Yoga In The Time of COVID-19
Is Online Yoga Part Of The New Normal?
Stefanie Mihoulides
On March 16, I temporarily closed my acupuncture practice. Many businesses in NYC began shutting their doors that week too. NY state was officially put on PAUSE by March 22. It’s strange how it feels as if it were ages ago, when it has only been a month.
While some are still having to work in hospitals, grocery stores, delivery services and post offices, the rest of us are following the stay-at-home order by spending our free time bingeing on Netflix, Hulu or Prime, giving instagram cooking tutorials and taking online yoga or fitness classes. Can I just say that I LOVE that doing yoga online has become one of the most popular activities I see going on? I know it's not completely new to be practicing yoga online; I’ve benefited from online video classes for years since starting my business because I needed to work around my availability and convenience that afforded me only 20 or 40 minutes at a time. What I think has been different is that yogis responded to this pandemic situation in the early weeks of March in such a way that influenced a lot of people to understand that they needed to adopt the culture of social distancing for the sake of safety. I believe that many yoga instructors played an instrumental role in leading the path toward protecting the health of their communities.
In the early weeks of March, as the possibility of a lockdown was looming (for some of us), I felt proud of the yoga teachers around me who were the first to recognize what was happening and to step up by canceling in-person classes and switching over to online options. I recall seeing a snippet of my friend Stefanie Mihoulides’ chair yoga class on Facebook Live –she might have been the first friend I saw giving an online class, and being invited to Tejal Patel’s (Yoga is Dead Podcast) Zoom discussion for yoga instructors on studio closures. Tejal’s Zoom discussion took place the week before the mayor asked gym’s and other businesses to close, and her words that day helped me make the decision to cancel my yoga classes, even though my gym still intended to remain open (a decision based on keeping salary available to their staff). As a yoga teacher without a studio community, I needed that push.
Christy Kokami, photo courtesy of Lululemon and Brakethrough Media
From March 10 to 16, many business owners experienced the challenge of deciding what was best for them and their staff amidst both safety and financial concerns. Even though I had been planning ahead for closure, I too, thought I had more time before closing. A few of my acupuncture colleagues and I jumped on a Zoom call to explore whether we would be doing more harm than good by staying open. We finished our call with all of us deciding on our closing dates. We took this initiative ourselves. I felt a general lack of leadership around me. People were afraid to make decisions and some of the people around me even took my extra precautionary tone as being paranoid or crazy. Unfortunately, I have become used to people regarding me this way because I am a woman of color. At this moment I wanted government officials and other people in my community whom I looked up to make those tough decisions for us in the name of safety but as fragile as we are as a society they did not. But, alas, I could not wait for the governor or mayor to make a decision that was best for me and my people.
It just reinforced a theme in our culture that we have to do what we can to look out for ourselves and step up.
By mid-March, there was an immediate surge of IG Live yoga offerings. It was overwhelming but at the same time really wonderful to watch my Instagram stories feed and to see some my yoga friends safe, healthy, and actively engaging their people. Having recently closed my acupuncture practice, while still continuing to work with several of them virtually to help them cope with their lack of care during a lockdown, especially in the face of immune-compromised conditions, I was not ready to jump in to join them. But I have remained in support of the yogis in my community who moved to virtual classes immediately because I believe they have been doing a tremendous service for so many people struggling with the transition to stay at home. I feel there are so many lovely things that have come out of live yoga classes online! I recognize that this is my observation and my opinion. So, I decided to ask a few yogis to speak about their experiences. My hope is that their words serve you, too, perhaps by validating your experience or by showing you another perspective.
Christy Kokami, who specializes in backcare and scoliosis classes is really enjoying being able to offer her services to those outside of NYC, especially those from her home, in Hawaii. She says “Back pain, scoliosis, and spinal injuries (herniations, spondylolisthesis, etc.) are not localized to NYC, so the silver lining is that I am able to serve people on a broader scale.”
I especially appreciate what she offers as I work with back pain patients who are currently not able to access acupuncture or other hands on therapies.
Many yoga teachers in NYC have to travel from place to place, teaching classes in different studios/locations. Many of Stefanie Mihoulides’ yoga students belong to our senior population. Therefore, as early as the first week of March, the safety of teaching became a prime consideration to Stefanie.
