BYUH student and yoga instructor says she does yoga at the beach to take care of one of God’s greatest gifts - her body
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McKenna Christensen said she loves matching her breathing patterns to the waves coming in and out. Christensen, a yoga instructor and a junior from Kentucky majoring in biology, said there is no better experience than being in God’s creations and taking care of her body through yoga.
Yoga teaches the importance of the body, Christensen said. One of the key elements of yoga is to focus on breathing, she explained. Christensen said there is something different about breathing outside and hearing the surroundings while doing yoga. She said being connected with nature helps her think deeply and relax.
When doing yoga at the beach, she said her appreciation for nature and for her body increases. “It makes it more special and meaningful,” she said. “Heavenly Father created all of these things including myself,” Christensen added.
Christensen shared being with nature allows her to be more joyful and to feel God’s love even more. “You are there in what He made for you. That is your yoga studio,” she said.
Knowing yourselves
One of the many things people learn through yoga is controlling their emotions, said Christensen. “My emotional state has improved over time,” she said. “I learned to feel what I am feeling, identify and acknowledge that it is there, and just let it go,” she added.
Christensen noticed as she did more yoga, she said she improved her flexibility but also became stronger mentally and emotionally.
Hannah Harding, a participant in Christensen’s yoga class and a double major in intercultural peacebuilding and political science from Utah, said, “Yoga helped me cope with the stresses of life.” She said it is a time where she can let go of anything that is going on in her life. “It helps me relax and take care of myself, whether that is physically or emotionally,” she said.
Christensen said keeping breathing stable is the goal throughout a yoga routine. She also shared that yoga helps people learn to control all aspects of their bodies, especially their minds. “These yoga practices help a lot when dealing with anxiety and depression,” she explained.
Spending time in nature also helps with these mental and emotional challenges because it helps our bodies generate positive emotions, said Christensen. The difference between doing yoga at the beach versus in a studio, she said, is “we get to know ourselves more outside.” Being in the studio is more like being in a controlled area, she explained, where people pick the music they want and choose what they will include in their space. While at the beach, they get what nature is giving them, she said.
“Sometimes inspiration comes too,” said Christensen. She recalled an experience where she had gone to Temple Beach with her friends, and she was able to just relax. “It is just elevating in a way. You are almost outside of the world. It is almost like being inside the temple. It is just different from anywhere else.”
Persevering through challenges
“What really drew me to yoga is the challenge,” said Christensen. Initially, she said she never really understood yoga and thought it was all just about doing stretching poses. When she was applying for a yoga program back in high school, she said out of 30 applicants, only 22 of them were accepted. Luckily, she said, she got accepted.
In the early weeks of learning yoga, Christensen said, “It was really intensive. I studied really hard.” Completing a 200-hour certification program takes a lot of work, she said. All of the participants had to ensure they got all the poses and words in Sanskrit right, she said. “We learned different types of yog too,” she recalled.
She shared, “I didn’t fully understand it. I wanted to get to know it. So, I tried it, and I did it!” As she conquered the challenge, she said she learned the essence of yoga is to be present and help your body feel good. It allows people to know where their limits are and improve themselves, she explained.
Although there were challenges, and it required more effort on her part, Christensen said she persevered because of her simple desire. “I wanted to be more in tune with my body,” she said. Christensen said she learned a valuable lesson in yoga that can be applied to people’s lives, which is, “It is you against yourself.”
With time, her interest grew and yoga became more than just a curiosity, Christensen said. She has been a certified yoga instructor for four years, and she teaches yoga classes on campus Monday and Wednesday from 5 to 6 p.m. at the McKay Gymnasium Dance Studio, she said.
Challenging limits
While controlling breathing is vital to doing yoga, there are also certain poses that must be done correctly while breathing calmly, said Christensen.
“We use the poses to strengthen our bodies and make them feel better than what they were [before],” explained Christensen. There are various poses in yoga that have different benefits to different body parts, she said. There are easy poses and challenging ones, she shared.
Christensen said her go-to pose is the plow. The plough pose is a full-body stretch that positions the body upside down with the feet over the head, she explained, with the upper back between the shoulder blades touching the ground. It aims to stretch the spine, shoulders and back of the legs of an individual, she shared.
She alternates her poses depending on what her body needs, she said, and especially enjoys balancing poses because they push her to be better. One of Christensen’s limits, she said, is she is not flexible and cannot do the splits. Christensen said knowing her limits is actually good because it motivates her to try harder and become better.
Another yoga participant, AryLue Jones, a visual arts major from Idaho, said yoga has always been something she wanted to get into. “It brought me a lot of peace emotionally, mentally, physically,” she said.
To deal with stressful situations and difficult emotions, Christensen advised, “Learn to breathe through it and go through it. Even if you fail, you tried. That is what matters.”
Christensen acknowledged some students are interested in yoga but hesitant because they think they are not flexible enough. Christensen said she was once like that too and encouraged students to still try it. “Yoga is not about flexibility,” she said. “It is about learning your body and learning who you are.”