The Journal

Issue date: 4/14/05 Section: Culture

Media Credit: KATIE WINDMANN / The Journal Junior Heather G´Sell works out during a meeting of the Yoga and Pilates Club. She has been a club member for 1 1/2 years.

With the semester on a downward slope, stress often becomes more prominent in students' lives. At times like these it is important to find ways to decompress. Yoga and Pilates are two methods for relaxation and focus.

Yoga is a Sanskrit word which means, "to join." It was designed 6,000 years ago to join the individual with the collective conscious, said yoga instructor Debra Simpson, who has been practicing yoga for 10 years. "It's not about physical fitness, but spiritual fitness"

Simpson has been teaching yoga at the Big Bend Yoga Center, 88 N. Gore Ave. at Kirkham Road, since 2001. She is also adjunct an faculty member in Webster University's Conservatory. Conservatory students are required to take yoga their sophomore year because it is considered the most difficult year in the program.

Sophomore Mandy Williford, a musical theater major, is enrolled in Simpson's class this semester. She said Conservatory students are given so much work their sophomore year that they need yoga to find themselves.

"A lot of the work is about finding out how you work," Williford said. "And that's what yoga is about."

Williford said she loves taking yoga and would definitely take it again.

For the many students who aren't in the Conservatory, there is a way to learn and practice yoga on campus for free: The Yoga and Pilates Club.

Former Conservatory student Erin Blanchette founded the club in the spring of 2003. Blanchette enjoyed the yoga and Pilates she learned from Simpson and wanted to start a group with students.

Junior Hannah Gruber, philosophy major and club president said the meetings are set up so that the members can choose the type of workout they want each time the club meets.

Gruber said on Mondays she leads the yoga session and on Wednesdays and Thursdays the group follows yoga videos.

Pilates is not practiced as much, Gruber said.

The club meets from 11 a.m. to noon on Mondays in the Webster Village Apartments (WVA) Clubhouse, from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Wednesdays in the WVA clubhouse and from 9:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Thursdays in the UC Presentation Room. Mats, tapes and other supplies are provided at the meetings and anyone is welcome to work out, even the inexperienced.

At least once a semester the club goes to the Big Bend Center for Yoga for a class with Simpson.

Eleven members of the club went to the center for a Saturday class in early March. Gruber said Simpson listened to the class and tailored the session to the needs of her students.

"She asked us what kind of practice we wanted," Gruber said. Simpson said the group that day ranged from beginners to those whom have been practicing for a very long time.

Simpson recommended that beginning yoga practitioners take a class because they will learn the poses better in a group setting than by watching a video. She also said that students, especially, should begin practicing yoga to relieve stress and maintain focus.

"Every human being should learn how to practice some kind of yoga because it quiets the mind," Simpson said.

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