Yoga for Wellness – Barger Leadership Institute
Yoga Event

Yoga for Wellness

Thanks to the generous support of the Barger Leadership Institute, we were able to hold a one-time yoga event to foster well-being and stress relief in students during exam time. The “Yoga for Wellness” event was a one-time free yoga class designed in the BLI Leadership Lab. During the first few weeks of the course, we researched college student well-being and learned that practicing yoga has many benefits, including improved sleep, stress relief, and increased happiness – all things that many students lack around exam time. Our research led us to create a yoga event. In discussions with our peers, we decided that holding the yoga event on a weeknight would be best, so we decided to hold the event on Monday, December 9. It was an hour-long class taught by a certified yoga instructor. In addition, participants were given yoga mats to encourage them to continue to practice yoga. The event was fun and relaxing. We learned many different yoga moves and left feeling much less stressed. Everyone who attended reported feeling more grounded after participating in the event. 

Photo by Kaylee Garrett on Unsplash

The first BLI Leadership habit essential to our project was Start Small. Although this was a one-time yoga event, we hoped that once people took this class, they would realize it helped them de-stress and would continue to practice yoga on their own time, giving them a long-term impact. The second BLI Leadership habit essential to our project was Value Difference. We all came from different backgrounds and through the planning of this event, we learned to value these differences to facilitate teamwork and create an inclusive event. We also hoped to attract people of all backgrounds and skill levels to our event. Always Ask was another habit incorporated into our project. We asked our classmates for recommendations on timing and place. People said that a weeknight is best for the event, which allowed us to create an event that would have a higher turnout rate. We also asked participants how they felt before and after the event through a survey. 

The funding provided by BLI enabled us to achieve our goal of promoting well-being in students and make a lasting impact. We were able to rent a room and hire an instructor, as well as provide yoga mats so people can continue to practice yoga. Although this was a one-time event, we hope that the yoga mats given to participants will encourage them to continue to practice yoga and facilitate long-term stress relief and increased well-being.

By Maegan Desmet

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