Thinking Through My Personal Development Project:
The idea of having an open-ended semester-long project both excites me and also terrifies me at the same time! I love that I get to take the initiative of my own learning and further my personal wellbeing BUT I am worried that maybe I won’t do the project “right” or meet the proper expectations for the project. Thankfully, I have done a similar project in another class and it went over fairly well. So, overall (nerves aside) I have a good feeling about this project!
What would be a good fit for my project?
Stop – What do I want from this project?
When doing my last learning project, I did something that focused only on my physical health because I wanted to try to stay in shape during online classes. As I think about this project, I have other ideas on my mind such as:
- I want to focus more on my well-being as a whole, not just physical wellness but I still do want a focus to be on being physically active
- I really want to emphasize mental wellness with this project because I normally stress myself out to the extreme during university when I am only taking 4 classes and this semester I am taking 5 classes and working on the weekends so learning how to de-stress would be very helpful
- I don’t want to spend a bunch of money on supplies #universitystudentbudget
- It has to be applicible to a classroom setting, preferably to an elementary classroom
Based on all of my “Stop” thoughts, I decided I would look into maybe learning yoga for my personal development project!
Investigate and Interpret – Is yoga a good fit? If so what are some goals for this project?
The first thing I did was a quick google search of “The Benefits of Yoga” and I found all sorts of things including:
- Improves strenght, flexibility, and balance
- Relaxes you
- Helps you sleep better
- Can brighten your mood
- Helps you manage stress
- Connects you with a supportive community
I mean like SIGN ME UP! Those all sound like amazing benefits to overall well-being!
The only problem is that every time I have tried yoga in the past, I have found it VERY BORING. So, the next thing I looked up was “different types of yoga” because maybe I just wasn’t doing a type of yoga that interested me? Turns out there is A LOT of different types of yoga that all serve different purposes:
- Vinyasa Yoga (Flow Yoga)
- Power Yoga
- Restorative Yoga
- Ariel Yoga
- Acro Yoga
After barely scratching the surface about yoga, I think that a big goal of this project is going to be trying various different types of yoga and seeing which ones work the best for me and also which ones will have the best classroom application!
Do – Let’s get to it!
The “do” aspect of this decision will play out throughout the rest of the semester as I explore yoga and discover all the possible wellness outcomes that will unfold!
