Yoga day!

Today was finally yoga day, the day I’ve been looking forward to all Jan Term! I love yoga, and I don’t think a coping with stress class would be complete with out it.

Before Jennifer, the yoga instructor, arrived, our class was visited by a reporter and a photographer from the Carroll County Times, the local newspaper to interview some of us about our experiences in Coping with Stress and with Jan Term. I was one of four people to volunteer to be interviewed, so I’m hoping that I’ll be quoted in the article. The Carroll County Times does a lot of reporting of what goes on at McDaniel, and McDaniel students are able to pick up their newspapers around campus free of charge.

When the yoga instructor came, we pushed all of the desks to the classroom walls to make plenty of space to lie down. Jennifer led us through yoga nidra, a process of yogic meditation. This process involved focusing on our breathing, becoming aware of our bodies and body parts, experiencing feelings of warmth and coolness, and detaching ourselves from any thoughts that entered our minds. Unfortunately, I struggled with this process because since we didn’t stretch or do any yoga poses beforehand, my back hurt lying on the hard floor for that length of time (even with my yoga mat) and the classroom was very cold. However, when Jennifer asked us if we had any questions once the yoga nidra process was over, I asked her to take us through a few yoga poses, which she happily did. I’m glad, since the class seemed to enjoy the poses and we were able to warm up as well. My back felt much better too.

Amazingly, I only have three class meetings left of Coping with Stress. Tomorrow, we’ll be learning about hypnosis, on Tuesday, we’ll be handing in our culminating projects, and on Wednesday, we’ll be quizzed on what we learned in the class. (Since we have off on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there’s no class on Monday.) Taking Coping with Stress has been a pretty good experience, and I hope I’ll be able to use some of the lessons and stress reduction techniques I learned when I dive into spring semester in just a couple of weeks!