The New Year has come and gone, and so have many New Years resolutions. Sorry, Mom, but you'll have to settle for me being a semi-regular flosser. It seems like the most popular ones are health related. I need to lose weight. I need to eat healthier and exercise more. At their core, what are these resolutions? Usually they involve taking a step towards our ideal lifestyle, living a better or longer life. How about happiness? Isn't that the main goal anyway?

I am definitely a Type-A person, always motivated and self-driven. When I was younger, that motivator was perfectionism. Somewhere along the way it evolved into stress. I was always stressed, and not the good type. The only way I would feel prepared for a test was if I stressed and prepared until I thoroughly exhausted myself, until I lost the ability to do anything but sleep and watch Netflix. Stress was constant, subject to graduation but never ceasing. My parents thought it could negatively affect my health. I honestly thought it was normal.

During my first semester, I took yoga three days a week for a PE credit. It allowed me to feel truly relaxed for the first time in a long, long time. One hour of yoga was better for stress relief than four hours of Netflix and ice cream. Don't get me wrong, it was hard at first.

We would go into a pose and my leg or arm would shake uncontrollably. "If you're experiencing shakiness, yogic philosophy would tell us that is negative energy leaving the body," said the instructor. Get it out, all of it. Please.

I got better at the poses, not quite graceful, but almost. I was more aware of where my body was, and stood up straighter. This plastic girl got semi-elastic, if you know what I'm saying. The breathing exercises also helped me get to sleep at night. She taught me how to breathe to reset my brain when I got stressed, and the stress left.

Now, I feel completely different. My college experience is significantly less stressful than my high school one. At first, it felt weird. I didn't know how to operate without the stress. How long should I study? Am I taking this seriously enough? But it's more comfortable, and my grades are as great as ever. I am happier, and probably healthier too.

Thank you. Thank you yoga for giving me a better life. Thank you Rollins, for enabling me to take it last semester, and to continue now. Thank you to my instructor for creating a peaceful, judgement free environment. Thank you for giving me a happy life. I am enjoying it.