Feel Better: Invest in Your Physical & Mental Health
Just a short five-minute drive from campus, Feel Better Yoga is nestled in a quiet shopping complex. Upon entering, customers are greeted by a warm smile from an instructor in a cozy lobby where belongings can be put beside an array of yoga products. Inside the studio, empowering quotes line the walls, such as, “don’t surrender all your joy for an idea you used to have about yourself that isn’t true anymore,” by Cheryl Strayed.
I have been to many yoga studios in the past six years, from Connecticut to Philadelphia, and Feel Better has a sense of community that makes it stand out from the rest. With two locations in Burlington and Graham, Feel Better Burlington reaches many Elon students and locals who complement each other in the hot and cushioned floor studio.
The heat allows individuals to stretch, lengthen, and relax otherwise tight muscles, while sweating out any toxins in the body.
The knowledgeable instructors accommodate beginners to experts on proper technique and alternative poses. The classes are very individualized as there is freedom in the poses and timing throughout the power vinyasa. The instructors encourage unity of breathe to connect the class, relieve the individual, and force each individual to dive deeper into a pose or go out of one’s comfort zone.
Instead of being told what to do every second of the class, the instructor offers options that allow the individual to explore their own capabilities and areas of improvement. The individual can also choose to read the powerful messages aligning the walls in order to persevere.
Throughout the class, the instructor tells short stories of their own personal experiences and large takeaways from those instances that have helped them get to where they are now.
From personal relationships to work, an underlying message was available and able to be applied to anyone’s own daily practices, whether acknowledging effects of an action or reminding to practice patience. While performing your vinyasa flow, it is comforting to know you can be fully attentive to the stories, or reflect on your own thoughts, or perform in a completely silenced mind.
Keep in mind pop and classical songs are also played softly during more demanding sections of the class. The songs include a selection of encouraging and relatable content.
Towards the end of the class, the heat is lifted like weight off your shoulders with fans and fresh outdoor air. After a few circuits of abs and stretches, a cold lavender towel is handed to everyone to place wherever they’d like as they continue to breathe and come full circle with their body.
It is encouraged to hydrate before your class with lots of water leading up to the class and bring a towel as the heated exercise will make you sweat! Feel Better offers the basic necessities of blocks, mats, and straps at no extra cost. Feel Better offers a full-time student discount and various packages for classes
Although the idea of spending money on exercise is not ideal to any college student, hot yoga is a worthy investment. Feel Better makes the most of your time and money to not only strengthen your muscles, but your mindfulness.