As a locked-down stir-crazy yoga teacher, I thought it might be interesting and perhaps even useful to try and get a sense of what a post-lockdown yoga world could look like. Although I don't have a crystal ball, one thing I can say for certain is that when we all eventually get back to class it won’t be anything like what we’ve experienced before.
All yoga classes, whether in a local church hall or an exclusive members club won’t officially be able to resume until the health and wellness sector has been given the go-ahead by the UK government - which at the time of writing thankfully feels like it’s just around the corner and could be as early as mid-July.
Clearly, not everyone’s experience of yoga’s “new normal” is going to be the same, but I’ve tried to come up with an overall vision of what to expect and how to protect yourself when you finally get the chance to return to a yoga class.
I’ve broken my predictions down into three categories:
1. What you can do to protect yourself in class.
2. What to expect, or even suggest, when you return.
3. New trends in yoga we might see as a result of COVID-19.
How to Protect Yourself In Class
The challenge as I see it is that, for the most part, yoga classes take place in a confined space, with a large group of people, over a long period of time: basically all the things you want to be avoiding in the middle of a pandemic. But let’s assume you’ve made an informed choice and you’ve decided to go back to class, the question then becomes - what can I do to protect myself?
Mask or No Mask
I suppose the logical place to start would be to decide whether or not you want to wear a mask. Although wearing a mask is definitely not conducive to yoga and would have been totally unthinkable just a few short months ago, I feel it’s definitely worth thinking about now.
As much as it still remains a personal choice, the advice in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, is to consider wearing a face covering in enclosed public spaces where social distancing can be difficult.
If at this point if you’re not sure, it might be worth just having a mask with you, in many cases that might be all you need to give you the confidence to enter a class environment again.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with wearing a mask in any situation as I feel it’s not only one of the most effective ways of cutting the infection rate but also demonstrating we are committed to other people’s health as well as our own.
I actually have a feeling that wearing face masks could become a new fitness trend with many of the big sports brands producing their own versions of PPE especially designed for athletes. Of course, if you have any questions about any type of face coverings and how it might affect your practice it would be best to seek advice from your yoga teacher.
Hygiene of Studio Mats
Although most of us in the past have become used to rocking up to class and grabbing the first mat we see, that now comes with its own set of risks. According to a recent study in the Lancet, Coronavirus can last on some surfaces up to seven days. Although I’m sure every studio and gym will make hygiene a top priority, bear in mind that there is a big difference between wiping a mat clean and disinfecting it.
If you have any concerns regarding the effectiveness of any of the cleaning products available in class or even how they might affect you, I would definitely talk to your teacher or enquire with a member of staff in advance of the class.
Yoga mats
Because the coronavirus is spread through infected droplets that are either inhaled or that land on surfaces, along with mask wearing, having your own mat or towel might be one of the most effective ways to protect yourself in a class.
If you don’t own a mat and are thinking of investing in one for hygiene reasons, it’s important to understand that yoga mats fall into two basic categories, porous and non-porous.
Many of the new types of yoga mats with improved grip have a porous top layer that absorbs moisture from the surface. This is great when it comes to grip, but it also means that these types of mats are hard to clean thoroughly.
On the other hand, because non-porous mats don’t absorb moisture, they are generally much easier to wipe down and clean, but if you’re using them for a hot or dynamic class, they won’t give you as much grip.
Yoga Towels
Ok full disclosure on yoga towels. I’ve created what I consider to be the best yoga towel on the market - the Gecko Touch. But having said that, this is exactly why I felt I wanted to create it in the first place. I got to a point where I had become tired of having to use what I considered to be unhygienic studio mats and I wanted something that not only would be easy to keep clean but would also give me great performance and grip - and there was nothing out there that did that.
What I’ve always loved about using a yoga towel is that not only are they easy to fold and take to class, but once I’ve finished, I can throw my towel in a washing machine and it dries in no time. They work well on practically any surface and act as a perfect protective barrier when placed on top of a studio mat.
Because I’ve been conscious of using something hygienic to practice on for a while, I’ll often use a combination of my own mat and towel. Not only does using my own towel on top of my mat make my mat last longer, but I can always guarantee that I have at least one totally clean surface to practice on.
