By Sarah Pye
 Assistant Lifestyles Editor

“5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 … You did it!”

Students in Dr. David Lowry’s Saturday morning yoga class are well acquainted with this phrase. It is just a small part of the running commentary Lowry keeps up to motivate students during the 90-minute class, offered through the Intramurals department.Lowry, a communication professor, teaches yoga on Saturday mornings more to bring health and wellness to Pepperdine students than for the monetary compensation he receives.

“It’s almost enough to pay for the gas to get here,” Lowry joked. “I just want to be a part of things. I would do it even if I didn’t get paid.”

Students in the class are glad Lowry has stepped out of the Communication department to help them improve their health.

“He’s really good,” said freshman Elizabeth Reinking, a student in Lowry’s yoga class. “He’s funny, and he keeps you from getting bored, even though it’s a really long class.”

Reinking enjoys it when professors step outside the academic world to connect with students on another level. “It’s kind of like they’re multi-talented,” she said. “They are bringing more than one thing to the university.”

Junior Tessa Jasso also enjoys seeing professors outside in a non-traditional setting.

“It shows that they care about the students,” Jasso said.”

Lowry enjoys the connection.

“My real goal,” Lowry said, “is to connect with students outside of the classroom. We’re all here for better health, and because we want to do something good for our bodies.”

According to Lowry, yoga not only improves fitness and flexibility, but can help keep students happy and stress-free as well.

After discovering yoga four years ago, Lowry said he now does some yoga every day, and does his full, intensive routine five days per week. He cannot stress enough how important yoga is to his lifestyle.

“It has tremendous benefits in everyday life,” Lowry said. “You feel better, healthier, more vigorous. Plus, just getting the flexibility back that you had when you were younger is wonderful.”

The class caters to students at all levels of yoga experience, from mere beginners to the more proficient.

“I like how he talks you through things,” junior Kanoe Hook said. “It looks hard, but he breaks it down, and it makes it a lot easier for those of us who aren’t as flexible.”

Including the undergraduate and graduate students, the class now has an average attendance of 20.

“We’ve had some staff members who’ve come,” Lowry said. “I hope we get some faculty. It would be a great benefit to them. In some ways, they need it even more than the students.”

For more information on this and other intramurals classes, contact the intramurals.

CAPTION

Photo by Leiola Pasciuta

January 31, 2002