As the passion blog journey comes to an end, I wanted to reflect on this project and recap what the main idea is all about. When I began this assignment at the beginning of the semester, I had just dipped my toe into the world of yoga. This was a new activity for me and a great way to stay active when I first arrived in college. As I said in my first post, hitting the gym wasn’t for me nor did I play or involve myself with any other physical activities. In many ways, my passion for yoga was a new start for my healthy and active lifestyle I would like to say I live now.

Another positive change that this new yoga knowledge and practice has given me is the inner peace and meditative mantras that replay in my head when I may be feeling sad or frustrated. After almost every yoga practice, the instructor or leader of the practice will end it with the phrase “namaste”. This translates into “I bow to you” and implies that the leader and followers of the yoga practice respect the differences and “divine spark” within each and all of us. Namaste is used loosely in many spiritual practices, but within a yoga practice it plays into the idea that our bodies are sacred and deserve respect from ourselves and others.

These mindful mantras that remind me to respect myself and others and play homage to the history of yoga. Yoga’s history is complex and reverts back to some of the first religious and spiritual writings, but the ubiquity of yoga in modern day indicate how yoga’s influence has spread since its beginning in Asia and India. Yoga has been Westernized in contemporary studios, adopted by health nuts and bloggers, but is something different for everyone involved. Ultimately, the uniqueness and flexibility (hah, pun) that yoga is characterized as is the foundational point for its solidity in world and health history.

My yoga journey is far from over and I am excited for the semester to end so I can devote more time to learning the history and flows of yoga. Online learning has reached every aspect of our world and therefore I have the opportunity to learn all that I want to about yoga from the comfort of my own home; furthermore, the online platforms for yoga allow me to bring it along with me for whenever I have the opportunity to flow. I’ve done this already when I was waiting in the airport over Spring Break and when I have a minute or two alone in my dorm room. Yoga truly is so individualized that it allows me the opportunity to work it into whatever my schedule may entail, and it easy enough to flow without supplies or equipment. I am thrilled to continue learning about what my body is capable of through the practice of yoga as I have seen my physical, mental, and emotional well-being has metamorphosed since I rolled out my mat a few months ago.

So, as I conclude, “the light in me honors the light in each of you”. Namaste.

As we move throughout our blogging topics, I want to move away from the history of yoga, and more as to what my individualized practice looks like and how I include yoga in my daily life. Although I am nowhere close to a professional, I believe that yoga has helped me feel lighter and experience the world in a new, positive way.
The practice of yoga has much been influenced by the natural world around us, as well as other creatures we share this planet with. We often take to the physical nature for this inspiration, which leads to inventive ways to create something seen in nature. For yoga, this often has to do with the names of poses and how they relate to animals and natural figures we see around us. This includes poses like the crow, cow, or cat, all the way to the three-legged dog. Similarly, there are tree poses, mountain poses, and so much more.
Besides encouraging me to get active and train my body to become stronger, yoga has given me new goals as to how I see the beauty in nature around me. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to hike Mt. Nittany for the first time as a Penn State student. This was one of the highly suggested activities during the summer and warmer months, but it was only until the darkness (and coldness) of winter that made me realize how awesome this local trail could really be. So, I packed up a backpack full of water and snacks and headed up the windy trail that leads hikers up and across the mountain. Throughout the trail, there were places where it was flat enough for me to practice a few yoga poses right in the middle of the silent trees.

I feel as if my bond with the natural world has strengthened into a foundation for my life since my beginning practices of yoga. The connection between the physical body, emotional soul, and natural world engage in a mutually beneficent relationship that helps to appreciate and respect these concepts. Throughout the hike, I wanted to pay homage to this new value in my life by practicing yoga as we ascended and then descended one of the most beautiful trails I have had the pleasure of hiking. I used trees and branches to support myself during my flowand even had the opportunity to test my balance on some tree trunks that block our path.

