Coronavirus: From a Modern Yogic perspective by Meghna Raghoobar

As the vast majority of the world is celebrating love today — Valentine’s Day (I do it everyday by practising self-love) -, we cannot ignore the fact that the state of our world is in chaos right now; Climate Change Impacts, International Tensions, Plastic Pollution, Air Pollution and now the deadly outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic — known as COVID-19.

My yogic journey taught me one overarching principle: “whatever happens in life, you need to go back to the source of the problem, not the outcome” — the root cause as many would term it. I think that, if we took root-cause analysis more seriously, many world issues would have been treated more efficiently (and many personal issues as well!). But we are not always willing to go back there, are we?

While introspecting on the COVID-19 outbreak, I felt like sharing with you my Modern Yogic perspective on this, and how we should go about with it individually as our preventive measures.

A) Root-Cause of COVID-19 from a Modern Yogic perspective :

a) Poor body alignment

b) Poor immune system

c) Unbalanced Chakras

B) How to go about with it :

a) Yoga is teaching me every single day about alignment. Trust me, it has nothing to do with “sexy postures for a sexy body”. A sexy body could be the result of practising Yoga but I don’t believe it should be the reason why one embarks on the Yogic journey. Through body postures (asanas) in Yoga, you are able to align your meridians, allowing both good blood flow and energy flow in your body for your own health and well-being.

An aligned body makes an aligned mind and fosters aligned emotions. If our mind and emotions are aligned and harmonised, it would be very easy to shift our mindset from negative attitude to positive attitude in life. And if we reach that stage, many personal and world chaos could be resolved.

b) I did not study medicine, but after having studied Anatomy, Healing techniques, the World of energy flow and now Yoga, and being an ardent researcher on Ayurvedic techniques, there is this one thing I can share with you- the root cause of being affected by any form of Virus is our poor immune system. There are various ways to tackle immune system deficiencies — amongst which is the food we consume. Corona virus is already sending us a big signal — to go back to the source. And I believe the source here is consuming local and consuming nutrient-rich food for the body.

So, yes, eat local fruits full of Vitamin C to reinforce your immune system, and drink a lot of warm water (it helps to remove toxins in the body all throughout), eat local vegetables and fresh seafood if you are guaranteed of its quality. A spoon of honey should become a daily habit. Drink some wine with your dinner every now and then (if possible), and a piece of 90% Cocoa dark chocolate.

Avoid GMOs and processed foods; they are packed with preservatives that have no nutritional value and do more harm than good. Avoid meat (Chicken and Red meat) as much as practicable, as the animals are vaccinated with fattening and antibiotic substances now.

c) There are several root causes of unbalanced chakras — one of them is our disconnection with the 5 elements : Fresh Water (Sea, Waterfall, Rain), Pure and Fresh Air, Earth (Direct contact with soil), Fire (Sun) and Ether (Our connect with our inner-self). Being an advocate of nature activities for the well-being of the planet and its people, through HolistiZen, I would recommend you to just try out the following :

• Fresh Water : Spend more time in the rain, in the sea, in a waterfall, in a river and let the water flow on you if it’s clean, it will definitely cleanse and balance your chakras and reinforce your immune system.
• Pure and Fresh Air: If you live and work in a place where pure and fresh air is rare, take some time off during your weekends to go in nature where there is NO or limited pollution and spend time gently inhaling the fresh air (breathing techniques could be accompanied with it). Wake up early in the morning before sunrise and do some breathing activities.
• Earth: Walking barefoot on the soil, on the grass or on rocks has been proved to be beneficial for the chakra alignment by sages since ancient times. We need to go back to that. Connect with the earth, and walk barefoot outside your yard occasionally and walk barefoot at the beach.
• Fire: Don’t avoid morning and evening sun. Sun has a lot of prana, which is good for our health and well-being. Enjoying it everyday is important. Take your natural Vitamin D and your energy boost from the sun every single day (early morning dose).
• Ether : Do things that connect you with your inner-self. It could be anything that surpasses your senses. Do it with love and awareness and see the magic that happens within you.

I maintain that the above are not remedies for COVID-19, but tips for reinforcing yourself and your immune system. Let us all send our healing energy to every person affected by the Virus, and may they be healed- full and complete.