“Yoga tonight @7pm?” read the text in the group chat. Glancing from my phone to the overflowing Google Calendar displayed on my laptop screen, I sighed. I’d received that text quite a few times, but as always, a quick glance at my to-do list had shut down any intention of actually following through.
I felt bad for my friends, and angry at myself that “I want to go, I’m just so busy” had become my standard response. I used to do yoga almost everyday in high school, but found myself doing it less and less as I transitioned into a hectic college schedule.
Even though I genuinely missed the rush of endorphins and feeling of personal satisfaction after each session, I just couldn’t pull myself away from the work that was piling up each week. As I began typing my standard negative response, I suddenly felt something tugging inside. That something told me I should say yes for once and take a break from the textbooks for a little while.
My thumb hovered over the screen as I thought it over. It couldn’t be that bad to go, right? I could probably complete a few of the assignments tomorrow instead. Also, my friends would probably kill me if I didn’t come with them to yoga even once this semester. And above all, I really did miss yoga. Alright, I thought to myself, just this once.
And with that, I sent the ultra-rare “yes” to the group chat, pulled myself away from my laptop, and made my way over to my dorm to change into a gym fit.
I’m sure I looked like some braindead zombie when I met up with my friends outside the yoga room. I wore post-study-sesh eye bags complimented with eye twitches from my caffeine intake, and my hair falling out of my claw clip. I definitely felt like a zombie at least.
We chatted for a while before entering the room and putting our yoga mats out. As I lay down on the mat and felt the hardwood floor beneath my back, all I could think about was the various deadlines ahead of me. Although my body was physically in the yoga room, my mind was running from task to task, scrambling to get things done despite not even being physically able to at the moment.
Almost as if speaking through another room, I heard the instructor telling us to focus on the rise and fall of our chests through each breath. For some reason that felt wrong. I should be productive right now, I thought. Focusing on my breath is not productive. Then, another thought struck me: If i couldn’t do my tasks right now I might as well stop thinking about them entirely. So, I made the control freak in my mind stop running around for a second and actually pay attention to the class.
It wasn’t easy at first. I had to tell it to sit back down a lot. But eventually, my mind began to quiet down as I fully immersed myself in the class. After a while, my mental to-do list was gone with the wind.
I began to pay attention to the sensory experience of the class. Through each movement, I noticed tension in areas of my body that I didn’t even know were there, ones that I usually never felt when I did yoga more frequently. I marveled at how quickly my body had grown accustomed to a somewhat sedentary lifestyle. It didn’t feel great to notice that sort of regression, but it didn’t demotivate me either. I took it all in, doing the best I could to enjoy the feeling of finally doing something that I had been missing for quite some time now. And it felt great.
Once I left the room, my body was literally jelly. I felt reborn, as though somebody had removed all of the stress that my body had stored in itself over the past year. I also felt very sore. My friends and I got açaà bowls and ate them on the way back to the dorm, chatting and debriefing about the yoga class. We laughed at how blissful our faces had looked during the five minute cool down meditation, and how each of us were walking like we were more liquid than solid.
The cool night breeze felt great on my sweaty skin. I realized how long it had been since I talked to these friends, and suddenly felt very grateful that I decided to say yes today. All of us have different schedules, classes, and daily lives, but we were able get together for a little and leave it all behind in the yoga room. It became a space for life to pause for an hour. And I think all of us really needed that.
That night, I actually fell asleep before my usual 1am (or worse…) bedtime. The next day, I woke up feeling, well, sore, but also so energized! I found that I had way more motivation than dread on my way to the library, and during my study sesh I was able to complete my assignments in less time than I usually needed.
I decided to continue to sign up and go to yoga classes either with friends or by myself. And in doing so, I noticed in wonder a repeating pattern of productivity-boosts, despite spending less time actually studying. Not only that, I also felt an overall greater feeling of calm in my day-to-day life.
I’m by no means a wellness or academic-performance expert, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think making health a priority in your academic life is one of the most productive things you can do. I believe taking a little bit of space in your day to breathe and focus on your health will do more for you, both personally and academically, than forcing yourself to work non-stop. You are not a machine, and a pause is not unproductive; it’s needed.
So, the next time you’re planning out your week or day, try to include at least one space for an activity that is fully dedicated to your well being and completely unrelated to academics. Then, reflect on it. How did it feel? How do you feel now? Ask yourself these questions, and see if you can work towards a daily life that doesn’t correlate productivity with overworking yourself. You got this!
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