What COVID-19 Means for Your Practice

Is your mat missing you?

It means your practice is more important than ever.

Before I continue, let me expand on “practice.” While I’m speaking to a yoga practice here, you can easily substitute that word for a walk, run, bike ride, hike, swim, etc. What I’m talking about is that activity you did as part of your routine before COVID-19.

Your practice often reflects your life and vice-versa. Your mental and physical health are more important than ever as you navigate COVID-19 and its effects on your day-to-day life. Now is the time to prioritize your practice.

With everybody’s life in a weird limbo of remembering "normal," finding a new "normal," and looking forward to the future “back to normal,” it's likely your practice has taken a toll. If you were going to a studio regularly, the recent change has probably been dramatic. If you were already practicing at home, the difference was perhaps more subtle, but still felt. But what if you could use your practice to help re-structure your day and create a resemblance of that “normal” feeling we’re all looking for? Well, you can!

If you were going to a yoga class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:00PM, keep doing it from home. If you used to wake up early during the week to make the first-morning class, keep doing it from home. You just need enough space for your mat. Find a class online that suits you (check with your local yoga studio – many are offering virtual classes) and press play!

Life at home can be hectic, especially now. It’s hard to make that time for yourself. Enlist help if you can, improvise if you need to. If you don’t have a helping hand, is there a better time of day that you can designate for yourself? It might take a little figuring out, but it will be worth it! Getting even a small piece of your once-normal practice back can help with your physical and mental health.

Really, our practice is often more of a mental break than anything else. It gives us a chance to stop thinking and to focus on something else, like our breath, or why the instructor is making us hold a pose for so long (LOL). Even 5 minutes on your mat can help you feel more relaxed and at ease. Your practice can also be a way to release pent up energy and stress, which we all have more of right now.

Keeping up with your mental and physical health is a great way to help naturally defend against COVID-19, along with washing your hands, staying home, and breathing through your nose (we’re not joking about breathing through your nose – see why here). So keep up your practice, whatever it may be!

Namaste (in good health),

Natalie