By Alecia Sexton
Staff Writer
Hello again LIU! Some of us might already be thinking about our schedules for next semester and how many credits we need to graduate. If you add them up and see that you’re short a class or two and if you have the freedom to choose a free elective, you might want to consider some of the fun, stress free, stress relieving classes that are being offered in the Pratt Recreation Center throughout the year!
Nana Koch, a professor and Chairperson in the Health, Physical Education and movement department informed me during my last interview with her that “there are so many classes available to students that they don’t know about”. I was intrigued so she enlightened me, revealing that “The department has formulated so many wonderful and fun classes that allow students to not only strengthen their muscles and body, but teach them lifestyle changes and patterns that can be extremely beneficial to them.” Some of the courses Dr.Koch is referring to are pilates, badminton, tennis, yoga, tness and conditioning and others!
You can check LIU’s course offerings at https://webapps.liu.edu/courseschedules/schedules. aspx?campus=P beginning Monday, Oct. 9 to see which classes are being offered. Simply type in the search bar ‘PE’ and hit the search button! Now you may at first turn your nose up to some of the courses, not wanting to have to physically participate, but before you make up your mind, make sure you know the facts.
Pilates is a highly overlooked activity. According to the Mayo Clinic, a world renowned center that offers not only health services, but also conducts trials that aim to educate the public on all things health. Pilates is a fantastic way to strengthen your core. In addition, it’s easy on joints, helpful for managing back pain, and does wonders for exibility. Aside from these great surface benefits, pilates also helps you connect your mind and body. It does this by yielding on fine motor muscles, such as the ones that control posture and dexterity, which in turn creates a positive muscle memory between the activated muscle and brain. Because of this, it also boosts brain power!
Tennis, as you know, is a great workout. Muscle training, cardiovascular endurance, peer interaction, these are the immediate perks of joining the course. Enrolling in either the beginners tennis course or the intermediate tennis course will allow you to acquire skills that can be translated to all aspects of your life. Instead of the whole “I don’t know, what do you wanna do?” chat that most of us go through with our friends, how about suggesting going to play a game of tennis so you can whoop their butts- I mean graciously display your newly acquired skills in a game at the local town courts!
Now I don’t think I need to remind you about the many benefits of yoga, but I’m going to anyway so you can see how vital this class could be in your stress management protocol that will inevitably have to go into effect near midterms or finals. As uncovered by the American College of Osteopathic Medicine, yoga has the ‘magical’ ability to shift the body’s energy towards self healing. By this I mean that it calms down the many raging thoughts inside our heads that tend to drive us a little crazy sometimes. The energy that it takes to make these thoughts then goes into healing small muscle tears, high pulse rates, anxiety, anxiousness and attention dilemmas. A study done by Duke University in North Carolina concluded that people who engage in yoga have a significantly higher concentration of serotonin in the body. Serotonin is a chemical messenger whose nickname is “the happy hormone” because of its ability to reverse a bad mood and regulate sleeping patterns.
Now that you know about some of the courses being offered, look into the courses, read them over and see if you have the availability to spend your three credits on a course that’s aimed at only benefiting you, your body and your lifestyle!
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