Janelle Patterson
jp004@marietta.edu
Marietta College offers students several physical education courses for credit ranging from golf to racquetball or varsity sports. Instructor Joy Held has offered several courses centered on self-awareness through physical education since the Dyson Baudo Recreation Center opened in 2003. Hatha Yoga I, Stress Management, and Walking for Fitness are all classes that students have had the opportunity to take each semester for one credit per class. However, Held is now offering a more challenging course this coming spring for students who have completed Hatha Yoga I.
The new offering, Hatha Yoga II, is a continuation of her first course. Held taught this second part until three years ago when enrollment and time conflicts for students were deciding factors in cancellation.
“It’s being offered now because there are many students on campus who have successfully completed Hatha Yoga I, are interested in the next course, and have time in their schedules,” Held said.
How is Hatha Yoga II different from Hatha Yoga I? Level one focuses on awareness, breathing, and alignment whereas Held says that level two focuses on the flow of yoga practice and a deeper study of the benefits of each pose. In the first class students learn a set of twelve basic poses that create a unique understanding of the body’s strengths and stressors. Held created the second course to follow this understanding into a further practical application.
“I created both courses from the perspective of there being 24 essential or basic hatha (which means ‘physical’) yoga (which means ‘union’) asanas (meaning ‘poses’),” Held said. “Students examine 12 poses in level one and 12 different poses in level two completing the program of understanding the 24 basic poses in hatha yoga.”
According to the syllabus for Hatha Yoga II, students will be required to not only learn the 12 new poses but also journal about their experience and produce a video leading a vinyasa (flow) practice.
When Held first introduced the yoga into the class schedule, the student response proved to her that students needed the stress relief.
“Eighty-three people signed up for my first class,” Held exclaimed. “The college campus is an obvious setting to appreciate hatha yoga practice because of the balance it offers to the hectic, stressful schedules of students, faculty, and staff. It offers folks the chance to stop for a few minutes, take a few deep, meaningful breaths, and take stock of what is really going on in life or in class.”
Held’s students benefit in different ways from the guidance of her course. For some, yoga is an escape from the flurry of a college schedule.
“I took yoga last semester and I really liked it,” sophomore Kay Shanda said. “I want to challenge myself to do more and yoga helps me with my hectic school life because its a peaceful break in the day when I can relax.”
Other students return to her classes long after they have completed the course for credit. Held informs every student that once they have “graduated” from Hatha Yoga I, they can return at any time to practice with her newest class. She will even use those students as demonstrators for new poses when teaching because she believes that new students can learn from previous ones in a safe and positive environment.
“Increasing a person’s awareness is one of the most important gifts received from a yoga practice, because if we are aware of ourselves and our actions, we have a stronger chance of counteracting negativity and disharmony,” Held said. “Yoga teaches this awareness and it’s good for everyone.”
Held also offers two yoga classes every week for free at the recreation center that students are not required to be enrolled in. Community members and faculty also frequent these classes and contribute to the vinyasa of each practice.
However, for students looking to take Hatha Yoga II for credit in the spring, the Thursday 5:30 p.m. class is a part of the requirements for that class. The time and date of the other practice remains to be decided until the beginning of next term when Held plans to meet with enrolled students to work out a time.
Held encourages all of her previous students to register for the course and said that though level one is a prerequisite for level two, “if a student has had a year of yoga elsewhere, they can contact me for possible instructor permission to take level two.”
Of both Hatha Yoga I and II Held said, “I’m excited to work with students and help bring their practice of yoga poses full circle.”
