The coronavirus pandemic has spread for most of 2020, such a long period that it is understandable that some people may need help to stay calm and be patient with quarantine.
Practicing yoga is one of the things that can help us in this regard, has recommended the United Nations (UN), which in a publication where Jon Witt, yoga teacher for two decades in Asia and the United States and specialist in therapeutic yoga, explained that this discipline is ideal for maintaining calm and good mood during these contexts of crisis, thanks to the fact that it is very reflective.
“When you practice yoga, whether it’s five, twenty or sixty minutes, during that time you don’t think about the pandemic, you don’t argue with anyone in the family or you feel lonely; you feel connected. It can be through a video in
YouTube or receiving live instructions via a digital platform, is a positive distraction and is very enjoyable and restorative by nature, ”he said.
In addition to being mentally and emotionally beneficial, yoga also brings multiple benefits to our physical health. The MedlinePlus medical encyclopedia states that it is believed that yoga can improve overall fitness as well as contribute to good posture and flexibility. And it also lists all the merits that this discipline would have: it can reduce blood pressure and heart rate, help you relax and reduce stress, improve coordination, greater concentration, sleep better, faster digestion, calm down anxiety and relieve back pain.
However, the U.S. National Institutes of Health indicates that there are several studies whose results suggest that yoga could be used for all of this and more, but that more research is needed to definitively corroborate it.
In this regard, Dra. Pamela Jeter, an expert in yoga research, explains that “several investigations have been carried out for different medical problems, but there is not enough to say for sure.”
In this regard, he notes that inquiries have suggested, for example, that yoga could help with some medical issues, such as decreasing pain and menopausal symptoms. And in studies done on older adults and people with cancer, it improved their sleep.
Jeter adds that it is also unclear which specific part of yoga is the one that brings the health benefits, as this sport combines physical, mental and spiritual elements.
“There are a lot of components in yoga. We don’t know what the active ingredient is (what causes the effects),” Jeter stresses.
However, he explains that there are studies that are analyzing whether yoga is useful for specific groups of people. For example, they are researching whether yoga can help with mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
If someone wants to practice yoga for a specific health problem, the expert recommends preferring a yoga therapist.
“Yoga therapists have more extensive training than required by a normal yoga teacher. They are able to work with different problems and, for the most part, they work individually or in small groups “, he points out.