Posts Tagged ‘#wellness #exercise #fitness #health #studentliving’

Physical Wellness

Wednesday, November 11th, 2020

Listening to our mind, body, and soul promotes wellness. It means becoming aware of the choices we make to ensure a healthy lifestyle that will bring happiness and allow us to achieve our goals. Wellness is a life cycle that involves our emotions. It allows us to establish spiritual harmony and maintain a positive physical, mental, and emotional state. 

Wellness consists of eight dimensions of well being which include: physical, emotional, financial, social, occupational, purpose, intellectual, and environmental, (Lexi Slator, 4 Sep 2017. “Physical Wellness”). Chances are that you focus on all eight except for physical.

Ironically, our physical well-being is the element of wellness that we must listen to in order for other areas to be sufficient. Think about yourself like a flower you must water in order to flourish. Think of self-love as when you love a flower, you water it daily. Physical wellness makes a significant impact by encouraging self-growth and increasing the quality of your lifestyle. A couple of things you can do to achieve physical wellness is listening to your body, motivating yourself to be more active, managing your stress, and inspiring yourself to eat healthier.

It is important to push ourselves to be more active, when you don’t pursue an active lifestyle it can potentially affect your motivation, delay your goals, and it can hurt your self-esteem. Yoga is great for being active as it creates mental tranquility, helps with concentration, increases body awareness, and helps relieve stress. A Yoga professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Stephanie Bird, implements yoga in her day to day life to help build a strong bond between her physical and mental health. She defines yoga as “cultivating aliveness”, as yoga focuses on crucial areas that make a human being. Such as the body, mind, and emotions. Bird stresses one must start exploring themselves and start doing things differently especially during the year 2020. It is about thinking outside the box, and asking yourself, “what am I doing to keep these areas alive?”. 

The beauty of yoga is that it’s a physical exercise that embodies spiritual relaxation through self-discipline, strengthening your breathing, and restoring balance. Professor Bird conveys yoga as “a new way of life”, it means “to temporarily step back from the busyness of our lives, our activities, and obligations, it is very helpful to maintaining a balance, and calm”. Yoga has many benefits, it helps relieve stress, strengthen your muscles, and it is an experience that allows you to clear your mind, connect, and listen to your soul. This form of exercise is composed of various poses, each pose serves its purpose. 

The child pose is a calming pose that focuses on stretching your neck, spine, and hips. It helps release any tension in your body, also relieving any anxiety.

Henderson, Katy. “Yoganatomy: Find Your Inner Child’s Pose” 27 Nov 2017, https://www.thehealthjournals.com/yoga-childs-pose/. Accessed 9 Nov 2020.

The cobra pose helps increase flexibility amongst the chest, shoulders, and abdomen, it also helps with strengthening your back. It is a combination of meditation as well because it targets the mind and body.

TINT, “WHY DOES MY COBRA POSE CAUSE BACK PAIN?” 27 August 2019, https://tintyoga.com/magazine/why-does-my-cobra-pose-cause-back-pain/. Accessed 9 Nov 2020.

Pranayama is about having control of your breathing, breathing is essential to living. However, pranayama instills a variety of breathing techniques that helps reduce stress, encourage better sleep, and also decrease the risk of any illnesses. Bhastrika breath is a breathing exercise that entails forceful breathing through inhaling and exhaling, it is about carefully listening to your body during this practice.

Nectar, Tantra. “Tantra Breathing & Pranayama” https://tantranectar.com/tag/bhastrika-pranayama/. Accessed 9 Nov 2020.

Not to mention, it helps to transmit positive energy, and boost the metabolism system encouraging weight loss. The power of yoga is the pursuit of a healthier lifestyle and a longer life. 

Better yet for a healthy meal, Campus Clipper offers a 10% discount if you’re in the NYC area for students with NYU ID’s. Remember to have good nutrition! And what a better way than to do it with a delicious Just Salad.

You can find all of our active coupons at this link. Redeem them here:


By: Yadira Tellez

Yadira is currently enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Technology, majoring in Fashion Business Management and minoring in English literature. She’s worked in retail and has had the opportunity to work behind the scenes during NYFW. Her dream is to be a Fashion Stylist, but enjoys creative writing to relieve stress and express her mind.