Things to Keep In Mind
I know it should go without saying, but please avoid going to class even if you have the slightest suspicion you might be unwell. Also, as it is best to avoid touching your face, you might want to have a small hand-towel with you in class. You might also want to have a small bottle of hand sanitizer just in case. Oh... and if you do end up using a contact tracing app you might want to have your phone on silent beside your mat as well.
What to Expect When You Return to Class
It seems like the phased exit of coming out of lockdown is going to be a lot harder than going in. It breaks my heart, but my fear is that many excellent yoga centres will have gone out of business. However, although it’s going to be slow at first, there will be studios that will re-open – just expect things to be very different.
Social Distancing
Perhaps the most noticeable difference and the hardest challenge facing any yoga studio is going to be how to run classes while having to comply with social distancing. I’m sure at some point we’ll see a reduction of the 2-meter rule but even if we do, it still means that, at least to start with, most classes will only be able to operate at somewhere between 20% to 40% capacity, which is nowhere near enough to sustain a business.
As a way of maintaining the appropriate distance between mats, I think we are likely to see some kind of markings on the floor that delineate the space around each mat. I know we’re a friendly bunch that love to hug, but please bear in mind that you’ll also have to social distance if you have to wait outside a class before it begins.
First Come First Served
Due to the reduction in the number of people able to attend a class, I would imagine that most classes will be run on a first-come-first-served basis, which might also mean you will have to book online or over the phone.
Shorter Classes to Accommodate More People
I have a feeling that a lot of popular classes will over subscribe and as a result we could start seeing shorter classes to accommodate more students. For example, a 1.5-hour class could be replaced by two separate back-to-back 1-hour classes with the same teacher.
Traffic Flow System
A top priority for a studio will be trying to avoid congestion at busy times. As a result, I think we’ll see some studios using traffic flow systems, similar to what we’ve been seeing in supermarkets. This will help to guide people to and from class as quickly and safely as possible.
Face Masks for Staff
I imagine that most gyms and studios will adopt a strict mask-wearing policy for all staff. As for yoga teachers, I’m not sure. Personally, I realise I might not be able to wear a mask the entire time I’m teaching but as long as I’m social distancing I suppose I’ll just have to play it by ear. I will however make sure that I’m wearing a mask when I enter and leave the room.
During the Class
Of course, each teacher has their own way of teaching and we will all be affected differently by mask wearing and distancing. The main difference will be that teachers will no longer be able to do any physical adjustment, which means there is likely to be less emphasis on one-to-one instruction and perhaps more explanation through demonstration.
A Big Emphasis on Hygiene
Naturally, we are bound to see yoga studios adopting increased levels of hygiene with floors being washed and yoga mats being wiped down on a regular basis. We are also bound to see hand sanitiser at the studio doorway for use on the way in and out of class. I would even think that as a way of instilling confidence in the students some studios will go as far as producing visible lists of all the increased measures they’ve put in place.
Reduction in Amenities
Although washbasins and toilets may or may not be in use, I’m fairly sure that to begin with, changing rooms will be out of bounds. Which of course means you’re probably going to have to wear as much of your yoga outfit as possible and use the bathroom before leaving home.
I would also think that any water fountains will be out of use, so also make sure you bring a water bottle. It’s also possible that any snack areas will be closed and seating removed in places where people tend to congregate.
Teachers Who Have Antibodies
I’m not totally sure about this and it could end up becoming quite controversial, but I feel we could see some teachers who have developed natural antibodies using that as a way of promoting their classes. I hope not, this would only divide teachers into two groups, and I don’t think we want to go down that route.
Everyone Will Be Feeling The Pressure
Although everyone will be itching to get back to class, naturally some people are going to be feeling less confident than others. The onus is definitely going to be on the gyms and studios, not only to safeguard everyone’s health but also to ensure a quality of teaching under what can only be described as very challenging conditions. As much as they might only get one chance to get this right, I also feel that we in the yoga community have a role to play by supporting our favourite teacher or studio with our continued presence.
