Nina Campli, Assistant Editor for SLA
Occasionally we all need to take some time and destress, relax and just forget about our adult responsibilities. What better way to do that than yoga and writing? That is exactly what the Center for Academic Excellence was thinking when they planned their event this past Wednesday. At the Yoga and Writing Retreat students and one or two professors gathered in the Space to do aforementioned activities. There were four thirty minute sessions, each of which ended in meditation. If the inspiration struck them people could break from the yoga and write. But in case you needed a little help thinking of things to write, their was a slideshow with different writing prompts such as: “ten things that make me smile,” “my favorite place is” and a whole bunch more. The slideshow played throughout the session and people continuously stopped what they were doing to write or meditate on their thoughts.
Loren Kleinman, director of the CAE and Writing Center and the brains behind the event said, “I wanted to allow students to have some amount of retreat from doing really formal workshops where they have to be there and constantly thinking,” she continued, “I liked the idea of having something where [students] can come and practice yoga, practice their breathing and they can meditate… and in the mix of that they can work their writing.”
The students really seemed to enjoy the retreat and the time to meditate and write. Professor Karen Pechilis made it a requirement for her DSEM class to attend the event. Amanda Farbanish (‘18) the writing fellow for Professor Pechilis’ DSEM stated, “[The event] was cool. I have been trying to be healthier just because classes and work are a lot right now so it was cool to be able to combine writing with something else that I love.” All the students who were there were really involved, even those that came for their class. Many of them seemed happy for this down time in the middle of the semester. Farbanish said, “I have a very busy schedule so taking the time to just kind of take a breath and breathe is something I definitely need to remember to try and do.”
Kleiman hopes to hold more events similar to this, “ I think building in some retreat style events and things like that, where people don’t feel like they have to be there but they are there because it’s about them and the opportunity to spend time with themselves.”
