MOVE WITH PURPOSE: Practice Yoga and Mindful Movement
When students think of mind-body exercise, they may initially think of more traditionally “Zen” activities like yoga, tai chi or qi gong, but activities like dancing, Pilates and various forms of martial arts can be good alternative forms of mind-body exercise. All of these activities involve mental discipline and connecting the mind with the body through deliberate thought and motion.
Students who engage in mindful movement activities can see a multitude of benefits, including increased strength and energy, better posture, reduced stress and improved attentiveness, self-confidence, self-awareness and self-care habits. Mind-body exercises also provide ways to build and strengthen relationships with others and add structure to an often hectic and fluid college life.
There are benefits to attending yoga classes, however, and many students may prefer the structure and social nature of face-to-face yoga classes. Students who take yoga classes in person get to ask questions, build community and have a trained instructor make sure they are doing movements correctly and not setting themselves up for injury. Furthermore, classes assure that students have a quiet space and designated time to practice.
Many colleges offer yoga classes for credit, and high school students whose schools don’t offer yoga can ask about getting their PE requirements fulfilled by taking yoga classes at a nearby studio or college. Students who don’t necessarily want to pay tuition prices to get the benefits of yoga need not worry; many colleges offer free yoga classes through their rec centers or have student-run yoga clubs. Those who need a break from on-campus activities can look for yoga studios in their area. Many studios are donation-based, so students with tight budgets can still make it work.
Expert Advice on Finding Your Zen at School
Dr. Appachanda Thimmaiah is an expert in regenerative agriculture promoting low-carbon green approaches for rural development. He is a senior faculty at the Department of Sustainable Living of Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa where he teaches courses in organic farming, biodynamic agriculture and Vedic organic agriculture. He is also preparing to teach a professional program on regenerative organic agriculture at MUM.
How do practices like meditation, yoga and holistic wellness play into education and the college experience?
At MUM, we practice transcendental meditation. Transcendental meditation is a very natural process of diving deep down into oneself that allows us to feel that unified field wherein all laws of nature coexist. If one can experience that particular unified field, one can express their potential fully. If you look into modern education, most students suffer from stress. By de-stressing, we can make the whole experience of learning more joyful, and we learn things in a much more joyful and blissful state of mind. That is very important for millennials and the modern education system where the youth are the most stressed people.
Do you have any advice for students who are having a hard time making certain lifestyle changes or maintaining them?
My advice is that students should allow themselves to experience simple meditative techniques and make the whole learning process and college life a blissful experience. Students don’t need to feel like they have to believe in transcendental meditation; it’s a technique, not a faith or a religion. It’s like a car. One need not believe in the car, but one should know how to drive it. My advice is to just give it a try. It can provide a lot of benefits. When a human being is at peace, we create peace around, and it multiplies. We understand our food, we understand the environment, we understand our habitat more holistically than in a reductionist or mechanistic way.
So the meditation is at the root of other factions of wellness, like eating healthy foods and being connected with your environment?
Yes. Because what is environment? Environment is just an extension of the self. Nature is an extension of the self. When we dive deep inside and experience that unified field, which is the field of all possibilities, you think, “Oh, food is very important. I can’t eat foods that are laced with all types of toxins.” You understand things at a much subtler level. By experiencing the self, one’s consciousness spreads across food and the way we live and the way we make choices. It expands to different realms of our living. That experiential dimension is very important. Anyone can experience it. It’s not like one needs to have a special bent of mind to learn meditation. It may require a few hours of learning, but anyone can do it.