New Post Lockdown Trends in Yoga
Lockdown has hit the yoga industry extremely hard with studios and gyms anxious about remaining in business and yoga teachers losing most if not all of their regular income. On top of this, it looks as if the restrictions on yoga will be eased at a time when we could be entering one of the most significant recessions in years. As a result, I feel studios and teachers are going to have to re-imagine a new future for yoga with new and exciting ways to engage their students.
Restructuring Classes and Times
Because of the forced reduction in class size we could start seeing some studios trying to spread people to classes at quieter times in the day by introducing special rates and offers.
In-Person and Online Classes
As well as being a lifeline to many teachers the biggest innovation to come out of lockdown has been the rise of the Zoom yoga class. These live online classes have become extremely popular and like working from home I feel is a glimpse of the future of yoga.
I believe coronavirus has forced us into a whole new era of yoga and as a result we will start seeing well-known yoga studios from around the world begin transitioning into a hybrid lessons by offering both in-person and on-line classes in parallel. In fact, I’m aware of several big studios that are already fitting out their yoga rooms with cameras and mics with the ability to stream regular live classes.
Outside Classes
Especially now the summers here were bound to see more and more teachers teaching yoga classes in parks. These pop-up style open-air yoga classes are clearly a great way of getting people together in relative safety.
Although it seems to be only small groups at the moment, I could also see with the right organisation and the right amount of space one-off lager outdoors event with a roster of teachers and even live acts and DJ’s. Maybe it’s just my wishful thinking but something like this could be great way of celebrating coming out of lockdown and getting everyone back into yoga!!
The Healing Power Of Satsang
It’s in uncertain times like these that I feel we all need and value our practice more than ever. Even though many of us have been fortunate enough to continue practicing throughout lockdown on our own or via zoom, we are a community, a community that finds strength in coming together to be social and to practice alongside one another – this is what in yoga is known as Satsang.
The purpose and power of Satsang seem to be particularly poignant as and when we can return to class, as the coming together of spiritually like-minded people with similar aspirations is considered to be a way of not only encouraging kinship but is seen as an important role in overcoming hardship and suffering. We were not asked to be in the situation we find ourselves in but with the opportunity to go back to class I feel we can find the ability to rise up and address the challenges we face together.
Take care and take care of each other.
Useful Links
Howard's Online Zoom Yoga For Stress Class
bit.ly/2y3sWlW
Howard's Blog
Can Yoga Really Boost Your Immune System?
agoy.co.uk/blogs/howardsblog/can-yoga-really-boost-your-immune-system
UK Governments Guidance on Coronavirus
www.gov.uk/coronavirus
World Health Organisation Coronavirus Information
www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html
Coronavirus Updates | WIRED
wired.com
Starting Out
As someone who took up yoga after years of combating addiction, chronic stress, and depression, it was hardly surprising that my initial attraction to yoga was based around trying to find the most physically demanding classes I could. As a then thirty-something who had already proven to have a habit of doing things to extremes, it wasn’t long before my once-a-week yoga class had turned into my new healthy obsession.
Although it might have been natural for me at that age to relish something so physical, I realise now that a lot of my attraction to yoga at the beginning was based around my ability to release such a large amount of endorphins – the feel-good hormones that act as the body’s morphine. Of course, looking back I’m just happy that something, whatever it was, got me into yoga because now I consider it to be one of the most significant turning points in my life.
I’m not sure if it was as a result of doing so much yoga, or simply a mellowing with age, but it wasn’t long before I definitely felt my new passion was starting to have some profound effects. The more I did yoga, the more I found myself being drawn towards the philosophy that underpinned it, and the more I got into the philosophy, the more I found myself appreciating many of yoga’s softer and gentler styles – styles that often led me to experience the kind of peace-of-mind I hadn’t experienced in years.
Teaching at Triyoga
So when as a relatively new yoga teacher I got an opportunity to teach at a newly opened Triyoga back in 2000, I realised from the start that I had a problem. You see, the way most yoga teachers choose what they want to teach is that they pick a style they like and are familiar with and go from there. But I wasn’t interested in teaching a style. Instead, I felt I wanted to teach something that was based more on an intention, an intention within the practice that would lead people to discover the same kind of peace-of-mind that I had come to find so valuable in my practice.
