On Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m., a rainbow of brightly colored exercise mats were laid out on the turf of Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo stadium. Waiting on every one of those mats was a WT student who had come to do yoga together.
“Sunset Yoga in the Stadium” is a once-per-term event put on by the West Texas A&M University’s Recreational Sports Center. The event was started last year and has proven popular with the students.
“It got started last year as a partnership between ourselves, Athletics, and the other wellness departments here on campus, including student medical services and student counseling services,” Tucker Gattis, the assistant director of recreational sports at WT, said. “It was a big hit. We had over 200 students come out last year to do yoga in the stadium.“
Student athlete Allen Henderson was in attendance. According to Henderson, yoga helps to ground him after a long day of practicing for track and field events.
“I’m a little bit tired after a long day,” said Henderson. “But honestly, yoga is the best way to end it off. You know, get the body and the mind in the right spirit to end off the day, be healthy.”
In addition to the physical health benefits Henderson discussed, Gattis also revealed that the Recreational Sports Center had planned the event to offer students a mental benefit as well.
“Yoga is about engaging both your mind and your body,” Gattis said. “And it can really help students feel a sense of calmness. It can help ground them to where they are being in the moment. One of the reasons we did yoga later in the spring was to give students an opportunity to relax before finals. This year, we did it a bit earlier to accommodate the changing seasons, and the weather, but still with the same purpose to give students a chance to unwind, relax and focus on their self-care before they head into midterms.”
Justin Cornelsen, WT’s Director of Recreational Sports offered another reason why group exercise events like Sunset Yoga in the Stadium help students.
“We talked specifically about yoga, but then also we offer other types of fitness classes,” Cornelsen said. “Other than just the mind becoming healthy, it gives them a community group exercise that they become friends with inside of the class and so they’re more willing to come back. That’s a lot with fitness.”
WT’s Department of Athletics allowed the Recreational Sports Center to use their football stadium for the yoga event.
“It’s so great at the stadium,” Gattis said. “It’s such a good venue because it is an atmosphere that students aren’t accustomed to being in. Not many students get to go on to the football field very many times in their college career unless they’re engaged in extracurriculars.”
WT’s Recreational Sports Center hosts events Monday through Thursday evening every week. Yoga instruction for this event was provided by Riley Velasquez, instructor for GroupX, of WT Rec Sports.
This article was edited on Oct. 16 to reflect the correction of who instructed the event.
