Anyone living in Leiden can’t miss it these days: It’s EL CID-week. The city is brimming with students! It’s amazing to see all those happy faces, to feel the excitement in the air and to know for so many people this is the start of a new phase of their life! And what a phase that is!
Having finished my studies here in Leiden last year, after 7 years of studying in total, I get a bit nostalgic. I would be easy to say now that being a student is the best time of your life. But it wouldn’t be honest to say that it was all and only great. Don’t get me wrong, I loved and still love studying, and I miss it a lot. But life at university is not a piece of cake. Beside of all the great stuff – having your mind blown, changing your perspective on society, learning so many things you didn’t even know about, discussing and writing and taking notes, getting lost in papers and books, endless coffee breaks with all your buddies, after-class-drinks, … – beside of all that awesomeness, studying can have some serious side effects.
The schedules are loaded, the deadlines are tight, and the grading is strict. The pressure is immense, expectations are high, and unless you are the most confident, relaxed and genius person in the world, you will sooner or later develop some side-effect-syndromes. You will feel stressed.
Stress has many faces and it’s not always easy to recognise it. I will write more about that soon. But one thing is for sure: too much stress makes you ill. It takes away the joy from what you should and would usually really enjoy. It makes you uncreative, blocked, stuck, cramped, sad.
The good news is: stress is curable. Yes, even if you have tight deadlines and full schedules. Those won’t magically appear, and studying will be a challenge. But it doesn’t necessarily have to stress you out.
“It’s not life that matters, it is the courage that you bring to it.” (Yogi Bhajan)
And it’s not the deadline that matters, it’s having the courage to start.
This is not to make anyone scared of studying – it will be such an incredible and important time of your life and I promise, you will get nostalgic looking back later. But be prepared, not only for the fun you are about to experience, but also for the challenges.
With the start of the new semester, I offer a special yoga course for students to help you to deal with the challenges of being a student. To learn not to feel overwhelmed by the workload, not to run around constantly sleep-deprived and with an aching back, simply: not to get stressed by your studies. Because you shouldn’t be. It’s a time of hard work, tons of fun and it will definitely change your life. And Kundalini Yoga can support you greatly in this process.
Whether you a starting afresh or are already an old hand writing your thesis: get ready for the new semester and sign up for the course! I will also keep you updated about intro-workshops.
If you want to know more or have any questions, follow my blog – I will write more about the upcoming course soon – or write me an email.
Enjoy the rest of your holidays everyone!
Auryn Yoga 