I soon realised that changing the standard format of a yoga class to focus on an intention and mental well-being – well this just confused most people. You have to remember that the idea of mental health wasn’t anything like it is today and no one back then was openly talking about stress and anxiety. But I had a feeling that all that was about to change and with a little explaining I managed to persuade Triyoga to switch my then “Yoga Gently” class into the UK’s first drop-in yoga class designed specifically to address stress.
I admit that at the time it did seem a little unusual to have a class on the schedule that was not your typical yoga class – but for me, I just felt I was doing what I had always done. The main difference was that with a new title like “Yoga for Stress” I thought it would not only make sense of what I was trying to do, but would also give me a chance to go deeper into many of the powerful tools yoga has at its disposal for managing stress, which by now I had come to believe lay at the heart of this ancient tradition.
The Tradition of Yoga and Mental Well-Being
Anyone who has ever been even slightly interested in learning about the origins of yoga knows just how frustrating it can become. This is partly because yoga’s history goes so far back to a time when what was being taught was only transmitted orally, but also because much of its history has been buried under so many myths and misconceptions.
But there is one historical text that is often regarded as one of the foremost works on yoga: Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. In it, the author Patanjali lays out a series of sutras or aphorisms that are designed to lead to spiritual enlightenment. In his second and perhaps most important sutra, he clearly lay out the definition of yoga as “Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ”. Which roughly translates as “Yoga is stilling the fluctuations of the mind”.
Yoga Today
This, of course, can be confusing to even the most devoted student as it has nothing to do with either the body or what you should be doing within a position. However, it is worth pointing out that Patanjali’s idea of yoga back in the second century CE has very little to do with what we do in a yoga class today. Nevertheless, I have always felt that this one sutra is extremely important especially when it comes to appreciating what yoga has to offer beyond being regarded as something purely physical.
A lot of how we view as yoga today I feel has come from a more recent free-spirited attitude of yoga being whatever you want it to be – which I don’t have too much of a problem with. The only thing I find as a result of adopting this free-spirited approach is that we’ve quickly lost sight of what yoga has to offer mentally at a time when we perhaps need it more than ever.Self-Awareness
At its deepest level, yoga has always been about developing self-awareness, where it instructs the person practicing to observe herself or himself objectively through meditation and introspection. The main premise is that by increasing one's self-awareness you have the ability to change your emotional state through the simple realisation that you are not so much your thoughts as the entity behind them.
Of course, the majority of us spend our lives without giving our inner self any extra thought. However, when we do start focusing our attention on that inner self, we soon realise how much of our thought process is made up of either going into the past or projecting into the future. The ability we have to recall what happened in our past or imagine scenarios in our future is limited to us humans and gave us an important advantage over other animals.
What Really Causes Our Stress
But in our fast-paced, 24-7 digital world, filled with so much uncertainty, this special ability to project our thoughts forward to a scenario that may or may not even happen often becomes the cause of our stress and anxiety. I’ve always thought the best explanation of how this works comes from Mark Twain when he said, “I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
Without self-awareness, or what has more recently come to be known as “emotional intelligence”, it’s easy to think the cause of our stress comes from external events or actions. But in reality, any external events or actions are just that, an event and action, and in themselves don’t come with any level of stress. Rather it is the way we perceive an event or action that determines whether it becomes stressfully or not. So for example, what might stress one person out might not stress someone else out and vice-versa. This also means that if it is the way we think about events that makes them stressful or not, then presumably we have the ability to do something about it: all we have to do is change the way we think - easy right!!
Changing Our Relationship With Thought
A part of self-awareness is also understanding just how hard it becomes to try and change a thought or understanding, which by now has become conditioned, by replacing it with another thought from the same conditioned mind. Or as Einstein beautifully puts it, “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
And this is where I find the practice of yoga so amazing – because it takes you to the only place you can go to solve this on-going dilemma of the human condition – and that’s to the body.