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

Share

Philia

Monday, October 23rd, 2017

Courtesy: Independent

Courtesy: Independent

“I prayed for the city to be cleared of people, for the gift of being alone,  a-l-o-n-e: which is the one New Yorker prayer that rarely gets lost or delayed in channels, and in no time at all, everything I touched turned to solid loneliness.” J.D. Salinger

New York can be though on you but NYU could be a lot tougher. If you come from anywhere around Asia or the countryside, you would know that nosy neighbors are bats that gained bad reputation arising from the folklore that ties them to vampires and Dracula. In terms of usefulness, bats are prime agents of pollination and seed dispersal. Often devalued, most bats are not blood sucking creatures but a friend to the mankind: killing insects those of whom are threats.

Nosy neighbours are skilled at dispersing gossip. But drifting away from the reputation of gossipy housewives in their mid-forties, neighbors drop your kids, bring you food, help you when you are locked out or when you run out of sugar.

In New York, you don’t speak to your neighbors, it’s an unspoken ground rule that everyone seems to abide by. You don’t greet them. You don’t know them. It isn’t uncommon to live in your dorm room without speaking to your suite mates for days.

Elevators give you stress and phones without signals are awkward getaways. More than anywhere in the world, New York is where you most need a friend.

My classmate, Aerin Reed comes from a small town known as Eastern Connecticut where the only revolutionary thing that has happened in the last few years is the renovation of the Eastern Village Store. Moms and gossips and hitting deer accidentally are as much a part of her childhood vicinity as are bagels, frowns and subway horrors in New York.

“My town has a thousand people more than NYU’s graduating class,” Reed said while describing her transition from a traditional small town to the city that is overly crowded even on Sundays.

Unlike her friends and classmates, Reed never dreamed of studying in a traditional campus setting, which made NYU one of her first choices. “I remember walking down the road after welcome week and thinking I do not know anyone on the street,” quite unlike the million recognizable faces she would encounter while driving a car in the part of the world which she calls “home.”

At this exact moment what she would have missed is a friend. At this exact moment she needed the kind of love Greeks call “philia.”

Philia was first used by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who defined it as brotherly love or love shared by friends. The English language does not have a separate word for what Aristotle believed to be unconditional and pure i.e. “with good reason,” so we shall do what we always do: follow the path lead by Greeks.

New York Times columnist Frank Bruni recently wrote a column titled, “The Real Campus Scourge,” which discusses the overwhelming theme of loneliness in a campus setting. “In a survey of nearly 28,000 students on 51 campuses by the American College Health Association last year, more than 60 percent said that they had “felt very lonely” in the previous 12 months. Nearly 30 percent said that they had felt that way in the previous two weeks,” he wrote. All these folks deprived of Philia.

In New York, everything is always on the extreme as is this feeling of loneliness. No amount of Rainbow themed Starbucks or insta worthy cookie doughs can fill the void that only friendship can fill. But my dearest, you are not alone in this. New York has that power over you but you have something that the city lacks: the option to halt, start over and rebuild.

Text your freshman year roommate.

Don’t let Netflix govern your life.

Talk to the person sitting right next to you, chances are she feels the same way.

Log off Instagram.

Remember, loneliness is a feeling that is temporary. It is not a lifestyle.

Don’t just make acquaintances. Get to know them. Turn them into your friends.

Most of all, remember to let go of whatever is holding you back: fear, shyness, insecurity, rationale, over possessive boyfriend and then you will learn to live. You need a friend and so does the person next to you. All you have to do is smile.

By Sushmita Roy

Sushmita Roy is a Campus Clipper intern and a junior at NYU majoring in Journalism and Psychology. Her research interests includes immigration, human interest stories and social psychology. When she’s not studying, Sushmita enjoys catching up with friends, binge watching TV shows and cooking for anyone and everyone. For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services.

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books; we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings. 