Shah Mirza, radiologist tech and yogi
Transitioning to an Facebook Live opened up two insights to her: she was able to save time and energy on her commute and not being aware of the audience of students allowed her to be more herself while teaching. She feels her students benefit in the same way, too. “It's also so special to be able to share the practice with my mom in South Carolina, my bestie in England, an old student in New Orleans, my good friend in Crowne Heights” she shares. When I asked what she thought about yoga being offered online so widely, she said, “I wonder if there are people now trying yoga that felt too embarrassed before, like I felt about dance classes. But since they are home and need to do something to move their bodies they are finding their way onto the yoga mat. That could only be good for the future of yoga.”
Shah Mirza, a radiologist tech in an NYC ER has been using online yoga classes on YouTube to help deal with the mental stress he faces at work with COVID, COVID-suspected, and other very ill patients. He shared, “I hadn't tried yoga in about 8 years and this helped me realize there is a huge benefit to practicing yoga that I had forgotten about. I like the online yoga compared to [in-person] class because you can go back and look at positions again in case you missed something. That was very practical.”
Recently he was exposed to COVID-19 and tested positive, “so this changed my life and the way that I look at everything now. It is a challenging time for my family but we have been staying strong throughout it and taking all necessary precautions. We have been trying to keep our faith strong, praying constantly, taking all proper supplements to strengthen our bodies and doing physical exercises to keep our minds sane. As I get older, I feel more stress and yoga has been very enlightening for me in this time.”
“But I miss the daily commute to the yoga classes and also seeing people in person. It was nice to say hello to other people and talk to them, even if it was very casual. I definitely miss human interaction a lot.” -Shah Mirza
That human interaction, which has been an important facet of in-person classes, has been important to both students and instructors. Robbin, a yoga instructor, felt that the online format was “a really hard transition, especially because it's something that has never crossed my mind before. I took a week just to process because I had no idea how I wanted to approach it. I miss being able to hug people after class!”
Sadia Bruce, who has yet to offer online classes shared, “I was flatly turned off by the Insta-pivoting I saw in the wellness space mere days after quarantine began. It was all so antithetical to yoga itself, and only served to reinforce the very mindset for which yoga is meant to be an antidote— the hollow, capitalistic rush for the sake of rushing.”
I definitely related to what Sadia said, as I personally needed more time before offering Asana classes, but I felt really called to offer meditation in a healing circle format. In my first class on March 16, many of my friends came just to take a pause and breathe. We were all still trying to reconcile how much our lives would change with so many aspects of our daily life in the city no longer being available to us. Some of us lost our jobs. That class was the first time I was able to get even 10 minutes of relief after being in fight or flight for the last week.
Sadia shared an important point. “We teach as we are. If you don't grant yourself the dignity of messy, heavy emotionality— an appropriate response to all that's happening— and the opportunity to honor this emotionality skillfully, you're denying your own self yoga. So what is it you're actually embodying and teaching? Aggressively offering services while bypassing your own healing process will actually slow that process down in the long run. That should be motivation enough to pause, and pause HARD.”
Sadia’s words remind me that we often look towards yoga for its physical benefits and consider the fact that it helps us be more mindful and spiritually connected as a random, added benefit -- when maybe it should be the other way around. Capitalism teaches us to disregard our mental health and well-being but gives more value to physical fitness with the promise that it will improve our outward appearance and thus our value to society. These truths seem harsh and maybe far-fetched if you haven’t contemplated the effects of capitalism on your well-being before. It’s important for all of us yogis to take the extra effort in unpacking how our practices could be swayed by capitalistic influences and find authenticity and balance in what we’re doing.
Robbin Rose
I have always empathized with yoga instructors and their hustle of running around the city to teach so many classes at different venues, often while juggling other gigs or maintaining full-time jobs. While in grad school, I once taught 10 classes a week, and I remember how rough that was for me. Meanwhile, most full-time teachers were slinging 20 or more classes a week! I’m all too familiar with the need to teach so many classes just to make ends meet financially, since many yoga studios and gyms are not able to pay teachers what they are worth. With the independence with respect to their time and their fees on online platforms, I am happy to see that many of my yoga teacher colleagues are being better paid for their unique teaching skills and are feeling more confident to build their own business or following.
Robbin shared, “One thing I'm thankful for is this push to go out and do my own thing, which I've been talking about forever.”
