Yoga is an ancient practice that utilizes controlled breathing, balance, movement, and meditation. This 5000-year-old practice has grown in popularity on campus at Tarleton State University and it has not gone unnoticed.

The physical poses of yoga vary greatly and can be done to help in one’s limberness and balance. Many use the practice to calm anxieties and meditate. 

The word yoga stems from the Sanskrit word “Yuj,” which means “to join.” 

There are 6 main categories of yoga; Hatha, Raja, Karma, Bhakti, Jnana, and Tantra. All six have various reasoning behind them and things they focus on, but what we see most common today is a modernized version that combines many of these.

In ancient times, yoga was performed mostly for meditation reasons and mental clarity, but now it is seen more for its physical aspects rather than the meditation side. This act is now more of a workout than sitting down in a pretzel position.

Yoga has many mental benefits as well as physical ones. The act of yoga can help in building muscle strength, enhance flexibility, promote better breathing, support heart health, help with addiction treatment, improve strength, improve sleep, enhancing overall well-being and quality of life.

This is an act that is advised to all ages, but especially those in college who may be struggling with anxiety, depression, or addiction. The Tarleton Rec Center now offers yoga classes on a few different levels. Gentle yoga, a beginners yoga class, is offered Monday at 7:00 p.m, normal yoga is offered Monday at 8:00 a.m. as well as Wednesday at 8:00 a.m., and lastly, power yoga, a faster-paced more advanced yoga, is offered on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.

Tarleton also offers yoga as a 2 credit hours course; the options for the class are Yoga I (KINE 1248) and Yoga II (KINE 1249). The KINE 1248 class is more of a beginners class that teaches a generalized history and learns the art of yoga while the Yoga II course goes into more detail and does more complex yoga positions. It is advised to take them in order.