In addition, Hatha yoga has also been shown to help strengthen partaker’s heart rate positively, which in turn as been shown to help improve the body’s ability to respond to stress.
The Harvard Medical School report also states that Hatha yoga helps improve mood similar to traditional exercise programs and that the controlled breathing aspect of it helps relieve depression.
Zack said that as students stress levels rise with the hope of the three groups that hosted the event was that students could use yoga to improve their physical, mental, and cognitive health.
“Our hope is that participants will become less stressed,” she said.
“Be in the moment. Be where your feet are.”
As part of Southern’s celebration of Earth Day, Counseling Services held a yoga event on the academic quad for students to unwind.
Student Kyle Tamulevich, who noticed the event as he was heading to the Adanti Student Center, said he has heard that yoga has numerous positive effects but has not actually ever done it.
“My girlfriend takes a yoga class at the gym, but I have never done any myself,” he said.
“I have heard that it is a great stress reliever though, and I think almost everyone is pretty stressed right before finals, so it can probably help a lot of people on campus, including me.”
Zack said that yoga is a great all-around activity that students can use to assist themselves in the final weeks of the semester and more importantly in the future whenever students find themselves stressed.
“It is a healthy activity for the body as well as helping give everyone better concentration in the classroom,” she said. “It’s a win-win situation.”
