My STEP project was completing a 200-hour yoga certification program. As part of the specific program I pursued, I learned the physical poses of practice, the anatomy used for practicing, the history of yoga, and breathing techniques. I also was able to teach a class at a local yoga studio and practice teaching with many of my friends.
The meaning of the word yoga is literally to unite the mind and body together. Because of this, although yoga can be a vigorous physical practice, it should also challenge one’s mindset. It likely also includes internal reflections throughout the practice that elevate the overall benefit. As part of my training, we worked a lot on being able to tame negative thoughts- for instance, we were instructed to meditate at the beginning of each day. Before this training, I had not focused on this aspect of my practice before and learning how to reflect and enjoy the experience of doing yoga, and not thinking about all the other things I needed to get done, was an eye opening experience.
In addition to changing my view of yoga practice as a whole, I also discovered a few things about myself outside of my yoga practice as well. I am a very hardworking student and do not often find time for hobbies during the school year. Being able to allocate all 200 hours towards this program, something that I am really passionate about, was an incredible accomplishment for myself. I also pushed myself outside of my comfort zone by tackling public speaking throughout this process.
The program that I pursued was unique in the fact that it had students ranging in ages from fifteen through sixty three. The class was in person, but there were students that came from over an hour away. It was from this large variety of perspectives that I was able to better understand my practice and myself. Towards the beginning of the program, the teaching focused a lot on why each of us were pursuing yoga certification. Hearing everyone’s different stories reminded myself why I am so passionate about yoga and assisted me in being able to complete the program.
One specific exercise that we did that was eye opening for myself was when we were teaching assists for students. Especially in balancing poses, it is important not to push a student too hard and allow them to meet you (as in the teacher) to where they are comfortable. A lot of the other trainees and I were having difficulty knowing how hard to push our students. I think that this activity is reflective of many people not understanding how much to push themselves outside of my comfort zone. Through doing this activity, I think it assisted me in better understanding when to push myself academically versus allowing myself to have more free time.
Finally, being able to actually teach classes since the program still as a trainee has been a wildly eye opening experience. I was able to find my voice as a teacher and, I hope, this will help me in the future with other public speaking endeavors. Comparing to the beginning of the program when I worried about introducing myself to the class to being able to teach a packed room of strangers was great growth.
Since the program, I have even reached out to a few of the older other students for advice on how to use the skills that I learned in my yoga practice to help me with my personal and professional goals. I was able to discuss with one of the students her experience coming out of Ohio State and pursuing a career in the health field, of which I am interested in. We discussed how we both were similar in pushing ourselves academically, but not finding enough time to do things that we enjoyed outside of school. Talking through our similarities, we came to the conclusion of finding the benefit in using yoga practices (calm breathing, internal reflections, etc.) to balance the workload with having fun.