Madison Mead
Photos by Tiffany Wu, Staff Photographer
The Associated Students Commission on Student Well-Being held the first of a series of Free Fitness Wednesdays in the Student Resource Building on Nov. 5.
The event provided students a break from midterm studying with a relaxing yoga night, according to Kareena Hundayl, a third-year biology major. As a fitness coordinator for COSWB, she organized the event along with Breanna Casas+++year and major pending+++.
The purpose of COSWB is to increase awareness and promote student well-being through various events, according to the commission co-chair, Lauren Nagra, a third-year biology major.
“Often, in college, students forget the importance of wellness because they are so busy with school,” said Nagra. “Student wellness events on campus are important because not only do they increase awareness of the importance of well being, they provide students with options to improve their well-being.”
For the first night of Free Fitness Wednesdays series, they planned yoga, a mentally and physically relaxing activity.
“Through these fitness events, I want people to feel comfortable to come explore new activities and meet new people who share their interests,” said Hundayl. “For this event, Stephanie, our fantastic yoga master, is here to help bring people to chill, get rid of their stress, calm down, especially after midterms.”
Megan Roy, a fourth-year environmental studies major, has been doing yoga for quite a few years. According to Roy, yoga is like active meditation: it brings clarity, provides a physical workout, and encourages students to respect and take care of themselves.
Rochelle Perera, a third-year biology major who attended the event, had a positive experience and said that it allowed her to de-stress.
“I really like how the instructor put emphasis on releasing any negativity in your body and mind and feeling yourself as just a single entity in that room and not anywhere else,” said Perera. “It’s really beneficial as a weekly activity to step away from your busy schedule to reflect and be able to let go for an hour.”
Participating in yoga and other fitness activities can be expensive and time-consuming for students, said Roy, and events like Free Fitness Wednesdays help make doing so easier for students.
“It’s great they are doing all of this for free because yoga can be really expensive,” said Roy. “It makes it really accessible and raises awareness about good healthy habits. Especially with school being so stressful and busy, it’s easy to develop unhealthy habits.”
COSWB also has a weekly yoga series for students from 6 PM-7 PM on Mondays at the Santa Catalina residence halls. According to Kareena, Free Fitness Wednesdays are a fall quarter experiment to try and get students involved; their goal is to have a weekly activity for winter quarter with a consistent location, where it will be easy for students to drop by and participate in promoting wellness.