Relax with Nandini’s yoga classes at Rec Center

By Inno Sita |Staff Writer|

Strength, relaxation, and balance are taught by yoga instructor, Nandini Nagaraju at the rec center for all CSUSB students.

The CSUSB entrepreneurship graduate student has been teaching yoga on campus for over a year, specializing in slow, endurance-building movements.

“I do the same poses over and over, holding for a long period of time. I tend to create a 10 to 15 minutes of relaxation for the students,” said Nagaraju.

Yoga is a great form of exercise that does not require any special equipment.

Most students and staff feel the need to work out by overwhelming themselves with extreme weights too much for their ability, and end up bruising themselves if excessive workout occurs.

“Some of them come in for the injuries, either they overwork their bodies or it was recommended by their doctors to relax their muscles. That’s why I prefer connecting with them by walking around the room for help,” said Nagaraju.

Yoga allows you to control breathing, relieves stress and improves circulation.

Putting pressure on the glandular system of the body can provide good health.

Nagaraju is very specific with the the type of music she plays. She plays very slow, instrumental music consisting with the flute and violin.

She insists on not playing drum instrumentals. The drums might lead her students to easily be distracted and get lost by following a beat.

“One of the biggest changes I’ve witnessed were in these two ladies I had in the past who never missed a day. Towards the end, I saw a big difference in them. They were very flexible compared to when they first attended. That’s when I knew that what I’m doing is changing people’s lives,” said Nagaraju.

CSUSB understands the need of having a yoga class for students and staff to release their stress and to maintain a good health by providing free classes for everyone to work out on abs, arms, back, legs and many muscles in the body.

Being a college student and having plenty of exams, work, and personal issues can lead to stress and frustration.

In yoga, people get the ability to decrease their stress by freeing their mind and be conscious of their body.

“Yoga is not just all about the body, it’s also about the mind. It’s how you use your mind,” said Nagaraju.

One of the challenges that Nagaraju mentioned is how some of her students miss out on relaxing their mind.

It could be quite a challenge for others to stay still.

“When I do the dead body pose at the end, which is the relaxation mode, everyone is a bit agitated, because they can’t handle five minutes of silence. They will learn to stay still, because as much as your body needs rest, it’s the same with the mind,” said Nagaraju

Nagaraju teaches her class every Monday and Wednesday from 5:30 p.m to 6:30 p.m. in room 205 on the second floor of the Student Recreation and Fitness Center.

All classes are free with membership unless noted otherwise.

For more information, visit csusbrecsports.com or call (909) 537-BFIT (ex. 2348)