Ultimately, I compare my yoga practice to that of nature: always ever changing but remaining consistent enough for people to anticipate and therefore appreciate the beauty of my practice. My flows never come out the same, even if I were to do the same poses over and over again. Instead, my body responds like the Earth and depends on environmental factors. Some days my muscles will be tighter than others, and some days my balance will be perfect. Whether I choose to see these obstacles as a cloudy day or thunderstorm, one of nature less formidable conditions, I can appreciate its necessity in the environment and respect its presence.

The picture included is me attempting to balance the tree pose, while on a tree. Crazy, right?!

Over the past few weeks, my blog posts have been focused on growing a foundation of knowledge about yoga, centralizing on its idea that yoga connects both your physical body to your intangible mind. This week, I’d like to highlight how this connection is made by millions of people around the world, and the similarities and differences that come with such a diverse practice of yoga.
In the western world, yoga has a very restorative feature that has enticed health gurus and those who don’t find medicine or religion to be a strong guiding factor in their lives. This was noted at the creation of yoga studios, the first one being in Hollywood, California, in the mid 1900s. After this health trend came about, yoga took off as a way for people to live their lives differently than those who led their lives based on a religion or other cultural factor. As we analyze how modern westerners approach yoga, it is apparent that this trend of rehabilitation that has inspired so many to adopt yoga practices into their own lives. For westerners, yoga often loses the religious connotations that it was created out of, and instead adopts a holistic approach to living life to its fullest ability. The search of the “good life” has always been a key component of western life and yoga has helped many people find at least somewhat of an answer to what that lifestyle may entail.
Referring back to the rich history yoga has played in countries like India, China, and other parts of the Eastern world, practitioners come from all walks of life to find their inner peace through yoga. The most notable country to practice yoga has to be India, where the Prime Minister Narendra Modi convinced members of the UN to declare a National Yoga Day. On this occasion, over 100 countries connected to each other through their hosting of yoga events sponsored by government agencies. It is rumored that this integration of yoga into national Indian culture is a part of a bigger political agenda, led by the Hindu nationalist leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. One article states “”Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, or culture, are now connecting to India through yoga,” Mr Modi told a crowd of tens of thousands in the city of Lucknow, where he performed poses.”
As more and more countries begin to promote yoga through government agencies and institutions, the more connected the world is becoming to each other. Although yoga centralizes around the idea of individuality, it is a uniting factor many people find within others who also practice yoga. This is known personally, as yoga has connected me with new friends as well as strengthened past relationships. The global culture of yoga is all about learning from one another and finding how the individual can make a yoga practice their own.
As we continue to move forward with the blogs, I feel it is important to speak of my own yoga experience and describe more of how yoga has become an inspiring passion that actually changed my way of thinking and living.

What is Yoga?

As we continue to embark on the journey of dissecting the history and practice of yoga, a good foundation of knowledge comes with learning the history of whatever you may be doing. So that’s where we will begin today- discovering yoga’s intricately woven past that binds itself into so many people’s lives today.
Yoga began early in human civilization as a practice that connected one’s physical body to their mind. Because the practice is so individualized and personal, its precise history and beginning cannot be traced back to one exact moment in time. Instead, there are oral and written histories that began the teachings of meditations and inner balance from thousands of years ago. These practices began before any major religion took hold of a large group of people, created the significance that yoga has in people’s lives to act like a religion. Based on texts by prestigious leaders, this mind-body connection can be supplemented for people who do not feel that mainstream religions cater to their needs.
So back to the rich story that is yoga’s history… Adiyogi, the first yogi per say, brought his knowledge of yoga practice and connections to the Himalayas. He disseminated his teachings through the Saptarishis or “seven sages”. These sages carried the teachings throughout other parts of the world, reaching Asia, the Middle East, Northern Africa and South America. Although they covered a vast distance, the similarities between these original practices of yoga have been noted by scholars. However, it was in India where it gained the most traction and found its footing as a way of life. Fossil remains and ancient seals have depicted gods in yoga flows and practices that confirm its presence in early India.
Another beginning point for yoga can be dated back to over 5,000 years ago. This movement started in India by the Indus-Sarasvati people and recorded within the Rig Veda, or their ancient sacred texts. These texts contained songs, rituals, and mantras that would be used by the priests. They would follow these texts to become more holy and connect more spiritually with their body and the world around them, ultimately resulting in stronger relationships between the priests and their community.
Modern day yoga grew out of these ancient rituals and were employed by westerners who brought yoga to countries in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. As more people in the west became attracted to this unique connection between body and mind, entrepreneurs captured this new trend and began constructing yoga studios in popular places, like Hollywood. And the rest, you could say, was history!
On a more serious note, the practice of yoga is still evolving to fit the growing populations of the world and captivate new practitioners everyday. Throughout the next blog posts, I will delve deeper into who these people are and how yoga is found across the world. From humble beginnings to exciting fitness routines today, yoga’s rich history provides an excellent story for anyone interested in learning about yoga (or anyone forced to follow my blog for participation points).