Yoga has long worked on the understanding that the mind and body are one and what goes on in one affects the other. It also recognises a subtle intelligence within the body that is at least equal to or perhaps greater than that of the mind. It’s an intelligence that has evolved over millions of years and communicates through a language of chemicals that ultimately has no interest in what day of the week it is, or what our workload is or what a family member just said.
The Beauty of Being in The Body
So when we are able to use our yoga practice as a way of simply connecting to our bodies with kindness and curiosity, rather than seeing our body as a tool to achieve a position or goal; when we are able to just be in our body without judgment and without having to control or fix anything or view anything as being right or wrong, good or bad; when we able to experience the breath as a pure life-force within the body and follow it with our attention; when we can listen to our body and hear what it has to say rather than constantly focusing on stories the mind is telling us; when quite simply are able to feel instead of thinking … then our practice is no longer separate from meditation, but rather becomes a form of mediation in itself.
When we discover that place with our yoga practice where we no longer identify with thought, but rather experience the body and the self as one, we enter a space between past and future, a space referred to as the present moment. If we can allow ourselves to drop even deeper into that sense of space and stillness, then we discover a part of us that is beyond thought, a part of us that the ancient yogis would describe as, “the part of us that is never born and never dies” – our true self!
Not All Stress is Bad Stress
It’s not that we want to eliminate stress from our lives completely. After all, in many ways a life without stress would be extremely boring. Plus, stress also plays a crucial role in helping us to grow, as pointed out in the well-known saying, “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” But it’s important in hard periods in our lives that we find ways to keep our stress in check so that it becomes intermittent rather than letting it build and become chronic, where it can cause us problems both mentally and physically.
Stress and Anxiety In The Face of Covid-19
I suppose this brings us to where we are now. It has been said many times that we find ourselves living in unprecedented and stressful times, but it’s important to understand the role stress and fear has to play in managing the effect of a pandemic like Covid-19. There is a need for all of us to be slightly more stressed and anxious than relaxed right now. Otherwise we won’t be willing to make the type of changes needed to get on top of this terrible virus.
That being said, it is also equally important for all of us, especially those directly affected by Covid-19, to find healthy ways to address the stress we find ourselves under. So that when we do finally come out of this challenging situation, we come back stronger in order to allow ourselves the opportunity to build a better world for ourselves and others.
Details of Both My Online & In-Person Triyoga "Yoga For Stress" Classes
The time of my new at home yoga for stress class is on every Wednesday from 7.15pm – 8.15pm GMT. For online booking: bit.ly/2y3sWlW
Assuming the Triyoga timetable doesn’t change as a result of a “new yoga normal” (the subject of my next blog) my regular in-person class when it resumes will be at Triyoga Camden on every Thursday 4.45pm – 6.15pm GMT.
Useful Links
Triyoga
triyoga.co.uk
triyoga.co.uk/film
triyoga.co.uk/blog/yoga/online-yoga-o-brave-new-world
Patanjali
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patanjali
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali
Self-Awareness Through Yoga
yogajournal.com/lifestyle/growing-awareness
onlineyogaacademy.com/the-importance-of-awareness-in-yoga-practice-and-in-daily-life
Mind-Body Connection
yogajournal.com/teach/yoga-therapy-and-the-mind-body-connection-part-1
Yoga for Stress
health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/yoga-for-anxiety-and-depression
destressmonday.org/chair-yoga
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5843960
nytimes.com/guides/well/yoga-stress
edition.cnn.com/2014/07/29/health/yoga-reduce-stress/index.html
yogajournal.com/practice/yoga-for-inner-peace-stress-relief-daily-practice-challenge#gid=ci0207569e402525bd&pid=colleen-saidman-yee-performs-easy-pose-with-forward-bend
yogamedicine.com/yoga-kids-stress-control
bestforthekids.com/benefits-of-yoga-for-kids
verywellmind.com/the-benefits-of-yoga-for-stress-management-3145205
Whether it’s to do with the coronavirus or at any other time in life, having a strong immune system is not only about health but also about getting the most out of life. Health is wealth as they say, and the idea of boosting your immune system is naturally appealing - but are there really things you can do to support or even boost it? (Read time approx. 3 min. 50 sec.)
