Covid-19 and Yoga - Can Yoga Help You Cope Better?

Disruptions to our lives by Covid-19 have been unprecedented. As cases of the virus soars and each country is left to fight its own stake of the unfolding pandemic, sufferings, anxieties, depressions, sicknesses and sadness have permeated people’s lives.

Working from home, wearing masks, living in isolation, practicing social distancing and unhealthy eating habits have become a stressful norm we’re adapting to.  While it’s not a silver bullet, yoga offers a unique way of helping people cope better in these uncertain, endemic times.

Established Stress Management Practice

Yoga comes to mind because of its effectiveness in alleviating stress, strengthening both body and mind and enhancing overall wellbeing. Usefulness of yoga in the management of stressful times and outcomes has been well studied and its benefits clear for all.

For instance, those who engage in yoga workouts are able to deal with PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) way better, including suffering from little to no depression and anxiety attacks.

Positives for the Confined

While it’s not the best example and comparison, a study on incarcerated individuals who were engaging in a yoga program reported positive outcomes that indicated yoga can help even those confined by the Corona Virus. In the study, the restricted individuals were able to regulate their emotions, improve their post-traumatic traumas, forgive easily and increase self-love.

They also had better sleep, didn’t face any serious anxiety attacks and had come up with effective personal coping mechanisms.

Yoga is Effective in Covid-19 Related Stresses

Yoga can help you manage depression, regulate and control yourself better during the pandemic as you enhance your physical and mental health with consistent workouts. While people have inherent coping mechanisms, at times responding to acute stresses can be lopsided.

The pandemic is painting a bleak future in most cases activating stress and self-pity due to the reality of the tough times ahead. Yoga practitioners are better off though as the discipline activates the body’s parasympathetic mechanism, which is actually how the human body relaxes and reposes.

In the process, yoga gives yogis an opportunity to regulate and cultivate balance leaving them tranquil, compassionate and happy. For instance, the vagus nerve is activated by mindful meditation and breathing waking up the parasympathetic response. This offers a person the power to manage stressfulness effectively.

Boost Beauty with Poses

Yoga has a lot to do with poses, a practice so special it actually has an effect on the skin and face. Whether born with natural beauty or not, certain yoga poses leave the skin glowing, well hydrated and unblemished. The right food regimen and yoga programs you can actually boost your body immunity while treating your skin naturally without the need to use costly cosmetics whether quarantined at home or self-distancing at work.

Body Alignment with Asana

Yoga differs from other workouts in different ways. At home or your favorite yoga studio, Asana, postures in the practice, offer psychophysiological outcomes hard to find in other physical workouts.

Through asana a person recuperating from the virus or just self-distancing away from the general public is able to strengthen their mind while creating a better internal awareness. Rather than just engage the body and its organs as in other exercises, yoga allows a person to build better personal awareness while aligning and balancing the mental and the physical.

Valuable Clinical Tool

Living under the shadow of Covid-19 has shown the sheer lack of sufficient self-care tools. Yoga offers a unique practice in these frightful times. In fact, therapists have been receiving guidance on how to incorporate yoga in trauma treatments considering its empirical soundness, especially if used together with other cures to benefit both the mind and body. Clinicians have resorted to yoga to make conventional cures effective and responsive.

Anxiousness isn’t Abnormal

As the effects of the pandemic continues to be felt stress, anxiety and sadness are expected, which is actually normal and anticipated. Even so, stress can take a toll on the body and mind if left unchecked.

Considering yoga’s regular meditation routines have a calming effect and easily practiced anywhere at any given time, starting yoga classes online or offline could be all you need to survive and cope with Covid-19. For example, yoga’s breathing exercises for 20-30 minutes daily has been found to effortlessly lower both tension and nerviness.

Most importantly, reach out to other yogis, find friends and family and practice yoga together as you aim to boost your self-care. No one knows how long the Corona Virus will be around but with yoga programs and proper support you won’t have to stop taking care of your mental and physical health.