As the new year and new semester allows for the ‘refresh’ button to be pressed, my passion blog is something that I have long awaited changing around to something new. Last semester, my blog followed my journey about learning about our world and the daring lifestyle that it entailed, including stories of travel, new opportunities, and more. However, the past few months of my life have given me new experiences and chances to become passionate about new things. So, for this new passion blog, my goal is to document the inward explorative journey I have long hoped for. Instead of learning about the world around me, I want to learn more about myself and hone in on what I am most passionate about, ultimately resulting in me becoming a more rounded person who knows their strengths and weaknesses.
With the start of the new year, beginning a new semester at school, and finally getting my sh*t together, I have begun to workout on a regular basis. For those of you who don’t know me well, I’ve never been someone to actively seek out competition or physical activity, both big traits of what working out is in my eyes. However, when I arrived at Penn State, I challenged myself to try things that weren’t conventionally things I would do. That’s how I ended up going to the IM building as often as I could motivate myself and trek all the way from Simmons Hall (summer session was fun, but the only gym open was a decently far walk away from where I was living). However, this push was a big motivator in changes in other aspects of my life.
Working out gave me more energy, a happier personality, and a good sweat when I needed it. However, something still didn’t seem right to me… As I touched upon earlier, I never liked physical competition and working out alongside division 1 athletes at the Penn State gyms began to bring these feelings back. Instead of giving up with the gym, I again challenged myself and thought out of the box for a solution to my dilemma. That solution for me was yoga.
While I had practiced yoga a few times in the past, it is nothing compared to the influence yoga has played on my life in the past few months. The goal for this passion blog is to learn more about how yoga practices work and how the different forms change my body. The foundation of yoga is using your body and only your body as the equipment to practice. Sure, having a yoga mat helps, but you can literally practice it anywhere! This idea has forced me to leave all of my excuses behind when it comes to skipping my workout. Yoga practices are not only spatially efficient and inexpensive, but also centralizes about being a more complete and happy person, keeping negative vibes and energy away from your body. Since I began practicing regularly, I’ve noticed positive changes in my health, my mood, and my life. I hope you will follow me on my journey as I dig more into what exactly yoga consists of, its history, and how the activity can be something everyone can implement in their own life. Enjoy!

As the semester is coming to a close and our blog posts are reaching their completion, I figured I should centralize the last post around the idea I began with and how it has transformed over this journey. When I began this blog, Sapere Aude, or translated as “dare to know”, my goal was to teach my peers, while also managing to teach myself. I intended to educate them on the world around us and in turn would learn new knowledge as I did my research and presented my findings. This was ultimately unsuccessful as I believed I strayed away from the idea of using the knowledge to enlighten others about the world around us. However, I believe that I helped keep the readers of my blog informed about educational opportunities here at Penn State. This metamorphosis of my idea bothered me at first, but I found solace in knowing that I hoped my readers were gaining new information. Something didn’t sit right with me about what I was writing.

I realized that I had been learning more in depth information about topics I already knew and seemed comfortable with, and I am disappointed in my stasis. This all began to change when we started thinking of ideas for our public controversy project. Usually, I form my projects around a topic I am already familiar with. Most times this is history, politics, or current issues. However, my group members unknowingly challenged me to learn about one thing I had no idea about: nuclear energy. Although I am very happy with the rough draft of our project, and have full faith in my other group members to create something great with me, this topic really bothered me at first.

