This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending a yoga class brought to Rose House for the day. Throughout the class, the instructor repeatedly reminded us, “don’t forget to breathe!” It struck me how apt that statement was, not just in the context of yoga, but in my daily life at Cornell. Often it is so easy to begin drowning in work that we forget to take time for ourselves, come to the surface, and breathe. In doing so, we “hold our breaths” in a way that simply makes our responsibilities more asphyxiating. However, being given the opportunity to step away from my responsibilities for about an hour and relax, listening to my body instead of my mind (and my planner) was incredibly valuable. Afterward, I felt energized and much less stressed out than usual. It was as if I could feel the stress physically leaving my body throughout the session (which is aim of mindfulness and yoga, I suppose), leaving me at a much more healthy stress level when the session concluded.
Rose Scholars Fall 2017
Endless possibilities
Yoga is amazing! I wasn’t able to attend this event because of scheduling conflicts but I definitely wish I would have been able to. For me, yoga (or exercise in general) is not how I would choose to spend my free time, but once I do it I feel much better than I did before. Being able to control your breathing can be extremely valuable during exercise and in everyday life. We often underestimate how powerful of a tool breathing is and the fact that yoga highlights this and teaches us to pay attention to our bodies is the most amazing part of it! Hopefully Rose has more yoga events, and maybe we could do yoga together!
This is definitely very sound advice for any student. It’s important to try and take some time to slow down and make sure you’re taking care of yourself before you run into the ground. I’m hoping Rose has more events like this that promote self-care.