By Emma Bynes
@emma_bynes4
Li Li is a graduate student at Springfield College who teaches many of the wellness classes required as part of the core curriculum. She teaches Wellness 100, as well as a 200-level course on yoga.
The Student: What drives your love for physical education?
Li: I think the beginning of my love for physical education came from my high school basketball coach (Coach Gao), who gives me a great example of what an excellent coach is, and motivated me to want to be an influential coach and physical education teacher like him. So I chose to study physical education for my bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. I want to take what I’ve learned and help my students better grow and serve more people.
The Student: What is your favorite dimension of wellness and why?
Li: It depends on my stage, and at the moment, my favorite is intellectual wellness. Intellectual wellness means exploring new concepts, improving skills and applying new thinking methods to current challenges. It means we need a growth mindset to face different challenges when facing difficult times. Just this week, we explored intellectual wellness through
Kam Jam, cornhole and volleyball; some items we are good at and some we are not, so what should we do when we meet an item we are not good at? We can use a growth mindset to challenge it and adapt. Or do we choose to avoid it? My favorite is intellectual wellness because I want to keep challenging myself to step out of my comfort zone to help me grow better. I hope to help you build bridges between wellness and life philosophy through these sports.
The Student: Why do you love teaching students at Springfield College?
Li: First of all, I love physical education and teaching, and now I am also studying for my PhD in physical education. I want to combine physical education teaching and research better. Springfield College provides me with a good platform and practice opportunity; for example, I am also teaching a Wellness 200 yoga course and working on teaching research. I feel that in this process of teaching and researching simultaneously, I can discover some problems or phenomena that I have never found before, which helps me and my students to learn more from a multi-dimensional perspective.
The Student: Do you prefer exercising outside or inside and why?
Li: It depends on the weather. If it’s a sunny day, I prefer to work outdoors because the sun gives me more energy.
The Student: What is your favorite area in our wellness center and why?
Li: I used to like the strength training area because I felt that strength could give me more power. Now, I prefer the aerobic area and the yoga room because both can help me reduce my stress.
The Student: How do you think the different dimensions of wellness embody “mind, body and spirit”?
Li: I think the different dimensions of wellness mutually affect the “mind, body and spirit.” For example, when you are facing a difficult or stressful situation (mind), maybe you choose to run (physical wellness), play basketball (social wellness), talk to your friends (emotional wellness), meditate (spiritual wellness), calmly analyze the cause and find a solution to the stress and the situation (intellectual wellness) to help you adjust your state. On the contrary, when you have a sense of accomplishment and responsibility in your favorite field (occupational wellness), you will be more motivated and enthusiastic (mind) to devote yourself to your career and study. To fulfill your mission (spirit) better, you may choose different ways of exercise (body) to make your body stronger, which better balances the mind, body and spirit. We hope that through different sports and exploring various dimensions of wellness, [we] help students find their wellness balance of “mind, body and spirit.”
The Student: What is your favorite way to exercise?
Li: Playing tennis because the sport involves many life philosophies besides physical exercise.
Photo Courtesy of Li Li