The Oakway Center and Orchard street locations offer over 50 classes to choose from each week. Students can even receive a discount with their UO id cards. Glow Yoga in Eugene, Oregon, on Jan., 17th, 2024. (Kemper Flood/ Emerald)
On Saturday, Jan. 6, Glow Yoga studio opened its second location on Orchard Street. Chelsea Duke, the owner of Glow, has been a yoga instructor for UO’s Athletic department for the past 10 years. The Orchard location will have heated classes focusing on yoga classes and strength-based workouts. The University of Oregon and Glow supply various meditation and strength-based workouts to UO students in order to educate them on ways to deal with stressors and improve their mental health.
“We [Glow] do a sport-specific session,” Duke said. “Not only were we working on keeping their [UO student athletes] physical bodies safe and functioning at a high capacity… we have this element of learning how to regulate their central nervous system shift out of that fight or flight mode that is necessary for a student-athlete to be in.”
Duke said that her yoga sessions with UO athletes are built to convey a beneficial and necessary mindset.
“There’s so much coming at them as far as information and stimulation that a mindfulness practice or learning how to be present within yourself is something that I think is hugely beneficial and necessary,” Duke said.
Glow opened its second location following an influx of UO students at Glow’s Oakway Center location over the past couple of years.
“As I noticed that there was this huge influx in university students, I was like, ‘Man, it would be so great to have a location that’s accessible and walkable,’” Duke said. “I just had this vision of being able to provide a space that was really more geared toward university students, and it’s open to everyone.”
Duke said that Glow on Orchard was designed with the intention of providing a more accessible and student-based studio.
According to Duke, based on the college-age demographic at the Oakway location, it was important for Glow to provide classes that were popular amongst students at the new Orchard studio.
“We also did analyze looking at that college-age demographic,” said Duke. “Those strength-based classes where they’re [UO students] getting the workout that they want, but they’re also getting that mindfulness component woven in.”
Additionally, the classes were built “to learn how to take care of your mental health.”
Between Jan. 6-14, Glow hosted several free yoga classes for the public. Glow also provides several services to students in order to make the practice more accessible, including a 20% discount, an ambassador program, and a work trade program.
“I’m such a big believer in learning these tactics of self-care at the age of a university student,” Duke said.
Similarly, the UO’s Physical Education department offers a variety of 1-credit yoga courses to students.
“What I’m actually teaching people to do is observe systematically. Observe the sensations that are happening in their body,” UO Street Yoga Certified Instructor Nathaniel Lundin said.
Lundin teaches a variety of courses, including Hatha Yoga and PEMB 216 Vinyasa Flow Yoga.
“It’s definitely beneficial,” yoga participant and UO student Sophia Greene said. “Coming after class, it’s just a moment of peace and quiet. I feel like us students are just go-go-go and it can be a nice just break.”
Lundin teaches a style of yoga called Hatha Yoga. Their intention with the classes is to calm the nervous system.
“The intention is to manipulate the nervous system in such a way that we find a way to access the calming aspect of the nervous system right because you have fight or flight mode,” Lundin said. “But you also have rest and digest mode and breathe and chill mode, and we want to be able to access that on purpose.”
UO Student Recreation Center also offers a variety of yoga community classes and workshops for UO community members through the REC membership and community card services.
“[Yoga is] a moment for yourself — self-care,” Greene said.
