The CSUSB Wellness Center hosted a free yoga class for students on Wednesday evening at SU East Amphitheater, where yoga can be described as a fitness routine and also a spiritual practice.
Over ten students attended the outside yoga event. Some yoga students brought their own yoga mats, while others relied on the yoga mats that were provided by the CSUSB Wellness Center employees. All yoga students were given a yoga prop to assist them in their yoga practice.
Due to weather conditions, previous yoga classes were held inside the CSUSB Wellness Center. However, for this yoga event, students were fortunate enough to have been able to set up their mats outside the SU East Amphitheater and enjoy the breeze and sunlight.
The class is described as “a moderately-paced yoga class incorporating the use of breath along with a multitude of asanas. The class is also done outside under the warm sun and will help to create a stronger sense of body awareness, balance, and inner and outer strength.”
From Beginners Yoga to Vinyasa, Pranayama (Sanskrit for breathwork) to Spirituality, yoga has its own philosophical roots that make it more than just a fitness practice with stretching methods.
The class began by doing yoga poses such as downward dog, mountain pose, plank, and happy baby pose. Throughout the class CSUSB Recreational and Wellness Yoga Instructor, Tulasi Albano, reminded students to connect to their breaths. Being that Pranayama is an important part of yoga as a practice it is helpful to be mindful of the breathing that is taking place. Implementing breathwork to yoga poses can have many benefits such as relaxation and meditative skills.
As Albano put it, “I feel like that it depends on what each person is trying to get out of yoga. There are different variations of yoga. I introduce people to the fact that yoga is not only a cool down or stretching method or like a power type of aerobics, there’s like a whole philosophy behind it. Some people practice yoga as a spirituality method.”
Albano also shared that she uses yoga as a spiritual practice that allows her to continue to find herself. Part of her spiritual practice consists of breathwork and meditation. Intentionally setting time aside to practice yoga from a physical, mental and spiritual aspect is part of Albano’s daily routine.
“I’m thankful that I didn’t jump into college immediately but I got to experience yoga in different ways. Yoga is not just a stretching aspect. I am who I am because of the choices I make through yoga,” Albano stated.
It is said that the word Yoga means “union,” that is, the union of cosmic consciousness with one’s own personal consciousness. Yoga helps a person grow from “I” to “We,” that is, from being self-centered to a global human being.
After interviewing a few of the attendees, they all mentioned how yoga has provided health benefits for them. One student stated that since they started yoga they have had better focus and have been more energetic. Another student said that since she started yoga she has found herself spiritually wealthier.
It is also said that “yoga practice seems to be positively associated with spirituality. This association concerns various aspects of spirituality, such as spiritual aspirations, a search for insight/wisdom, an integrative worldview, a sense of meaning and peace, faith, hope, compassion, and happiness within. To harness the potential spiritual benefits of yoga, regular practice appears to be essential. Yoga practitioners seem to have both physical and spiritual motives for practicing.”
From both practitioner and student aspects, yoga is more than child poses and stretches. Albano said that “yoga is not just about wearing tight booty pants.”
Yoga can assist many students at CSUSB release stress and tension during stressful times such as midterms and finals. Besides the health benefits that having a yoga routine provides, it also provides a union with oneself and a higher sense of consciousness for those who seek yoga from a spiritual realm.
Before the outside yoga class ended, the students that made it to the event laid on their backs while closing their eyes and inhaling, exhaling consciously through their mouths and nostrils as instructed by Albano. Most students thanked Albano and mentioned how grateful they were to have been able to make it to the yoga event.
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