Keep calm and graduate: Do yoga

Yoga is the ancient art of blah, blah blah. In a country where the memory of politician’s secret expenses, under the table banker payoffs, and hidden meat lasagne, it’s surprising that people still don’t seem to care where shit comes from. But even a basic history of Yoga isn’t needed to enjoy the benefits of the practise. All you need is your own body and a bit of room.

The “art” of Yoga is often dismissed due to the fact that it is drenched in ties with Buddhism, ancient esoteric wisdom, and all that other hippy crap.

But in layman terms, yoga is quite simply stretching the fuck out and feeling damn good for doing so. Which any sports therapist, chiropractor, or person who ever yawned and pushed their arms into the air in the morning, will tell you feels pretty damn good.

So, being the curious little mite I am, I decided to delve into the big wide world of Yoga to see if this practise could be beneficial to my own studies. Instead of signing up to a yoga class in the city centre, to meet “like-minded” individuals and waste even more money I don’t really have, I took the easy way out and hit up YouTube.

By searching something as simple as “Twenty Minute Yoga” I was bombarded by a plethora of potential videos that would ease me into the practise. My favourite of these came from Plum TV:

And even if you don’t have twenty minutes to spare there’s a yoga workout for you. In an attempt to get “fit” I started an exercise program and tried to link the two by finding a post-workout yoga video. This was pretty easy to find, and I tried to do the ten minute video after each work out as a way to wind down and also stretch out any remaining tension.

The problem with this one was that my inflexibility (it seriously hurts if I try to touch my toes) and lack of razor sharp concentration caused me to lag slightly with the pace of the video and soon I was doubled over with my big toe in my ear and my legs twisted like a pretzel. Plus I really quite fancy the instructor Tara Stiles and watching her bend in those ways just made me want to hit nirvana in a whole different way.

But I stuck with it and not only did I find myself more relaxed, and my flexibility improving slightly, but my mind felt a whole lot sharper too. I was able to concentrate for hours on even the dullest documentary and take in every inane detail. I had the energy to achieve far more in one day without a lag.

I was able to articulate my arguments in my essays with a much greater clarity, and I was getting horny as hell all the time. The latter being more of a curse than a benefit, with my daily bus commute becoming a re-enactment of teenage hormone years and the fear of having to get off at the next stop with a raging hard on.

So whether you are looking to focus more, increase your energy levels, or simply reignite a flagging libido, yoga might be just the ticket. And it doesn’t necessarily involve getting rid of all your material processions, just a strong lust for wanting to touch your own butt with your tongue.