HUB offers free yoga and meditation sessions

The Ascension Meditation and Yoga Association is offering yoga and meditation sessions free of charge to anyone in the IUP and Indiana community.  

The group meets Wednesdays from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. 

 For the first few meetings of the semester, it will be held in the HUB Delaware Room.  

After the last meeting in September, which will be Sept. 26, the location will be changed to the HUB Susquehanna Room, for the remainder of the semester starting Oct. 3.  

The last meeting of the semester will be Dec. 5.  

“These sessions help to bring an awareness of uses of yoga to improve all aspects of health: mental, physical, emotional, and social,” Bina Soni, one of the instructors of the group, said.  “My husband, Ramesh Soni, stands in as an instructor whenever Professor Grant cannot come.”

“The sessions are uplifting and inspiring.  They help people relax, exercise, promote breathing methods and build overall health,” Professor Brooke Grant, the other instructor of the group, said.  “I try to help people to relax by getting them to laugh, not at things that are funny, but rather at themselves or other things that people normally wouldn’t laugh at.”

“Classes can be a mix of breathing, postures and philosophy,” Romin Patel (graduate, Applied Math), who attends the sessions occasionally, said.  “If you’re looking for a wonderful life experience and not just an exercise session, this is the place for you.”

“The sessions help to promote happiness and harmony throughout the campus,” Soni said.

Soni, who has a master’s degree in counseling and student affairs in higher education, and is also a licensed counselor in the state of Pennsylvania, had the idea to start a meditation session for Hindu of the area.  

However, it was suggested that it would be more beneficial to have it open for all students and locals interested.  Soni asked Grant to be involved as well.  

“I just think it’s good to help students in focusing and relaxing their minds,” Grant said.  

Grant, who has a master’s degree in psychology and had done doctorate work in education and sociology, has been helping Soni conduct the sessions since its start in June 2010.  

All are welcome to come to these sessions.  

“Passion for learning, passion to heal, yoga for balance, yoga for real,” said Patel.