Understanding the Immune System
The first thing to point out about the immune system is that it’s not a single entity but an entire system and like most systems, it requires balance within all its parts to function correctly. The immune system’s balance is governed by yet another of the body’s systems known as homeostasis – “stasis” meaning to balance or to stand still with support.
Fundamentally, two factors affect the balance of homeostasis. The first comes in the form of mental or environmental stressors that stimulate or break the body down. The second is the opposing force that restores and builds the body back up. This constant back-and-forth between break-down and build-up is the basis of metabolism and is essential to life. It’s an evolutionarily response that’s designed to help us adapt to the world around us, and as long as there is more build-up than break-down, the process makes us stronger. This is how we build muscles when we exercise or develop antibodies when we're exposed to viruses like corona.
Homeostasis acts like one of those toys that the more you knock it down the more it bounces straight back. The problem comes when we become overloaded with stress from every direction and the homeostatic response struggles to build us back up. When this imbalance becomes sustained over time, it can cause what is known as a compromised immune system.
The main causes of having a compromised immune system are often associated with either a chronic health condition or simply reaching a stage in life where the homeostatic response becomes sluggish and doesn’t function as well as it did when we were younger. Or it can come from what I class as being “overstimulated and under-restored” - in other words, being over stressed and at the same time not getting enough good quality rest and restoration.
A lot of us will identify with at least one if not all of these conditions and rest assured that they can all be addressed over time by adopting a healthy lifestyle. But there is the only one condition that can be addressed immediately and that is rest and restoration. Simply getting a good night’s sleep is probably one of the best ways to restore homeostasis and boost the immune system. We forget, but sleep is the body's way of naturally metabolising stress.
Of course, there are other healthy ways to metabolise stress like spending time in nature, being with loved ones, participating in a hobby, laughing and perhaps ironically right now, intimacy, human touch and of course any loving act. I’m sure we can all think of healthy ways to relax that we enjoy, but the hardest part is always making it a priority and finding the time.
As a yoga teacher who has spent the past 15 years specialising in yoga for stress, I naturally rely heavily on all the techniques yoga has to offer. Yes, doing a dynamic yoga class can be great for improving overall health and increasing the production of feel-good hormones like endorphins - these types of hormones can drag stress hormones down with them when they decline at the end of a class. But equally, we have to keep in mind that any form of exercise, yes even yoga, is a form of stress and can easily add to any of the other types of stress we’ve accumulated.
Personally, these are the times that I value my yoga practice more than ever. A time when I find I naturally gravitate towards more de-stressing styles that emphasise things like restoration, breathing, and meditation. Yoga styles that encourage you to just simply show up in your body - without judgment, without wanting to control or fix anything.
Yoga’s greatest gift is that it takes us into our bodies, which in turn changes our relationship to thought. It's not that we want to stop thinking, but the nature of thought exists either into the past or projects into the future – to things that may or may not happen. Being able to be in our bodies allows us to be in the gap between the past and the future - the present moment. The ability to spend time in this place not only has a powerful effect on homeostasis and the immune system but is also the place where we grow and heal – and I can’t think of anything better than that right now.
PS. These are clearly stressful times for all of us, but it’s important for ourselves and others that we stay positive with cool minds and warm hearts. Remember that worst-case scenarios are not inevitable, they are just that, worst-case scenarios and its good authorities are prepared. We are in unprecedented and uncertain times, but at the same time keep in mind that we have all have experience of a bad cold and flu, and this is the same in the majority of cases.
Once in
Universal Yoga Class with Raj Patra from Raj on Vimeo.
Yoga Mats vs Towels
As scary as it all sounds, I have never felt the need to skip a class or practice because of the risk of infection. Obviously owning your own yoga mat or towel goes a long way towards cutting down potential risk. Personally, I always keep a yoga towel in my bag. They are easier to carry around than a mat, and they also act as a great barrier between you and any mat you grab in class. The other great benefit of using a yoga towel is that, unlike any mat, they are machine washable and easily dry overnight.