Amid growing coronavirus tensions across the globe, a leading medical school in the US has urged all students to perform Yoga to fight against the deadly coronavirus. The Harvard Medical School has recommended yoga, meditation and controlled breathing to deal with COVID-19 anxiety.
What is Yoga? It means ‘union’. It is originally derived from the Sanskrit root “yuj” which means ‘to unite’. Yoga is not just bending your body and doing physical exercise but it is regarded as one of the best therapies to all the problems in the world. India is known as home to Yoga practice.
Today, the whole world is adopting Yoga as the best cure for COVID-19. The Harvard Medical School recently issued its health guideline that yoga, meditation and controlled breathing are “some tried and true ways to relax”. They believe that it can lower the risk of coronavirus disease. There are several benefits in doing yoga. It reduces stress levels, lowers blood pressure, improves lung capacity.
The article ‘Coping with coronavirus anxiety’ was published this week.
“Regular meditation is very calming. Many apps teach simple forms of meditation, such as Headspace or Calm,” wrote John Sharp, a board-certified psychiatrist on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles.
“Not a yoga person? No need to start now unless you’d like to try it. Sometimes trying new things and discovering new activities you can benefit from and enjoy can be a welcome, healthy distraction. Yoga Studio and Pocket Yoga are good apps to consider,” he said.
On controlled breathing, he instructed, “Inhale up the first side of the square. Slowly count one, two, three. Hold your breath across the top. One, two, three. Exhale down the other side of the square. One, two, three. Then hold your breath across the bottom. One, two, three. After a few minutes of this you should be feeling calmer and more centred,” Sharp said.
He urged people to start performing Yoga every morning as it is the best treatment for the novel coronavirus.
It was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who promoted the virtual importance of Yoga in India. In 2014, PM Modi suggested the United Nations to celebrate ‘June 21’ as International Yoga Day as it is the summer solstice, which is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
PM Modi says, “Yoga is above religion, caste, colour, gender and region — it is above everything. Let our motto be Yoga for peace, harmony and progress”.
