Despite the start of cold weather this month and resultant difficulties with trying to change the settings on our iPods with gloves on, there is a silver-lining to the proverbial grey cloud. November is the brief period where many Western students get a break from writing exams. Midterm-exam and paper filled October has passed, and there is still about 10 days left before final exams begin. Unfortunately, this brief break from our hectic academic lives always passes much quicker that we would like and it’s always a challenge to find the best way to spend it. I’ve used my break to try and discover ways to diverge away from the stereotypical unhealthy ways of college living.
This began with my journey of discovering different ways to get the 30 minutes of moderate exercise prescribed by Health Canada here in London. Among my most noteworthy discoveries is a Hot Yoga studio just 3 minutes away from campus by bus (Yes, I actually timed it, 3 minutes). If your reaction right now is along the lines of “Hot Yoga, What on earth is Hot Yoga?”, allow me to explain. Hot yoga is a lot like the regular yoga we all know and love, except with one caveat. Hot yoga is practiced in a 40°C room with 45% humidity. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? And though doing anything at all in a 40°C sounds less than appealing to most, I think that I actually prefer it what I now call ‘cold’ yoga. There’s just something about the heat that makes it easier to feel…peaceful. And peacefulness is certainly what many of us need after a long period of exams.
In the meantime, I’ve also been on the prowl for ways to eat a little less like the average college student. To my luck, our daily student newspaper, the Gazette has started printing the nutritional information for some our favourite campus foods. A large blended iced coffee beverage from our favourite on-campus caffeine provider has the same amount of sugar as 19 chips ahoy cookies, ouch. The new grocery store that’s just opened on campus is really helpful as well, always well stocked with nutrient-loaded fruits and vegetables for me to attempt to cook!
Happy last 10 days of no-EXAM-ber,
Vivian
Where did you take the hot yoga classes? Did you have to pay?
Posted by: Dayna | 02/02/2011 at 12:50 AM