Yoga
meditation club relieves stress
By Tina Page
On-line Forty-Niner
Every
student is familiar with an overload of
stress, especially toward the beginning
of the year. The Yoga and Meditation Club
offers solutions to dealing with stress
in a peaceful, supportive environment, students
involved in the club say.
The yoga club was founded in the fall of
2001 on the principles of stress relief
through exercise and meditation. The style
of yoga exercise they use is Transformative
yoga and the meditation is based on Bakhti
principles.
“The yoga science thesis teaches that every
person is a spirit-soul and each person’s
antithesis is that matter covers you,” said
Tandis Sadeghi, vice president of the club.
“Yoga and meditation teach you how to use
matter spiritually.”
Sadeghi, who co-founded the club with
Vanessa Voltz, the club’s president, said
all the instructors who teach during meetings
have received a yoga certification from
the National Yoga Association. They started
the club to offer an alternative to people
wishing to participate in yoga without enrolling
in Cal State Long Beach’s yoga courses.
“Sometimes when people are forced to learn
something and get graded, they feel intimidated,”
Sadeghi said. “People tend to get more out
of voluntary classes.”
Stress relief is one of the main reasons
that students have joined the club. Other
reasons include increased flexibility and
achieving peace of mind.
“I have noticed a difference in my breathing
abilities and with stretching,” said Alana
Trax, a senior anthropology major. “I saw
the ad in the Student Union newspaper and
since I had a two-and-a-half hour break
between classes, I decided to do something
better than just sitting in the library.”
The club offers two types of sessions per
week. One session provides meditation exercises
using sound vibrations. Students inhale
and exhale a certain mantra, which is a
Sanscrit word meaning “to free or deliver
the mind.” This exercise delivers a person
from the anxieties of the mind, Sadeghi
said.
Rhea Lee, an undeclared freshman, participates
only in the meditation classes.
“I wanted something to help me to relax
after classes,” Lee said. “I feel more in
touch with myself and relaxed since I have
been involved in yoga.”
The meditation classes have been even more
successful than the second session the exercise
classes. Sadeghi said that the meditation
classes have retained 100 percent of the
same people who joined at the beginning
of the semester, where the exercise class
has experienced a drop in participation.
“The exercise class was huge in the beginning
of the semester, just like every other club
in the first month of school,” Sadeghi said.
“A lot of people think that it is too time
consuming, that is why next semester both
the meditation and exercise classes will
be at offered at different times.”
The club charges dues only for the exercise
classes so that anyone who needs to relieve
stress can do so without worrying about
money, Sadeghi said.
“There are a lot of negative ways that we
try to relieve stress or get away from our
problems,” Sadeghi said. “Yoga provides
a positive way of relieving stress and anxiety
and becoming more peaceful.”
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