If you know me at all, you would realize that science is NOT my thing and when I do have to make an argument around something based in science, it usually has to do with policy or an issue it’s creating in politics. It’s something I do to comfort myself and feeling accomplished when I can speak on the issue without putting in outside work or time.

But not this time. What I was left with was a new thirst to learn what I needed to about nuclear energy to contribute to the group project. The journey learning about nuclear energy and the controversy it has created within our civic life is one that I found to be much more riveting than I originally intended. Although I didn’t get into the minute details of nuclear reactions, I do understand the basic process of how nuclear energy is turned into electricity and the benefits it has on our daily life.

So here’s what I’d like to leave with you in these final words: try something new that challenges your normal ways of thinking, or learn about something you have no idea about. Chances are, you may end up finding out that it’s something you may enjoy. If you aren’t this successful on your first try (or even if you are) keep trying! There are endless things to learn about in our vast universe, and it saddens me that I will never know everything. But I want to die trying. That’s why I am going to keep exploring, questioning, and daring to know.

As we return to blogging, I’d quickly like to recap what I’ve discussed with my readers in the past. My first few posts included an introduction to my blog and centralized around the ides of continuous learning throughout one’s life. Within my posts about this topic, I wrote about how I am passionate to keep learning about the vast world around me and those cultures and objects that encompass it. I’ve always loved the concept of a formal higher education after high school, so college was always the next step for me. However, as we are wrapping up our first semester, I have realized all of the other opportunities for me to learn besides sitting in the classroom.
Over the semester, I have engaged myself in a number of extracurricular activities in which I can practice the skills I am learning in the classroom. However, not everyone has the ability to practice real life skills through their classes or clubs offered here at Penn State. This is most prominent within the engineering and computer science majors, of which I myself are not a part of, however, I am learning about. My goal throughout my time at such a diverse space as Penn State is to begin to understand the lifestyles and programs for other students, especially those so opposite of me. In this case, as a liberal arts student, computer science and engineering are not my forte and I use my friends within these programs to enlighten me on their choice of study. What they describe is a long, grueling program in which their major specific classes do not being until their third year as a student; at this point, they have spent almost three years working on basic classes, electives, and general education classes to keep them well rounded. However, what this also means is that many are behind in learning about their actual major and what it entails. This leads to feelings of unpreparedness by the time of graduation and emergence into the work force.
To resolve this, an alternative teaching method was created that include topic-intensive bootcamp programs that quickly teach you the fundamentals of a topic in a much shorter amount of time. These specific classes are short, 12 week, classes that are hosted by a vendor within the field, such as Cisco or Microsoft, in which the sponsor’s platform and skills are taught to those students within the bootcamp. The result is a much higher turn over rate for people wanting to learn marketable skills.
When comparing the results of the bootcamp classes to the normal higher education track, very few differences can be made to distinguish bootcamp students from traditional students. They generally have the same starting salaries and skills, yet those who engage themselves in bootcamps tend to have less debt and more time due to the nature of shorter and cheaper classes to learn the same skills. This does’t seem fair and clearly display the bootcamps as a better option for students who want to prepare the most and spend the least amount of time and money. So why do students continue on the traditional higher education track of spending four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to achieve the same outcome?
It all comes down to the product of a well-rounded education that includes those basic and elective classes. The Penn State community is proud of its diversity and open-mindedness, which is generally taught, fostered, and born from these classes that many students would not traditionally think to take for their major. For example, a student majoring computer science engineering may take classes about the psychology of communication behind computer screes. By thinking in this unorthodox fashion, students become more knowledgeable about the different aspects and ways of thinking about the world around them.
To achieve this well-roundedness, one does not have to take classes that will lead them to nowhere; instead, the different clubs, organizations, and extra curricular activities offered through Penn State can foster the thirst for knowledge one may have outside of their intended major. In conclusion, I’d like to reiterate as I did within my blog post about studying abroad, to take advantage of the numerous opportunities at Penn State to learn about the world around you and round out your skills to become a more marketable and knowledgeable person of the world.

