Yoga on Your College Campus

Quite unlike the stereotypical high impact aerobics that are often a mainstay of college gyms, more and more campuses across the country are recognizing the benefit of incorporating a variety of different exercise programs to keep students interested and fit.

One of the newest trends sweeping colleges is incorporating yoga into their fitness regime. Regular yoga exercise yields a wealth of benefits, many of which are of extreme interest to college students.

Forget about heading to class panting for breath. Hatha yoga, one of the most popular schools of the exercise, leads you through relaxing and strengthening stretches, long twists, calm and quiet yogic breathing, and positive meditations.

When you walk out of the gym from your yoga workout, chances are you will feel significantly more aware, awake, and refreshed.

Yoga practices are also said to help clear the body of toxic energy and thought patterns.

The calming techniques of yoga need not only be experienced in the gym. Yogic breathing techniques can be done before and during a test, hand and neck exercises can be done at your desk or in the library, and you can do any number of poses even in your cramped dorm room, without bothering your roommate.

Yoga is also something you can jump right into. One of the main aspects of yogic exercise is to only go as far as you can, but to push yourself to that edge. Not having the pressure to go into a pose (or asana) into its fullest extension helps the beginners not feel out of place.

As everyone's body and life experiences are different, so are their points of openness and flexibility. Some poses will come almost naturally at times, while others are slow ground to be conquered. This allows you to set goals in your practice as well, moving further and further into the poses, until you finally attain your goal.

While it may take some time to get completely used to a regular yoga practice, it is more definitely a departure from normal exercises, and has a much lower risk of injury and joint strain than high impact exercises. Even if its just for a few minutes a day, you will feel the benefits of yoga almost immediately, and wonder how you manged without it.