Yoga: a true candlelight delight

October 29, 2009 by Leslie Ventura 

Candlelight isn’t just for a romantic dinner

Breathe and relax.

If you find yourself repeating this mantra throughout your school day, maybe you should try a few downward dogs – that’s not a cocktail, it’s a yoga pose.

UNLV offers many different weekly yoga classes for students at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

Instead of unwinding at a bar throughout the week, students can go to Room 2015 on Tuesdays for an hour-long candlelight yoga class.

Because candles on a highly flammable wooden floor are a big safety hazard, yogis practice different postures in a room with dimmed lighting, not candles, stretching and posing to traditional yoga music.

Students in the class range from beginner to experienced but all enjoy what yoga has to offer.
But UNLV alumna Heather Wright explained that because the SRWC wasn’t here when she attended school, she gets reimbursed and can still take advantage of the new recreational facility.

“I just thought it’d be a really good thing to end the night,” Wright said. “It looked like it was relaxing by the description,” Wright said.

Last week, Wright tried yoga for the first time. After having an enjoyable experience, she decided to come back.

“At first I was really nervous that I wasn’t going to be good at it, but everyone was really nice and welcoming,” Wright said.

Incorporating variety into his routine, yoga instructor Marko Westwood teaches different dance and yoga classes at UNLV.

Westwood’s classes focus on making postures interesting and challenging for students.

“[It] is really wonderful there is such a high involvement of people taking yoga,” Westwood said. “It’s a testament to the practice they’re getting [at UNLV].”

Westwood is glad that students can learn and educate themselves at the same place they can come and practice yoga and dance.

Business management major Caleb Kelly tries to make it to candlelight yoga every week.

“It’s something I’m so passionate about because it not only helps your body, it helps the part of you [that] you can’t touch,” Kelly said. “It’s a healthy addiction.”

Beginning yoga students shouldn’t be discouraged if their first class is difficult or if the people around them are moving at a faster pace because everyone moves at their own speed.

Kelly explained that different instructors make the classes more or less enjoyable. He can relate to the practice more when the instructor is a male.

Many students may find it beneficial or feel more comfortable to attend class with an instructor of their same gender.

Yogis don’t have to worry about bringing any supplies. They can use one of the mats available in the room or the experienced yogi can bring his or her own.

During the hour, Westwood guided yogis through a series of “asanas,” or postures, that were both relaxing and challenging. Students moved through the traditional sun salutation sequence during the beginning of class.

Ending with savasana or corpse pose, yogis returned their bodies to its neutral position, lying on their mats with eyes closed.

While students took time to rejuvenate, Westwood spoke kind and calming words, urging yogis to let their stress and frustrations pour out.

As college students, we all know how easily stress can build up throughout our weeks, but sometimes learning to leave your negative energy at the door is just as important as your next calculus assignment.

And while unwinding at the end of the night is usually meant to clear your mind, some activities can leave you wondering what you did the night before.

Instead of unwinding at a bar with a salty dog, relax in the gym doing a downward dog.