This class really helped me to understand the importance of lifelong wellness. Before this class, I knew fitness was important and taking care of your body at a young age now would help in the long-run. I have always been quite fit due to 14 years of dance but haven't been able to keep up with it as often in the last couple of years. I let fitness slip out of my life and I could feel a difference. After finishing this course, I had a refreshed understanding of why fitness is so important. If we do not take care of our bodies, they will begin to fail. We tend to age faster, our heart doesn't work as well, we lose our memory, our joints become weak. None of this sounds like an enjoyable experience! We had several discussions in class regarding our diet and exercise habits that really helped me remember why staying fit was necessary for a strong and healthy life.
Along with a renewed understanding of the importance of fitness in my everyday life, I gained a new understanding of the benefits that can come from yoga. I thought yoga was a practice that took place for an hour or two and you left feeling refreshed but everything just stayed on the mat. That is definitely not the case. The whole purpose of yoga is to train your body to take what you learn on the mat and use it in your daily life. Things like awareness of breath, mindfulness of your emotional state, posture, etc. are all things that we need to be aware of in ourselves everyday. In fact, I saw a connection with this in my other classes. For example, I took 16 credit hours this semester as well as working part-time. I was very stressed and had a lot of responsibilities at one time. When I get stressed, I tend to hold my breath and tense my muscles. By using what I learned in class, I was able to control my breathing and use it to relax mind and physical body. I plan to use this throughout the rest of my life. My other classes taught me a lot about myself and my drive to always do my best in everything I do. I saw that in my practice and saw myself improve throughout the semester. The things that I learned about myself helped me in my yoga practice and the calming and centering parts of practice were easily used in my other classes. I am very excited to take what I have learned in this course and apply it to my life. I am always going to have some sort of stressor; that is just part of life. Although, with the things that I have learned in yoga, I will be able to center myself and handle the stress in a healthier way. I will also be more aware and motivated to keep myself healthy and strong by making healthier eating choices and making a conscious effort to participate in more physical activity throughout the day. Every other week in this class, we were asked to complete a module about different aspects of health and complete a challenge to improve ourselves in a specific area. I have attached some screenshots of the nutrition and stress management modules that I did throughout the semester. These modules really helped me put into perspective how I could implement what I was learning into my life. They made a big difference and helped me stay healthy. Please feel free to click through the slideshow on the right to get a deeper understanding of how this course had a positive impact in my life. |
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