Ashtanga Yoga

Students searching for a way to potentially relieve stress, depression, anxiety, high blood pressure and insomnia all while increasing flexibility and lean muscle strength may be interested in registering for an Ashtanga Yoga course this coming Fall semester. Ashtanga Yoga is a form of yoga that encourages a continuous flow of motion with the goal of building a strong body and calm mind. According Kim Scott, the instructor of this course,

“There are many benefits for the body; flexibility, strength, giving the body some undivided attention, but above all that yoga brings a beautiful state of mind. So, we’re really doing yoga for the beautiful state of mind, but we take our body along on the trip so that everything feels good.”

The benefits of yoga could aid heavily in many common mental and physical problems many Delta students face. According to one of the many Brain Week boards found throughout Delta’s hallways currently, 12% of college students were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in 2013. If you have been feeling the pressure under a heavy class load, registering for one of Delta’s Ashtanga yoga courses could be very beneficial to your mental health and performance in and out of the classroom.

“I never really knew anything about yoga so I just took it on a whim. It’s challenging in a good way, and very rewarding,” said Demarcus Baber, a currently enrolled student in the class. “It helps make you calm about things. It has taught me to take a deep breath in stressful situations since deep breathing is a big part of it.”

Within the mirrored walls of the wood floored room the class takes place in; Ms. Scott’s voice guided seventeen girls and three boys fluidly through their continuous poses. Some students seemed to have trouble balancing in some of the more difficult poses, while others seemed to have gotten the hang of moving fluidly throughout the session, but despite the varying difficulty Ashtanga yoga can have for some over others, there was certainly an atmosphere of peace evident within all the students involved. As a student at Delta, I know how easy it is to get caught in a familiar state of constant, underlying stress without a place to truly escape.

“At the end we do a savasana where you’re just taking in your journey. So the last 5 minutes doing nothing on your mat. Kind of finishing your process of transformation where you awaken as an even better version of yourself than when you started,” said Scott, “The idea is ‘Here is a class that is not supposed to stress you out,’ but instead it gives you tools to deal with the stress that you’re facing.”

In the high-stress world we live in as both Americans and college students, enrolling in an Ashtanga yoga class could give you the tools to perform better in the classroom and also better prepare you to face the challenges of everyday life.