It was week 5 of the lockdown. Life in quarantine was full of promise – of unending tasks. Like the rest of the world, I was neck-deep in household chores and office deadlines. Scrubbing the bathroom floors, while simultaneously doing a mental count of the minimum number of vessels I needed to wash before cooking lunch and gathering my thoughts for an article due that week.
No doubt I expected my body and mind to unflinchingly obey my exacting and continuous commands despite having paid scant attention to their frequent and multiple calls for rest over the years.
Naturally, sooner or later, the rigorous routine would extract its pound of flesh (or as it turned out a column of vertebrae) from me for my years of negligence. One not-so-fine day, it all came crashing down on me; the quarantine led to a setback – literally - it set my back – firmly on the bed – I could just not get up!
Story of my health during the pandemic
There was excruciating pain along my entire spinal column and I enjoyed a feeling of oneness with our invertebrate friends as I found that it was safest to stay supine. It was in those horizontal positions, when only the mind could wander, that it occurred to me just how essential society was to us. For, at the moment I most needed people for physical and mental support, I was not allowed to interact with anyone outside the house.
It was a much-needed wakeup call. And I have this period of quarantine to thank for it - the first upside I saw of the Covid-19 pandemic. It led to a complete re-organization of priorities in favor of my health.
Health Lessons I Learned During the quarantine
Lesson 1: My lifelong companions are my body and mind
I realized that my physical and mental health have to take precedence over every other priority in life – cleanliness, timeliness, money, speed, exams, competitions, opportunity, work, and even family. And the person responsible for my health is ME. Not my parents or my spouse, my children or my friends, not my physiotherapist or my yoga instructor. As far as my health is concerned, the buck stops with me. This fact hit me most strongly in this pandemic. And I made up my mind to make all-round wellness my goal.
The doctor’s prescription:
Here’s what the doctor suggested for my full recovery:
• Rest
• Exercise
• Healthy diet
• Time away from electronic devices and
• Regular hours of sleep
I didn’t realize it but my old routine did not allow me to follow any of these advices satisfactorily. On the contrary, and rather surprisingly I might add, I found that what I needed for my overall physical, emotional, and mental well-being, was fully supported by the quarantine during the pandemic.
Lesson 2: Travel time saved can be used to schedule in rest
After this episode, it was very clear to me that my body and mind needed rest. How can one achieve this at a time when outside help is not allowed?
For starters, some communities have now allowed domestic help from outside. So, it is possible to seek some assistance (even if limited) - with precautions. Apart from this, it is a great time to delegate work evenly around the house so you have time to relax together. The shared work as well as leisure time will de-stress you significantly.
Since several offices have closed, most of us have been working from home. While we are as busy as ever, we have definitely saved considerable time (many hours for some) otherwise spent in traffic jams. This gives more scope and time for rest. Avoid using this time to work longer. It will end up being counter-productive as you will be more efficient when you are well-rested. Also, long commutes have been the cause for sundry pains such as head and back aches. So, it is win-win all the way!
You could also consider using this time for quiet reflection and reassessment of your priorities. This will enable you to use time judiciously, for say, finding a place for your hobbies, and calling up your parents.
Lesson 3: Yoga, pranayama and meditation are the best home exercises when you are quarantined
As we are largely indoors, home workouts are the best alternatives to walking, jogging, running and playing outdoors. Unsurprisingly, the first stretches and strengthening exercises that the physiotherapist suggested were all part of yoga asanas. I diligently and sincerely practiced them every day. The pain and memory of it guaranteed my regularity.
I would recommend clubbing it with pranayamas and different meditation techniques as I felt like my whole spirit (and not just my body and mind) was more relaxed than it had been in years.
Frankly, in the ‘old’ fast-paced life I led, I probably would not have turned to these wholesome and age-old techniques to regain health. Now, I realize that my body needed to regain health slowly and organically as only yoga could make possible.
Lesson 4: The importance of physical touch and presence have been underrated
I am reminded of a Facebook video I saw of a small child still too young to form words, showing his dad through sign language that mom forgot to kiss him and his infant brother goodbye before she left for work! Naturally, we are drawn to cute toddlers and we shower them with hugs and kisses but it is not just the young who need to feel affection. With physical touch being banned because of the dreaded Covid 19 spreading through it, many people sorely miss those warm handshakes and tight hugs.
While we cannot display physical affection to those outside the house, it is the best time to show it to the members of your family. Thanks to the lockdown, they are available whenever you feel that surge of affection! Here’s how the quarantine and having family members at close quarters is a boon.
The time on our hands within the house is a gift we can use to bridge the generation gap especially if you have teenagers. No better time to get them to interact with the other two generations in the house as you can’t help bumping into each other every now and then! Time to explore those dusty board games – Monopoly, Ludo, and some jigsaw puzzles.
It is important that we understand that social distancing does not mean emotional distancing as Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says. You can still keep in touch with your parents, grandparents, children and the extended members of your family with technology. I know friends who have called up aunts and uncles they had only interacted with in functions when they were growing up. This would not have happened but for this pandemic - a healthy turn of events as we spare a thought for others and get in touch with our compassionate and considerate side.
Having your family around you also discourages bad habits such as binge eating and smoking.
Lesson 5: There is no substitute for home-cooked meals
The good news of the pandemic is that the fires are burning in every house as people have started cooking again at home. Meals prepared at home, long advocated by healthcare workers as well as our parents and grandparents, have become the norm. It is to be sure that our food is free from impurities and adulterations at this time of Covid 19!
Eating a healthy diet has never been as easy as it is now with all the ingredients in your careful hands. For the time being, gone are those restaurant outings where we ingested questionable quantities of fats and sugars. Many families are experimenting with main courses, cuisines from other regions and desserts, to keep meal times interesting. Grandma’s old and nutritious recipes are also finding their way into the palate of the new generation. This dose of nutrition is just what the doctor ordered to improve immunity in this period of pandemic.
Lesson 6: Grandma’s habits of washing her hands, legs and face every few hours have made a comeback thanks to Covid 19
She told us to wash our hands, feet and face (all exposed parts) once we came home from play, she washed her feet after using the washroom, and thoroughly cleaned her hands before and after cooking and eating meals. And tried to teach us to follow her likewise. But it was only when the health care workers told us the same thing that we actually listened.
India’s old, time-tested habits have their place in modern society. We must not forget them in our hurry to become 'developed'. The pandemic reinforced this health lesson in my life. Old is gold!
So many positive effects of Covid +ve!
Health is not a product of a day’s discipline or neglect. On top of the genes we acquired at birth, who we are today is a product of years of habits, practices and conditioning. The most telling sign of who we are as individuals lies in the choices we have made. Our health is a report of the story of our life. So, we must safeguard it.
I think that the lesson that we as a people must learn from this pandemic and the related quarantine is that we must submit to nature and the Divine. Before their awe-inspiring presence, we are negligible. With this acknowledgement will come humility and acceptance of a greater power that will ultimately do what is best for us – towards better health as individuals, towards more communion as a society.
This shift in perspective is possible through daily meditation.
You could also join the online meditation and breath workshop here.
Written by Anusha Chellappa
With inputs from Dr. Prema Seshadri, Faculty, Art of Living
