7/26 - Yoga

The past week was mostly associated with later awakening times and overall lethargy post-rotations. We decided to liven up the routine a little with some morning yoga for our final week, thanks to Mrs. Dabak and her personal yoga instructor. Learning yoga in its birthplace from an expert? Sign us up!

Obligatory group photo.

The exact origins and purpose behind yoga are still left to speculation; its usage has been traced even before the creation of the Veda manuscripts in the Hindu religion. Now, yoga is one of the most common activities performed across the world: close to 9% of the adult population in the United States practiced some form of yoga in 2013. That's a lot of people doing yoga. Just last year even, on December 11th 2014, the UN declared to June 21st as the "International Day of Yoga". Due to yoga being a multifaceted activity and my idiocy in neglecting to ask what specific type of yoga we practiced, some general purposes for yoga are listed below:

• Improving flexibility and balance. As a member of the UO Wushu Team, this is very important to me or any sport that involves standing on one foot or doing splits. 
• A form of alternative medicine. Although there is little empirical evidence in terms of causation, many correlation studies have shown yoga to improve mood, depression, & chronic back-pain.
• Establishment of harmony between the world around you and the True Self. According to Mrs. Dabak and our yoga instructor, the state of meditation established by yoga allows one to connect with God (term used loosely here).  

During my Winter 2015 Term at UO I enrolled in a gentle yoga class to give my mind a break in between the daily grind that is hard science. I was pleasantly surprised to see many similar postures and breathing techniques show up during our first day, making it easier for me to adjust. After our 1-hour session, though, I ended up just like Daschel and Kim - sore and worn out in more places than one. However, if any of you readers have done yoga before this is not the same kind of "tried" post-weight lifting. Rather, it is a refreshing and rejuvenating one.

Tomorrow: The start of our final rotations.