With finals week rapidly approaching, most students are being bombarded with assignments and bogged down by stress. This year, experiment with a new method of pre-finals rejuvenation — yoga. With proper stretching and exercise, you can alleviate some anxiety and turn your body into a lean, flexible and strong machine.

According to a study conducted by the Yoga Journal, 16.5 million Americans now practice yoga. This marks a 5.6 percent increase since 2004 and a 43 percent increase since 2002. The fastest-growing segment of yoga aficionados is the 18 to 24 age group, whose allegiance to the activity increased by 46 percent in one year, the journal says.

In addition, the study reports that almost one in seven people who have not tried yoga — or, about 25 million people — say they intend to try yoga within the next 12 months.

“Anyone who has tried yoga can attest that what may begin as a physical workout soon brings a sense of calm and quiet to our minds and hearts,” says Nanci Conniff, a yoga instructor on campus. “When you can hold your body still you can hold your brain still. Asana [another word for yoga postures] can begin to teach us this.”

Sophomore Niji Jain, who has practiced yoga for three years, says she agrees with Conniff’s claims.

“It helps me relieve stress because for the hour or half hour during the day that I am doing yoga, I am totally focused on that, and not thinking about things like school,” Jain explains. “That comes without trying. I don’t have to force myself to focus on my yoga practice — it comes by itself.”

While holding each of the yoga positions, yogis (yoga instructors) remind their students to breathe. These cues allow people to “focus on breathing from the stomach, which revitalizes [their] energy and helps to clear [their] minds,” says sophomore Beth Keolanui, who has practiced yoga for about a year.

Conniff explains that people decide to take up yoga for many reasons.

“I suspect that people hear that they will develop a sense of calm, and who doesn’t need that in our world today?” Conniff says. “Others come to increase their flexibility and core strength and to burn a few extra calories. Yoga doesn’t disappoint any of them.”

Jain says that she does yoga not only because it is good for flexibility, toning, breathing control and relaxation, but also because it strengthens her mind.

“It gives me energy, and it also teaches me a lot about how the body works, and how to best sit and stand so that my posture is good,” Jain explains. “This, in turn, prevents me from getting lower back pain and tension in my neck. Knowledge of yoga also gives me handy little things that I can apply to my daily life — like how to sit to help digestion, or how to get rid of hiccups, or how to have better balance. Basically, yoga keeps me more grounded, physically and mentally.”

Keolanui also says she does yoga because it challenges her to hold positions that test her strength and flexibility.

“Although yoga does these things, it also gives me time to focus on my body, like how it feels, and what is good and bad — sort of a tune-up,” Keolanui explains.

For sophomore Kat Kershner, yoga is “purely physical.”

“I think using your body takes your mind off of what isn’t going right and makes you appreciate what is,” Kershner says. “I mean, maybe you have 1,000 pages of reading to do, but at least your knees haven’t given out on you, right?”

Kershner says that she would definitely recommend yoga — as well as any other physical activity — for stressed out students during finals week.

“I think Stanford students often get too caught up in the life of the mind to pay attention to how much better they feel after having put their bodies to

use in some way,” Kershner says. “Classes are important, but all in all it’s about balance and that is what yoga is all about.”