As I began writing my TED talk outline, my mind centralized around the idea of people being distrustful of the national government that was built over three centuries ago to protect us. With some faults in the past, history shows that for the most part, people believed in the federal government’s ability to do the right thing. Yet, this is changing. In our recent politics, the fear of our government being untruthful or deceptive is present more than ever. To some, this may be a repeating theme in American history and politics, such as the Cold War era suspicion; for others, however, this feeling is unprecedented.
The United States is noted in history as a founder of and home to democratic government, with representatives at all levels and representing all types of people; there is the notion of truthfulness that people expect from the information they receive from or about the government. Yet this is not the case for other countries in the world; some lesser developed countries are not always as transparent and forthcoming with their information, leaning on forms of propaganda to disseminate the ideas created by those in charge. So what is the biggest difference between a democratic country compared to one that is not truly democratic? It comes in the form people receive and evaluate information. In the United States, persuasive messages exist to compel people to do the right thing, unlike propaganda where the information is not entirely truthful.
Often times the words propaganda and persuasion are used interchangeably and incorrectly to describe a scenario where individuals are conditioned to believe a certain way based on communication between that individual and another or an organization. The differences between the terms can be challenging to separate, as they use each other to build on themselves. Propaganda is defined by scholars in multiple ways, but the universal and most accepted definition is planned communication with the purpose of shaping perceptions, manipulating cognitions, and redirecting behavior to achieve the desired intent of the propagandist. Propaganda bases itself upon disseminating information which at some times is untrue for the purpose of getting an individual or group to think or act in a certain way; it can come in the form of advertisements, political platforms, public service announcements, and other modes of communication. Persuasion divides from propaganda at this point by being rooted in absolute truth and original sourcing, offering to promote, not force, an opinion of the creator. Based on the notions that persuasion is an interactive process between the sender and receiver, it has the opportunity to influence an individual in a way that had not been thought of previously.
The differences between the types of information the public receives is an accurate measurement of the efficiency of government a country functions with. Although this may not seem correlated to my intended blog topic, I find it important to educate people on the subtleties of syntax and diction in order to understand more of the world around us.

As my first real blog post discussing my passion for learning about the world around us, I wanted to write about the opportunities available to Penn State students to try and learn new things about our global community. These activities can be something as simple as eating a new food in the dining hall to taking a foreign language class. Within these extremes of attempting something new are daily activities sponsored by the Penn State community that are present in our dining halls, news bulletins, mass emails, and the millions of posters hanging around campus. I urge you to try something new this week that you may see everyday and it piques your interest. You’ll never know if you like something until you try it!

Penn State’s learning opportunities are globally available when one thinks about it; the most apparent experiences are Study Abroad or studying foreign languages. Through the School of Global Studies, Penn State offers over 20 different languages to learn, plus other opportunities to network with speakers of lesser known languages. At the same time, the school helps to connect students with Study Abroad programs that best fit their intended major. Without going into specific details of every single program offered here, most of the courses are centered around learning opportunities across the world. You would travel to the foreign lands and spend time immersed in the culture to the point where you could easily pick up a second language or other cultural aspect quite quickly. Whether or not you are taking classes while visiting the country, learning about the daily mechanics of a country unveil subtle opportunities to learn about the culture you are surrounded in.

This past week, I had the opportunity to attend the Study Abroad involvement fair in Alumni Hall. The room was filled with rows and rows of tables representing different associations and programs that offer a wide array of possibilities for every type of student. As I left with a stack of brochures and free stickers, I realized what great opportunity to travel and learn of new cultures lay ahead of me. Although Study Abroad may not your most orthodox way of learning, experience and hands-on activities can be helpful for some students of life. Personally, I need to work through problems on my own terms and through my own thought processes to fully comprehend an issue. However, through the guidance and help of Penn State faculty make it easy to find exactly what you can handle that would best suit your learning style.

As I move on through college, I hope to gain real world experience through internships and trips to foreign countries. For me, this is the best way to begin to unlock the mysteries of the world that pervades us. As for what I can do now, I attempt to read and learn about the cultures that intrigue me most, one day hoping to experience them in person. Wanderlust will have to do for now.