Students Experience Yoga at Colorado Ashram
“We all want a place of bliss and contentment. When you go to
a place where the priorities have changed, where there’s just nature,
you can find a place of inner tranquility.” — Carol Fike
The “think! YOGA – Retreat” led by Dance Professor Carol Fike allowed
14 Alma students to immerse themselves in a yoga experience.
The spring term class met every day for two hours to learn yoga and
breathing. During the second week of spring term, the class traveled to
an Ashram in Colorado.
Students pose in front of the Shoshoni Ashram in Colorado.
The
class stayed at the Shoshoni Ashram for four days, spending time hiking
and learning yoga – without the aid of any electronic devices,
including cell phones, iPods or television.
“The Ashram has amazing scenery,” says Fike, “When you take away the
cell phone and the TV, you view life on a different level – you’re less
distracted.”
“The biggest impact the class had on me was the completely different
culture that the people in Shoshoni live by,” says senior Thomas Stock.
“The class taught me to take things in with an open mind.”
Fike found the Ashram online and studied there in July 2007 to earn the
status of a Certified Yoga Teacher in Hatha yoga, which focuses on the
internal spiritual journey as well as outward physical postures.
“We all want a place of bliss and contentment,” Fike says. “When you go
to a place where the priorities have changed, where there’s just
nature, you can find a place of inner tranquility.”
Students had the option of waking at 5:30 a.m. to take part in Guru
Gita, a Sanskrit chant. Fike says she made this part of the daily
schedule optional and a few students did take part.
They also were exposed to a vegetarian diet at the Ashram. Fike says
that the students all enjoyed the food, though they were more than
happy to indulge in a burger once they got to Boulder.
The class visited Boulder for three days, staying in the Millennium
Harvest House Hotel. Students took in Boulder’s sites, including
shopping, movies and nightlife.
“I was glad to mix both worlds – the quiet Ashram experience and the busy city life of Boulder,” Fike says.
The class met daily after the trip for a two-hour yoga class and also
took a trip to Ann Arbor for a Yin yoga class taught by Alma alumna
Christy DeBurton. In Yin yoga, positions are held for five minutes.
Students kept a journal during their experience in Colorado and wrote an essay about their experience for the final exam.
“I’m so grateful that the College supports opportunities like this,”
Fike says. “It gives the students a chance to get ‘out-of-the-box.’”
— Amanda VanLente-Hatter
Posted: Thu, May 29th, 2008 at 2:40PM
