Kennesaw State’s OwlFit Group Fitness practiced restorative yoga on Feb. 2 on the Kennesaw Campus to aid in both internal focus and external interactions.
Yin yoga, administered during the late evening in a dimly lit studio room inside the Sports Recreation & Activities Center, enables students to relax and close out the convoluted noise that contributes to stress and tension during the day.
Avani Shah, a KSU marketing student, is also a certified Athletics & Fitness Association of America and SCW Fitness Education instructor that leads these types of weekly yoga classes.
Shah uses her experience in learning yoga and dedication to teaching tactics – that can be used both on and off the mat – to conduct hour-long yin sessions.
“Every instructor has a distinct voice that guides mindfulness as well as a bag of tools they use to facilitate patron engagement,” Shah said. “Mine is primarily centered on phrases that will help the students accept the place they are at today, along with stretching that acceptance onto others.”
Shah emphasized that everyone’s health journey is different. The way poses and breathing techniques are done varies from person to person.
“Those differences should not be the main focus of the session, or in life,” Shah said. “There should be an internal focus – what the body is trying to communicate, and noticing how the poses feel as opposed to how they look.”
Health and wellness trends are showing rapid development in Augmented Reality (AR) fitness classes and the ‘Wellness Metaverse’ concept, experiences that allow people to immerse themselves into gamified worlds and/or environments.
For many, these AR fitness classes prove useful as they oftentimes can be done at home away from critical eyes, according to an Onix-Systems article.
Restorative Yoga confronts the other ego, the one that might make these critical observations. This awareness gives people the power to let go and shift their attention away from their surroundings and towards their internal body organs while in a shared space.
Shah mentioned that the sizable number of attendees from her recent session demonstrates the ongoing need for social relationships and face-to-face conversations.
Noah Whitman, one of the 60 people in attendance that night, is an Exercise Science and Nutrition student who has been going to these sessions with a group of friends.
“We go as the Barbell Club, so it is great for us to get to know each other outside of the gym,” Whitham said.
Whitman has been in the gym for years although recently has made the switch towards powerlifting.
“I have never been big on stretching or yoga, but after my experience within the past few weeks it has changed the game for me,” Whitman said. “I noticed I was more flexible and able to do certain lifts better such as squat, bench and deadlift.”
Another attendee that night was Summer Pierce, a sorority-involved student who has attention deficit disorder.
“Restorative yoga has allowed me, for the first time, to focus solely on breathing and feeling relaxed,” Pierce said. “I highly recommend trying yoga first before taking medications because there are not any bad side effects to this holistic practice.”
OwlFit Group Fitness is available for all students, free of charge, requiring only that attendees show up for themselves in a positive way and are open-minded when it comes to facing their stressors, emotions and peers.