This week, as we move through Winter Solstice, with these so-short days (at least if you are in the Western Hemisphere) things begin to feel increasingly tricky for many of us. As Carolyn said in recent post ‘It’s a shit show out there, beautiful people’…
To help, Kundalini Global will not tell you what you ‘should’ do… we will not make claims about what we offer being the antidote for illness, we will not be drawn into what Carolyn describes as the ‘crater of chaos, end-of-worlds-scenarios, vaccine polarities’ but we will do something…
We can offer you community. We can put on free classes. Provide space where you can, if you can allow it, soften… move toward feeling safer, safe enough, more still, more able to stay present.
You gift teachers, when you show up to class, with the possibility of guiding you toward these things.
Pay attention to your levels of stress, anger, fear… before and after a class
Using breath and posture to change how we feel affects not only us but all of those around us. If we find ourselves present we may, from there, feel able to let go or lessen the stress, the fear… it could even help with some of the rage, anger and resentment that this time invites us all to join in with.
Do you notice the changes? Before and after a practise? Perhaps with us, perhaps elsewhere or alone? If you do … mark it. Tell yourself ‘I like how I feel different, now, I will do this again tomorrow…’
In the early days of the pandemic many of us moved toward yoga in the scrambling and questioning and chaos of it all. Some of us had already been practising for years and had teachers we knew, felt, would offer solace. Others wondered, having heard so much about yoga and mental health… could yoga and meditation be used preventatively?
A time for yoga?
If you look at the data on Internet searches, the interest in yoga hit its absolute peak during the 2020 coronavirus quarantine. The searching online for classes went through the roof. March 2020 saw the highest interest in yoga ever, and it was a peak in interest that lasted longer than any of those usually seen at popular times for practise. Like the New Year.
This interest was marked by researchers who quickly began to look into the impact of yoga, or breath work, of meditation, on our experience of this time.
If you’re someone who loves the data… or someone skeptical of how yoga helps…
Of course, we are living in this. Still. Now. The data still amasses, the studies continue and this, all of this, is so new. We recently posted about one of the studies out there. Many seemed curious about the data and wanted to know more, find more to explore and so we thought, today, we would look at a little more of the evidence out there, so far, for how taking on a yoga practise or a breath practise helps.
We will never claim that yoga is a substitute for medical care, or therapy for your physical or mental health. But we do see for ourselves as teachers how our practise is beneficial for us, individually as practitioners, and what is reported back from those who attend classes regularly. And we can say that we agree with what the majority of the research shows… that yoga and breath work may well be an important adjunctive treatment for COVID-19 and highly likely is enormously beneficial to help us cope with the stress, fear and anxiety these times invite us to join in with.
Here we link to various studies. None of them are exhaustive, but all offer food for thought.
The stats…
- This study, which, though small, showed that the frequency of a yoga and/or meditation practice was positively associated with mental wellbeing, with participants who had a daily practice having the highest wellbeing scores. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8144767/
It also showed that those practising yoga had lower scores relative to depression, stress, anxiety, reporting higher for sense of wellbeing, and peace of mind than those not practising yoga.
- For those who have, or have had, the virus, this study, published in the journal Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends breathing exercises designed to rebuild respiratory muscles that have been impacted by an experience of the COVID-19 virus. It recommends a series of breathing exercises, depending on the severity of symptoms. https://journals.lww.com/ajpmr/Fulltext/2020/09000/Physical_Medicine_and_Rehabilitation_and_Pulmonary.1.aspx?MvBriefArticleId=43685
It also reports on the benefits of stretching – in how stretching has been shown to increase ‘compliance’ (pulmonary compliance, which is a measure of the lung expandability) by as much as 50 ml. This is relative to stretching including the neck, upper chest, pectoralis major and lateral chest stretches (think Spinal Flexes, Spinal Twists, Sufi Grind). . .
Diaphragmatic breathing, engaging the diaphragm while minimising the action of accessory muscles, breathing in through the nose with active abdominal muscle contraction on the exhale to increase abdominal pressure and push diaphragm up to ‘a more favourable length tension’ is also recommended for COVID-19 patients. This is something those who practise Kundalini Global are doing with Breath of Fire and many more of our breath practises.
- This study aimed to measure the effect of yoga and other spiritual practices on what they label as ‘illness perception’, ‘wellbeing measures’ and ‘emotion regulation strategies’ for adults during lockdown. Those who practiced yoga reported having higher personal control, higher coherence/understanding, lower emotional impact, lower risk and higher preventive control for contracting COVID19 than other spiritual practitioners and non-practitioners.
It also showed that those practising yoga had lower scores relative to depression, stress, anxiety, reporting higher for sense of wellbeing, and peace of mind than those not practising yoga. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8257944/
- This review, examining ‘post-acute covid-19 in primary care’ (essentially looking at ‘Long COVID’) recommends “breath control” techniques that involve breath retention to work through chronic coughing and breathlessness. Again, a practise that comes in to what Kundalini Global teaches regularly. https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3026
Many other studies are out there, some ongoing, some fascinating. We are yet to come across any that in any way suggest yoga, breath work, meditation as anything other than helpful in this time.
With so much on offer for free, this coming week, it’s a wonderful opportunity to see for yourself.
Sign up to Carolyn’s email newsletter here (if a popup does not appear you’ll find where to sign up at the bottom of the page) and you will get all the links.
The first free class is tomorrow morning, 21/12/22, at 10am. 75 minutes. Kundalini Global Yoga. With Carolyn. We’d love to see you there.
If we do not see you in class then we hope that you have a magical experience of the coming week or, if not, a bearable one. Be kind to you.
Sending love xxx
