A wonderful Sunday wellness workshop hosted by Yoga Club
This past Sunday, Apr. 3, at noon the Yoga Club hosted a wellness workshop at the Interfaith Center, which consisted of a mixture of wellness teachings, asanas (yoga poses), and meditation. It was a wonderfully relaxing and informative experience. The club’s instructor, Lars, and student members of the Yoga Club led the group through the workshop.
We began the workshop with some movement, an asana we learned that is great to do in the morning. We then moved into shavasana, which simply described as a relaxation pose where one lies flat on their back, a common pose for meditation. This shavasana was accompanied by delightful background music to connect with and find relaxation to. Shavasana was then followed up by wellness teachings, led by Lars. The workshop continued through this cycle until the end, providing a perfect mixture of movement, relaxation, and teachings.
The focus of the teaching was how to attain wellness. Lars took us through a series of questions introducing the topic and its connection to yogic practices. A big focus of the teaching being three aspects, or “dials,” that must be properly cared for. These included the physical dial, psychic dial, and spiritual dial. All three are important to truly attain a state of well-being and life balance. I find it easy to think of this as a car, a metaphor that instructor Lars introduced—for a car to run properly all the dials of the dashboard must be balanced. If only one of those dials poses an issue, then the car will not run properly.
Asana practice is a wonderful addition to one’s routine to especially aid in this physical aspect of well-being. We learned in the workshop that certain yoga poses stimulate and regulate certain adrenals. Adrenals are glands we have throughout our body that essentially regulate the systems and functions within our body and are very important to overall wellness. This does not only help physically, but mentally, as under-functioning and over-functioning adrenals are also linked to mood problems.
The topic was of course much larger than what can be taught in one short session, but Yoga Club will luckily be continuing a series of teachings that anyone is welcome to join in on. Yoga Club meetings are held on Thursdays from 4-5 p.m. in the Sturges auditorium for those interested. You can also email yoga@geneseo.edu to stay updated on events and teachings, even if you cannot make regularly scheduled meetings. Another wonderful resource is the Yoga Club’s section on the Geneseo website. It provides a plethora of yogic related teaching and information. The “life balance” section in particular is a wonderful spot if you are interested in what was briefly introduced in the wellness teachings.
The wellness workshop was a wonderful addition to my Sunday. No prior knowledge or experience is needed! If you plan to attend a meeting, it is recommended to wear loose comfortable clothing, and to bring a mat, towel, or blanket to practice on.