Written by: Alisha Dihyan Ramaniya Hartadi
Edited by: Abid Aziz
In an age where productivity and capitalist development is the number one indicator of a good and successful life, time moves faster and the world seems to have lost its pause button. Business leaders keep climbing up the ladder, finding time to spend with family became another hard work for labor workers, and pursuing something outside of the academic field is a luxury for students nowadays. Not only is time being taken away, health and well-being are becoming more of a “side-hustle” than a priority. With uncountable hours of sitting in front of the screen, breathing in increasingly polluted air and being exposed to so many unhealthy quirky food innovations, shouldn’t we be concerned for the body that supports us to keep life going?
From that reason on, trends around the health and fitness area have been circulating on the internet for years. From the “5 AM routine” videos on Youtube, gym bros community, “THAT girl” Pinterest boards, and the ever-spreading smoothie recipes. Although it is visible that society is progressing towards a healthier lifestyle, the burden that comes from internet trends can make people fall into inconsistency after a while. Because each person's physique also differs, the routine that is encouraged by certain wellness influencers might not be a fit for some people.
APU Times suggests the best and easiest alternative to be healthy and fit is to do Yoga. This ancient practice originated in North India is a set of physical poses, concentration, and deep breathing exercises. Yoga in Sanskrit means “union” or “connection.” This meaning is reflected in how the practice incorporates mind and body unity. It brings your body together without being too straining of an exercise.
Not only does Yoga benefit the physique, it brings impact to the mental and psychological well-being as well. The deep breathing that is an essential part of the exercise helps us feel more balanced and in touch with ourselves. When experiencing high anxiety or difficulty in regulating the nervous system, you might want to give Yoga a try. Because not only deep breathing focuses your mind, the state of meditating also brings you mindful awareness and clarity.
We discussed with Professor Oh Young Min, who has been doing Yoga for almost 5 years, about how the calm that comes from doing Yoga is particularly similar to the inhale-exhale process in smoking cigarettes. Professor Oh shared her observation, “This kind of breathing (in Yoga) is the same as the one in smoking.” Furthermore, our assumption is proven right by a journal titled “The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Yogic Breathing on Craving, Affect, and Smoking Behavior” by Lotfalian et al (2019). It is mentioned that mindfulness skill that is practiced through Yoga is speculated to increase resilience in dealing with unpleasant happenings in life. The reduced stress, anxiety level, and depressive episode by doing breathing exercise as well have a correlation with reduced smoking behaviour.
But, why Yoga, if other sports like running and swimming engage more of the muscle and are physically more challenging? For this question, we interviewed Professor Roux Peter Willem as he reflected on the last 25 years of being consistent in doing Yoga. “Yoga says ‘find that place inside of your body and work with that’ so it doesn’t push our body more than its limit,” said Professor Roux. Yoga doesn’t necessarily require us to push and work against our body. Aside from offering flexibility, Yoga is also an outlet to be the listener to how our body is feeling. And not only Yoga is easy to do just anywhere with very minimal equipment, Yoga is safe to do for people from different ages and health conditions. In addition to that, Yoga has poses that could target a specific body part or sore point. Despite that, Professor Roux who has been teaching Yoga for almost 8 years still suggests that it is better to do a full body Yoga routine.
From the interview we conducted with Professor Roux and Professor Oh, we came to the conclusion that Yoga is highly beneficial in so many ways, especially for students, because it won’t take much preparation, and is easy to do from anywhere. Not only the poses can be tailored to our own needs, the time of day in which we do Yoga will also impact our body differently according to our biological rhythm. “Start simple,” Professor Roux encouraged. Because Yoga doesn’t exclusively maintain our health and well-being, it is also a means for us to be a better, more present person.
For starters, doing Yoga from home is what almost everyone does. There are thousands of Yoga instructors on Youtube that you can follow. Yoga With Adriene is one of the most famous channels with more than 12 million subscribers. She has various playlists of Yoga routines for beginners, body pain, 30-days challenge, and more. The one below is 20 minute Yoga for beginners that is very easy to follow.
But when doing yoga, “Rather than doing it alone, do it together with friends,” Professor Oh suggested as she shared her experience on doing it together with her friend through Zoom meeting during the pandemic. “It’s helpful, effective, and very fun.”
Reference:
Lotfalian S, Spears CA, Juliano LM. The effects of mindfulness-based yogic breathing on craving, affect, and smoking behavior. Psychol Addict Behav. 2020 Mar;34(2):351-359. doi: 10.1037/adb0000536. Epub 2019 Nov 21. PMID: 31750699; PMCID: PMC7064378.