Speaker:
Class:
Topic: Entertainment
OUTLINE
YOGA
Speaker’s role: A yoga coach
Audience’s role: College students
I.
INTRODUCTION
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Vy, your yoga coach today
Thesis statement: It is important to be aware that yoga is a practice for everyone and one
of my favorite things about it is that it is different for everyone. It is a great way to improve
self-awareness and a hobby with countless health benefits.
Purpose: To persuade my audience that college students should practice yoga due to the
fact that it reduces stress and anxiety, it’s a beneficial exercise and it promotes mindfulness.
Overview: Today I will persuade you that college students should practice yoga. I will
focus on three major points
+ First of all, I’ll tell you about the reduction of stress and anxiety
+ Secondly, I’m going to talk about how yoga is a beneficial exercise.
+ Finally, I’m going to talk about how yoga promotes mindfulness
Now let’s turn to the first part of my speech which is about:
II.
BODY
1. First, let’s discuss the reduction of stress and anxiety.
A. College is a very stressful time for everyone.
+ With countless due dates and classes to balance it can be easy to become
overwhelmed
 According to my audience analysis conducted on April 6, 2018, 70% of students
said they were pretty stressed out this semester and 100% of students that they
feel anxious time to time.
 As you can see it is completely normal to feel stressed out during school and
suffer from anxiety and no one is alone in feeling that way.
+ Yoga can be used as a healthy way to deal with that stress.
 Instead of turning to some of the popular ways to deal with stress in college like,
binge eating and drinking, online shopping and lots of naps, a student can do a
short yoga sequence to reduce their stress.
 The book Yoga for Athletes, written by Ryanne Cunningham in October of 2016,
states: The stress hormone cortisol is carried in your body during stressful times.
While practicing a yoga sequence, you are going through a series of movements,
poses and deep breathing which decreases your levels of cortisol. Afterward, you
feel more relaxed and less stressed. Yoga won’t make your problems go away
but provide you with a calm mind ready to take on challenges.
Transition: Now that we have talked about the reduction of stress and anxiety through
yoga, let’s discuss how yoga is a beneficial exercise.
2. Second, let’s discuss how yoga is a beneficial exercise.
A. Yoga has very many physical benefits and will help you stay in shape.
+ Staying in shape is an amazing thing you can do for your health and is something that is
on many students minds as they enter college in fear of the “freshman 15”
 An article in Yoga Journal magazine, written by Alisa Bauman in October of 2002,
a study showed that after eight weeks, the students' muscular strength had increased
by as much as 31 percent, muscular endurance by 57 percent, flexibility by as much
as 188 percent.
 Along with increasing flexibility, yoga is literally a flexible workout, there are
endless types of yoga, so before you stay it’s not for you, take a look at what’s out
there. My audience analysis also concluded that majority of students surveyed said
that they could put aside an hour or less to workout. Yoga would be the perfect
workout to squeeze into a busy schedule. According to an article titled “How long
is a yoga session?” Written by Andrea Cespedes in January 2018 If you have just
20, 10 or even 5 minutes, you can squeeze in a yoga session. Online practices of
these lengths are readily available, or perhaps you practice on your own.
+ Yoga can be a great addition to your current workout routine and has been known to help
athletes in their performance
 In an interview conducted with a UNO dance team member who practices yoga
regularly when asked, how yoga helps her in dance? She responded that doing yoga
3 times a week and holding new or challenging poses helps with her flexibility and
makes it easier for her to go longer.
Transition: Now that we have looked at why yoga is a beneficial exercise let’s look at
how it promotes mindfulness.
3. Third, let’s discuss how yoga promotes mindfulness
A. Having a mindful lifestyle can allow you to live life to the fullest.
+ Being mindful in college has been correlated with success in classes.
 According to an article from huffingtonpost.com titled, “The secret to helping
college students focus?” Published in January 2014 Researchers from the University
of Miami found that students who took a seven-week mindfulness training course
had improved attention and less mind-wandering compared with a control group
that didn’t receive the training
 It can be beneficial to develop an understanding of mindfulness in college so that
you have a foundation for the rest of your life.
+ Practicing yoga can help you create that foundation.
 Unlike other types of workouts yoga encourages you to be in tune with the present,
aware of your surroundings and pay attention to the sensations in your body.
 After a few practices the mindset that you have during a yoga workout will reflect
in your everyday life and actions and provide you will a better outlook as you will
be more mindful during your daily activities.
III.
CONCLUSION
Signpost and Summary: In conclusion, today I discussed with you why college students
should do yoga because it reduces stress and anxiety, it is a beneficial exercise and it
promotes mindfulness
Importance: It is important for students to have a healthy way to deal with stressful times
in college, yoga is a hobby that has many physical and emotional benefits that can help you
to live a better life.
Final punch: With finals just around the corner, what’s stopping you from taking 10
minutes find some peace in your mind, improve your test scores and overall health.
It leads to the end of my presentation today. Thank you for listening!