Managing Stress and Anxiety in the Covid Era

A new enemy of humanity has arrived on the world scene...Something that cannot even be seen with naked eyes but is wreaking havoc across the entire world. Many people cannot believe that the scenes they are witnessing are something straight out of a movie like Contagion coming alive. An almost invisible virus has brought the world to its knees and with it disrupted the lives of 7 Billion+ people across the world. 

The impact is this disruption is being felt at various levels: broader economy, jobs, income and most importantly people losing their loved ones. Another area where this impact is being felt is in people’s own minds. The financial uncertainty coupled with lack of physical freedom and heightened fear of the disease is pushing people into a corner thus creating a high pressure state in the mind. The traditional stress busters like going for a movie or dinner or for an outstation holiday are not possible anymore thus the pressure in the mind has not let out and is in fact building up each day.

So what can one do in the current environment to ease the pressure and go on with lives without falling prey to mental health issues ? 

Fortunately there are a large number of ways that we can manage this new kind of stress. One such effective method is mindfulness, which is simply the ability of moment to moment awareness of elements around and inside of us. This awareness has 2 broad dimensions:

1. Physical:  This includes awareness of breath, bodily sensations, surroundings and sensory elements.
2. Mind:  This includes awareness of elements experienced inside the mind like emotions, thoughts and most importantly the spaces between thoughts which can be called consciousness.

Both the dimensions are connected and infact one leads to the other. As a starting point, there is a specific technique that one can follow to build physical awareness. 

How does one build mindfulness ?

A simple version of mindfulness practice is to develop physical awareness by simply focussing on breath and here instead of focussing on the full life cycle of the breath, it is recommended to rest the attention in the belly region by placing both hands on the belly and noticing the expansion and contraction as we inhale and exhale. Since this involves physical movement, it is easy to do anytime of the day and even 1 minute of this can relax the mind, increase oxygen levels and relieve it of racing thoughts and emotions.

So how about giving one minute today to this simple exercise and begin the journey of mindfulness ?

Wishing you a happy and joyful breathing :)