Extra Credit Yoga

“Meditation is a practice of concentrated focus upon a sound, object, visualization, the breath, movement, or attention itself in order to increase awareness of the present moment, reduce stress, promote relaxation, and enhance personal and spiritual growth.” I have practiced meditation for many purposes. Sometimes I use it to reduce stress, sleep, or just to relax. I find that practicing meditation is very beneficial. It calms and clears my mind from all worries that I may have. I feel connected to myself and it helps me disconnect from things that tend to cause tension within my mind. I am the type of person that constantly worries about things whether it is relationships, school, health and many other issues. Sometimes it can get overwhelming and practicing meditation has helped me relieve tension from those areas. I have downloaded applications on my IPod that focus on meditation with someone speaking in a relaxed tone with relaxed background sounds and music. Attending the yoga class I thought in a sense it would be sort of the same way but instead there would be actual movement involved. I thought that it would be a relaxing way to release tension within your muscles with exercise. I did not expect those yoga movements to be as difficult as they were. Being that I am student-athlete I thought I would be able to breeze through this yoga class. At the beginning we practiced breathing techniques and towards the middle I found it difficult to position my body in some of the movements that the instructor introduced. The instructor seemed so calm and poised as she was demonstrating but when I actually had to perform it I looked the opposite. If I knew how to perform these exercises maybe it would have become relaxing for me. The only thing that was relaxing was the beginning and the cool down at the end. The only question that was raised during this experience was how can you allow yourself to relax in uncomfortable positions. I am glad that I had the opportunity to experience the yoga class but I cannot see myself attending another one.