Trying to balance school, work, friends and loved ones is a tough task to handle for most.

Some students can oftentimes feel overwhelmed trying to manage their lives.

Those students who do feel overwhelmed by the stresses of life may enroll in one of the yoga classes offered on campus in hopes that it will help them relieve some of those tensions.

“That’s a reason why I introduced yoga into the curriculum seven years ago,” Charleen Zartman, physical education professor, said.

“Students need a place to go, somewhere to just focus on themselves,” she said.

It holds true that students enroll in the class to settle down after a long day at school.

“After a long day of classes, I find that I’m tired, but after yoga class I’m energized and relaxed,” Linnara Lim, liberal studies major, said.

And it seems that students are taking advantage of the yoga classes that the college offers.

“Yoga classes tend to fill up. We find that oftentimes we need a bigger space to accommodate students,” Zartman said.

Yoga is defined as a group of ancient spiritual practices that originated in India.

Artifacts dating back to 3300-1700 BC depict figures in yoga or meditation-like postures.

Yoga has been used for decades to help people deal with anxiety and other mental illnesses.

According to the Yoga Help website www.abc-of-yoga.com, practicing yoga can help people maintain a healthy nervous system.

Yoga can also be used to gain better self awareness and meditation can help one strengthen his or her concentration and focus the mind to eventually lead a person away from his or her fears.

Students beginning Yoga to help deal with their mental issues should be prepared for a heavy work load.

After enrolling in a yoga class, students should not expect the class to be a walk in the park.

“Some expect the class to be easy.

That they’re just going to sit and hum, but the class is to improve a person both physically and psychologically,” Zartman said.

Yoga classes being offered on the EC campus is not a new thing. In the ’80s, there were yoga classes on campus that focused on relaxation, but the classes were eventually phased out in favor of more fitness-focused classes.

Currently, the class is set up as a fitness class that focuses mostly on improving students’ physical health, but Zartman hopes to expand the curriculum to include yoga aimed to be more relaxing and focused on meditation.

“The classes may be focused on fitness, but there are so many instructors with so many different styles that students are bound to find the yoga class that is right for them,” Zartman said.

“There are many different branches of yoga and we’d like to be able to provide several different classes for students to take advantage of,” Zartman said.

For those that are looking to forget about their everyday troubles while still earning college credit, yoga might be the perfect class for them.

“I tell students to forget about teachers, girlfriends or boyfriends once they’re in the class,” Zartman said.