Now students don’t have to go to the gym or a studio to do yoga – yoga will come to them. A University of Alabama sophomore has created a Mobile Yoga class where she will bring the class to a location of choice.
Delona Camp, a sophomore majoring in dance and geology, said Mobile Yoga is for groups of people, organizations, social groups or even a big group of friends.
Mobile Yoga is an opportunity for groups of 10-15 people with any level of yoga experience who are interested in practicing yoga or for those who already have a passion for yoga.
“I want to bring unique, personalized yoga sessions to students on campus in hopes of helping them find stress relief and a sense of inner peace despite how stressful and demanding being a fulltime students can be,” Camp said.
Camp came up with the idea of Mobile Yoga when fellow UA dance student and vice president of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority Darian Hill contacted her to instruct a yoga class on the Quad April 2 as a part of the sorority’s health and fitness form of greek week.
“It was great, it was a lot of fun and the weather was beautiful. Delona is a great teacher,” Hill said.
Hill and the AKA sisters advertised the event via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and the hour-long yoga class on the Quad had a turn out of about 100 UA students.
“I was really pleased because the majority of them never did yoga, and I was pleased with their perseverance because I didn’t give them the easiest practice,” Camp said.
When Camp was in third grade, she was diagnosed with scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine that can be disabling if severe, but never suffered any pain until she was a junior in high school and was dancing 15-17 hours a week.
“That’s when I started taking yoga classes three times a week and going to the chiropractor once a week, and after a year my back straightened enough to where the doctors stopped talking about intrusive procedures,” Camp said.
Yoga can increase flexibility, muscle strength and tone, improve respiration, energy and vitality, protect from injury, benefit cardio and circulatory health and even weight reduction, according to the American Osteopathic Association.
Yoga can also reduce anxiety and stress. Yoga modulates the body’s stress response systems, which reduces perceived stress, and anxiety and consequently improves an individual’s mood and reduces feelings of depression, according the Harvard Health Publications from the Harvard Medical School.
“Yoga is a mind and body exercise, and the reason we call it that is because there is a connection between the thoughts in our minds and the reactions in our bodies, and the reason why people might have stress is because of that manifestation of the mind,” UA Recreation Center yoga instructor Dianna Jones said.
The purpose of yoga practices is to learn how to work more in the body while at the same time learn how to release the mind, and stay in the present moment. Yoga relieves the physical tightness in the body and relaxes the mind, bringing the sensation of relaxation, Jones said.
Camp said yoga has been a good way to stay grounded while in college.
“Since college is such a stressful time, I want to deliver that inner peace and inner groundness to other students,” Camp said.
Later this month Mobile Yoga will be coming to the front lawn of Blount Living Learning Center for a closed session.
Any group or organization of 10-15 people interested in taking a yoga class instructed by Camp can contact her on the Facebook page for $10 a session. Locations for sessions can either be inside or outside.
“This is an internal way for them to benefit, it’s all about mind, body and connection, while also benefiting a greater cause” she said.
To contact Camp for a yoga session, you can visit the Mobile Yoga page at facebook.com/MobileYogaWithDelona.
