Shavasana is our favorite workout
By MOLLY THOMPSON — features@theaggie.org
The UC Davis Living Well program at the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) offers seven different types of yoga classes in a rotating schedule. Each quarter, a variety of classes are offered, and you can try them (for free!) during the first two weeks of the quarter.
Classes focus on slow flow, relax and recover, strength, mobility, gentle movement, vinyasa flow or yin yoga. This quarter, there are classes for every schedule: on Monday mornings, you can take vinyasa yoga with Tamara; on Tuesday mornings, you can take gentle yoga with Kaylee; on Wednesdays, you can take yoga to relax and recover with Tamara; on Thursdays, you can take your pick between vinyasa, yin and mobility yoga with William and Madison or end your week with vinyasa or strength yoga with Tamara and Madison.
Yoga classes can be a really great way to start your day on the right foot. It’s important to find ways to center your mind in the midst of such a busy schedule, and many students find yoga to be effective in that regard.
“I have taken a few different ones like vinyasa and gentle yoga and they are all great,” Zoe Barilla-Deuschle, a first-year agricultural and environmental education major, said. “Gentle yoga is really relaxing and I love taking the morning classes because it’s a really refreshing start to my day. Vinyasa is a little harder but it’s super fun to push yourself in that class with some harder inversions. It’s really nice to have a space for a yoga community here at Davis and it’s easy for beginners to get started here too.”
Course loads at UC Davis can be stressful and demanding. As the pressure continues to ramp up, it becomes increasingly paramount to mitigate that tension. Yoga, as a practice, is rooted in mindfulness, breath, centering and connection. These core principles can be powerful tools in reducing stress and increasing the ability to focus. Many people find that regularly practicing yoga helps to increase their productivity in addition to relieving anxiety and tension — an enticing claim for a population of busy, hard-working students.
This is part of why yoga classes at the ARC are so popular; they help students center themselves amidst the constant stressors of collegiate life. Before a long day of classes, homework, errands, research and work, a yoga class can provide a bit of respite, setting the tone for your day and priming you to focus as you take on the day. Through intentional movement and breathwork, yoga works to unite the mind and body — an often underappreciated but incredibly important skill to have, especially as young adults learning to succeed independently.
Students can apply for a fee waiver by filling out a simple form, allowing them to sign up for a class of their choosing for free each quarter. The Living Well program provides classes across a wide range of exercise genres that are taught by wonderful instructors. Students can utilize these classes to channel anxious energy into action — fostering wellness, mitigating tension and promoting focus in a healthy and joyful way.
Written by: Molly Thompson — features@theaggie.org
