Grounded: Campus Environmental Group Uses Yoga to Connect with Nature
The skies were clear with a slight breeze, but the sun was shining out onto campus the entire afternoon. Students sat on yoga mats, colorful quilts and blankets spread out across the grass near the turtle pond. Clouds coalesced overhead as the yoga session started, but everyone continued to prepare to be present.
It was a perfect day for the activity — until rain droplets fell into the turtle pond. But instead of running to cover, the students opened their palms and let the rain fall onto their faces as they moved into the next pose, embracing the weather.
“Part of wanting to immerse yourself in nature is understanding that nature isn’t always going to be the ideal for you and kind of just rolling with it,” Olivia Navarro, sustainability studies senior, said.
High winds, rainy days and chilly mornings prompt people to stay inside. However, even if it is challenging to do so, weather can be appreciated in all its multiple forms. Pushing to still take fitness outdoors and appreciate nature in all of its variations, even if it's for a short amount of time, is still worthwhile for overall well-being.
Yoga at the Turtle Pond started with everyone in the group preparing their space and talking with one another about their upcoming spring break plans.
The instructor Caroline Gamble, sustainability studies and economics senior, began performing different poses. Rather than using a mat, her feet were planted against and in between grass needles as she led the others.
Gamble said the event was hosted by the Campus Environmental Center (CEC) as an initiative to encourage a slow-down within the constant run of academics on campus.
“I wanted to provide a space for people to connect with nature and sustainability in a way that wasn’t stressful — in a way where they can reconnect and find their root and purpose within it,” Gamble said.
The event is centered on wellness within the community and appreciation for the nature around us on the Forty Acres.
The students were in the middle of campus but moved through the session as if in isolation. Alone with yoga and nature, they remained focused on nothing else but positioning into the right movement.
The role of nature as a host for fitness activities is not unusual. Outdoor run clubs, city trails and pickleball have exploded as new afternoon activities. Being outdoors while exercising has been a popular choice. It continues to stay in society through its benefits being consistent. On the other side of the fitness spectrum are indoor facilities, such as gyms or yoga studios.
“The spiritual aspect of yoga for me is really about me feeling connected with my own body and with nature,” Gamble said. “I feel like for that to have its fullest expression, you do have to be outside.”
Nature provides itself as a location and a space for the mind to connect to an environment bigger than ourselves. A place for rest and admiration of the world we not only live on but live with.
When working out in a recreation center or studio, we are guaranteed to see the same walls every time, the same floor and details. It's a stagnant setting of predictability and consistency.
In contrast, the outdoors are unpredictable. The animals and scenery you may or may not see cannot be guaranteed beforehand. Every experience while being active outdoors is a new one.
“Sometimes, when I am taking walks, I notice birds I have never seen before,” Gamble said. “The other day, I saw an owl. I don’t think I have ever seen an owl, naturally — in my life. Those little moments of being able to slow down and really take in your surroundings and see new things is such a huge benefit.”
Discovering experiences like this may be difficult — but it is even more difficult when the doors to them remain closed.
“Keeping up with outdoor focused media exposes me to opportunities to do things in a group outdoors, and is what motivates me to go and try new outdoor experiences,” Navarro said.
By following Instagram accounts that promote outdoor events or subscribing to certain newsletters, these active opportunities within the environment on campus can be known and accessed.
Gamble is not a professional, but she is passionate about yoga. She loves to see its positive impact on students who join her at the Turtle Pond, as well as experiencing it for herself.
“I think the community within the CEC is what keeps me going through the anxiety because I realize this is something that’s not only helping me but helping the people who are coming and experiencing it for the first time,” Gamble said.
The effect of a simple factor in our daily routines such as the grass we shuffle through or gravel we run across plays a larger role in our feeling of being grounded than we may recognize.
“Being grounded to me feels like my nervous system is regulated; so, basically, that I feel calm but also that I feel comfortable in a space,” Navarro said. “I am in tune with not only the people around me, but the environment around me.”
To be grounded means something different to everyone, but it is a feeling best found within the natural sounds and sights of the outdoors. The perfect place to reconnect with the world may be where the grass brushes the bottoms of your feet, where the wind gently swirls around and where rain drips rhythmically into a nearby pond.
“Studio yoga is so wonderful,” Gamble said. “I love all the studios here, but I feel like it is so much more relaxing and you’re more able to connect with yourself when you’re outside in nature and in something that’s natural — something that wasn’t man-made.”