MTSU yoga classes invite community to stretch, focus [+VIDEO]

It’s time for the campus community to get limber with the new fall 2015 session of yoga and meditation classes at MTSU.

Practitioners of yoga demonstrate techniques they have learned from Walker Purcell, whose new semester of yoga and meditation classes will begin Saturday, Sept. 19, in the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building at MTSU. (MTSU photos by News and Media Relations)

The classes will begin from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, in the Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors College Building on campus. A searchable, printable campus parking map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParking2015-16.

The classes, which are organized through MTSU’s Center for Accelerated Language Acquisition, will continue through Saturday, Dec. 5.

Instructor Walker Purcell is certified by the Isha School of Hatha Yoga in southern India, which requires 1,500 hours of formal training above the industry standard.

He has visited India four times as part of his professional development and has practiced yoga and meditation for 10 years.

“Everything is pretty beginner-friendly,” said Purcell. “Whatever class you come for, you always get a practice to take home with you. It’s very amenable to people of various flexibilities.”

The classes, which are open to the public as well as the MTSU community, are designed to accommodate both agile young adults and more mature adults who might have undergone knee or hip replacements.

“Within a single class, we had an 18-year-old student and three 70-year-old faculty/staff and members of the community, and they were all able to get something out of the class,” Purcell said.

Beginning Oct. 24-25, Purcell will introduce developing attention and memory classes, which he hopes will become popular with students hoping to improve their study skills.

Purcell described the technique as “developing a different kind of attention and a different kind of focus, from within, from the body, from your own system.”

Another course offering is Surya Shakti, which is a holistic process geared toward physical well-being by aligning the body with the cycles of the sun.

Prices are $30 per person for the Inner Balance course, $60 for Surya Shakti, $65 for Developing Attention and Memory and $70 for Surya Kriya.

You can watch a video of Purcell demonstrating yoga below.