Relaxation. When you hear this word, what comes to mind? For some people it may be chilling with friends, others taking a nap, but what about the more unique practices? Two that are not as common are crocheting and yoga. The methodologies of both practices help to soothe, relax, and destress you. 

Crocheting

The first of the unique practices is crocheting. While at first, the craft may not seem relaxing (due to stress and struggles that come with learning something new), crocheting becomes very calming and relaxing when you know what you are doing and are comfortable with it. Amy Solovay on thesprucecrafts.com wrote, “you can just stitch away, almost mindlessly, reaping all of the benefits of crochet.” Ben Steinman, a current Junior at Pennridge, expressed similar sentiments. He crochets because “it’s mindless. I like it because there is some thought behind it but a lot of it is just repeated motion.” As an AP student, Steinman works with a lot of higher-level thinking, and he mentioned that crocheting is a nice break. 

Naturally, the patterns that help you relax the most are those that require the least amount of thinking, so if you are trying to find something soothing, avoid patterns that require too many stitches, switching of colors, or calculating stitch counts. The less that you have to do, the better! Solovay’s blog includes a list of patterns that do not involve much thinking. They can help you practice mindfulness and relaxation. 

Yoga

Another relaxing practice is yoga. It is the union of the mind, body, soul, and spirit. Traditional yoga has been practiced and studied for thousands of years, as it is a big part of Hinduism. Research shows that yoga helps to reduce stress and anxiety, as well as lower blood pressure and heart rate. Aside from just stretching, it is important to recognize that a big part of yoga is also spiritual. Hatha yoga, which is a physical yoga practice, is especially good for stress management, hence why it is called the yoga of balance. Hatha yoga includes physical postures and breathing techniques, both of which help to calm the mind, body, and spirit. Yoga has also been shown to help manage symptoms of depression.

Pennridge High School senior, Megan Lokuta, has been practicing yoga for about a year. “… It helps clear my mind and makes me feel relaxed after,” she said. “It helps me forget about what I was stressed about and approach it in a better way,” Megan added. By focusing on different poses (called asanas) or breathing exercises, yoga takes your mind off of whatever stressors may be going on in your life. 

There are so many different ways to relax, two of them being crocheting and yoga. Although they are so different from each other, they both can be done to help achieve the same thing. If you are feeling super stressed, especially during this time of year with exams, try starting an activity to help ease your mind!