I am not a flexible person. I can’t do a cartwheel, a handstand, and some days touching my toes is a challenge. I'm also not a perfect person, I still struggle to not constantly snooze my alarm clock, be on time, and keep a positive attitude; but starting yoga helped changed this for me. Towards the middle of my freshman year of college, I found myself in a funk. I wasn’t exercising regularly, I spent most days either being stressed or highly anxious and I just all around wasn’t feeling good. Then I went to my first yoga class. I walked in hesitant and scared of what was to come, laid out a mat for myself, and sat there quietly waiting for the class to begin. When the instructor came out, she introduced herself and the class, and I already felt more at ease. I spent the majority of my first class feeling embarrassed, not being able to do many poses, but eventually realized that yoga classes were a safe space to let go of judgments and competition you may have against yourself or others.

Exercise

Contrary to popular belief, yoga is a great way to get your daily exercise in. Any practice I’ve done, whether that be in a class room or in the comfort of my own home, I’ve always finished being drenched in sweat and a bit sore the next day. Sun Salutations are a great and easy way to get your heart rate up and you can even do them at home. One of the great things about yoga is that you don’t need any fancy machinery to get the job done, you can literally do it at home and all you need is a mat or a soft and level surface.

Stress and Anxiety

I’ve always been an anxious person, and being a college student hasn’t helped that. Whether you’re suffocating from tests and hard classes or something else in life is getting you down, yoga has always been a safe place for me to turn to. I find myself most anxious at night, around bed time, so when that creeps up on me I just pull out my mat and start a yoga flow. It relaxes and eases your mind and helps put to rest any thoughts being the source of my anxiety and also has been proven to improve your sleep! If you find yourself stressed or anxious, you should definitely start yoga! Start with something easy. You can only benefit from it.

Self Improvement

Yoga isn’t something you’re going to master in a day. It’s a journey that improves with time and hard work. A small goal I made with myself was being able to effortlessly touch my toes. To reach this goal, it took around two weeks. After each nightly flow, I would check to find my improvement and sure enough, I was improving each day. Yoga is a great way to condition yourself to make and meet goals. Meeting goals makes you feel good, makes you feel like you’ve actually been working toward something.

If you need something new in your life, something refreshing, and good for you, take the leap and start yoga!

"Yoga is the journey of the self, to the self, through the self"

- The Bhagavad Gita