 

 

Share

Finding Time to Exercise as a College Student—and Actually Enjoy It

Monday, June 5th, 2017

College would be hard even if you had a feeding tube, a body and muscles that never atrophied, and you never had to sleep. But we exist in physical bodies that need time and attention, and exercise is one of the most difficult pieces of that necessary upkeep and maintenance. We’ve been told over and over again, “eat right, exercise, get enough sleep,” and sometimes those components of wellness can feel like additional obligations, on top of assignments and other responsibilities. Plus, an alarming amount of information and resources ostensibly concerned with “health” actually focus more appearances, and there’s a lot of controversy around fitness and exercise. I could go on about how flawed the fitness industry is, but that would require another blog post or 20. Suffice to say, I’m not here to push #bodygoals and #fitspo, which tend to emphasize appearance more than the real health benefits of working out.

But on a mental, physical, and emotional level, there are other, better reasons to pull on your spandex and get sweaty. According to the American Intercontinental University, exercise stimulates brain cell development, increases memory retention, and improves focus and concentration—hello, GPA boost! It’s also great for fighting homework fatigue. I’ll often take 20 minutes out of essay writing, get in some High Intensity Intervals at the gym, and come back with my brain refreshed and ready to get back in essay-mode. The University of Michigan also notes that exercise can increase energy and reduce psychiatric symptoms. And as I explained in my last blog post, exercise improves your sleep. It’s also a huge factor in relieving stress and boosting your mood, since endorphins—chemicals released during exercise—have a naturally calming effect on the body.

8f14ffc1ea8f3c41afafd5f8f724eee8

https://www.pinterest.com

You’re probably thinking, “Okay, we get it—we definitely ought to exercise. But when? And how?!” Fear not, Padawans, help is on the way!

1. Choose activities you actually enjoy

If you dread exercise, of course you won’t be inclined to make time for it. You live in one of the most happening cities on the planet—go explore! There are so many locations, groups, and types of movement to get into, from Capoeira to rock climbingrunning, dance, yoga & more yoga, The Rise NYC, pole classes, and so much more. Exercise is a treat. It can be a great way to engage with other people, and it’s also showing yourself you care. It’s an opportunity to take time out of your day to shut off your brain from everything else.

2. Think of exercise not as “working out,” but “moving and sweating”

The term “work out” is laden with all the pressures of our flawed fitness industry. Instead, focus on the actual activity you’re doing, not how many calories it burns or whether you have buns of steel yet. When I was training to be a professional ballet dancer, I didn’t care about having visible abs. I cared about how high I could jump, how many turns I could do, and how long I could balance for; the abs were just a side effect. Your “work outs” will be way more rewarding if you’re focused on climbing harder routes at the rock gym, nailing that dance sequence, holding that yoga pose longer, getting faster or going farther in your runs, and generally just enjoying your chosen form of moving and sweating.

https://www.pinterest.com/

https://www.pinterest.com/

3. You don’t actually need as much as you think you do

Exercise can seem like a burden if you’re under the impression that you need to do it for hours on end. If you want to subject yourself to the torture of training like a VS angel, that’s your prerogative. For the rest of us lay people, 150 minutes a week will give you enough to reap the health benefits—that’s the same amount of time as a 2 and a half hour movie. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say you can even do just 10 minutes at a time. Small things like taking the stairs add up! When I hit a wall studying, it helps to plank for 30 seconds, go for a walk, or do some yoga poses. Check out CDC’s site for a great list of how much exercise (and what types) you need for different fitness goals.

4. Consider High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

dailyburn.com defines HIIT as “a training technique in which you give all-out, one hundred percent effort through quick, intense bursts of exercise, followed by short, sometimes active, recovery periods.” Some of the best advantages for students are that it increases metabolism, you can do it anytime, anyplace, and you don’t need any equipment! Check out these quick HIIT workouts for beginners. If you find you enjoy this type of exercise, look into getting a heart rate monitor to get the most out of your HIIT.

5. Don’t be too hard on yourself

Your main job right now is being a student, not training for the Olympics! If you end up having to skip the gym/run/dance class to finish up an assignment now and then, it’s not slacking; it’s prioritizing.

So if you’re reading this… close your laptop, pull on some gym shorts, and go get sweaty!

http://www.pinsdaddy.com/

http://www.pinsdaddy.com


By Sofia Lerner

Sofia Lerner is a Campus Clipper publishing intern who is studying English as a senior at NYU. Passionate about literature, dance, and wellness, Sofia aspires to help the arts thrive and help others pursue healthy lifestyles. For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services. 

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

Share