When I asked others how they’re dealing with what is different about the current reality, I found that our core yoga principles and teachings came through. Robbin said, ”I need to constantly remind myself that we're healthy, we love each other and that's the most important thing.” Christy spoke about spending more time on her self-care rituals of yoga, cooking and playing the piano. “This has been very important for keeping my spirits and health up as I had these practices for years, and now am able to offer what works for me to everyone!”
Embracing change in the midst of this crisis is something that I’ve really focused on with my community. Going on PAUSE was abrupt for some people and many are anxious to go back to “how things were,” but I expect things to continue to be changed. The effects this one month of social distancing has on me are already profound. I think so much about what I touch, how many people I've passed by on the street when I walk my dog. I also look at every person on the street and wonder whether or not they might want to attack me for being Asian.
Christy added “When I reflect on the effects of current events on me, I allow myself to feel the fear and sadness of what has been happening globally and address it within (through my self-care rituals), as I do not want to bring it into my community and students. All of my offerings (online yoga classes videos on YouTube & Patreon) are centered around staying in the space that promotes overall health and wellness, including the emotional and mental body. So, it is important that I can remain centered and attentive to serve others. There is already so much out there that incites stress and taxes the immune system at this time.
In uncertain times, yoga is a powerful practice to lean on. Stefanie told me, “Teaching has really helped me. Having a schedule keeps me going and it feels like I have a bit of purpose, too” and “Surprisingly, the thing that makes me feel really good these days is dance/zumba classes. In normal times, I don't generally go to classes like that as I'm uncoordinated and my rhythm stinks. But, at home I can act a fool, improvise, and do my best to follow and it doesn't matter. It's so fun!”
Sadia Bruce
For Shah, who still has to go to work and has a family and children to care for, faith and action have been his go-to’s. “We have been trying to keep our faith strong, praying constantly, taking all proper supplements to strengthen our bodies and doing physical exercises to keep our minds sane. I would like to suggest to people to try yoga if they feel under stress and suffer from depression. It is very easy to fall down in these times since we are all quarantined daily. Yoga is a great outlet and it has helped me greatly fight COVID-19 and stay sane mentally.”
Sadia told me, “In addition to doing a little digital teaching, I'll be devoting loads of time and energy to my own healing processes, which I'd largely, woefully, admittedly put off in service to the grind. I'm fed up, I'm grieving, I'm softening, I'm bewildered, I'm curious, I'm filled with sorrow that is somehow tinged with optimism, and I'm grateful. Because I'm also still here.”
“My heart and my deepest, most sincere prayers go out to all who have fallen ill or lost loved ones, and I extend endless gratitude to all of the essential workers who risk their own health and safety to keep the world turning. We are forever indebted.” –Sadia Bruce
Though online yoga is not a new phenomenon, it has quickly become the norm during this crisis, and I foresee it changing how we as yogis operate -students and teachers. I’m grateful that there are so many live online classes so that students and instructors can continue to connect, and the benefits to both students and instructors through this connection. I’m grateful to have the technology to connect with my community despite the limitations of our current lockdown during the global pandemic. There is so much that we don’t know about this virus and there is so much uncertainty around how it will further change how we live. I encourage us all to be mindful, to think critically about what we are told, as well as to pause and process our emotions. I am grateful that yoga can be an anchor for all of us at this time of tremendous need for its value and impact.
Even as I am about to hit the publish button on this post this very morning, I found out that Yoga Works, where I take my in-person yoga classes is closing. I’m already so picky about who and where I practice with. It looks like online classes will 100% be my personal practice going forward. I hope to see you all on the virtual mat!
Where To Practice Yoga Online
Christy Kokami offers Sunday Yoga for Backcare classes or Private sessions
Email to sign up info@christykokami.com or Instagram @christykokami
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrKXP2DGLjTnReb3lyMNNrQ?
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/christykokami
Stefanie Mihoulides
Class schedule: casualyogini.com/classes
Robbin Rose
Find her weekly class schedule by following her on instagram @robbinrose_
Sadia Bruce
Follow her on instagram to get her class info @fufuandsoup
Emily Siy
By Emily Grace Siy, L.Ac. April 19, 2020
Special Thanks to Shah Mirza and his family for being on the front lines of COVID-19 and taking the time to share his experience. We are all wishing him and his family safety and health. Thanks to Nalini Saxena of Elicit Consulting for her help in editing this post.