When I last wrote about COVID-19, it was March 5, 2020. So much changed only a week or so later, let alone a year later, where we find ourselves now.
At the time, I was offering my thoughts around yoga therapy for dealing with the stress of the impending pandemic. Now that we are firmly in it, a new need has appeared: COVID-19 “long haulers.”
Long-haulers are people who have survived the initial impact of the virus, but are now suffering form chronic issues lasting months. These can be anything from respiratory issues to fatigue to unexplained hair loss.
As the medical world works to uncover the mystery around why some people can’t seem to shake COVID-19, yoga therapists are well-positioned to be of help. We are no strangers to helping with disease states for which mainstream healthcare has few answers.
A great example is the wide range of diseases that fall under autoimmune disorders. Ask anyone with Lyme’s disease or Graves disease, and they’ll probably tell you the medical community doesn’t know as much as we would all like about these conditions. However, yoga therapists help people with these issues everyday.
That’s not to say that Yoga Therapy can necessarily cure these diseases, but the practices of yoga can certainly help with the symptoms. That’s because yoga therapists meet their clients one-on-one, discover where they are at with THEIR symptoms, and use age-old yogic and Ayurvedic constructs to asses their clients and tailor practices for the individual. In short, we listen!
Yoga Therapy is not just moving the body. We understand the vital importance of using techniques to help our clients reach deeper states of relaxation to promote healing, as well as shift the patterns of their conscious minds to overcome difficult mental states. We also help our clients modify their lifestyles (sleep, food, etc.) and find ways to experience joy!
Any system heals when it’s more in balance, and Yoga Therapy can help anyone achieve that much needed balance.
If you or someone you know is a COVID-19 long hauler or is suffering from other chronic conditions, please contact us to see if we can help.
Om Shanti,
Joe Simek
[email protected]
267.885.8512
Doylestown, PA
Joe Simek is a Certified Yoga Therapist, 500-Hour Level Yoga Teacher, and Co-owner of Dragonfly Yoga Studio. Joe has been practicing yoga for more than a decade, using the wisdom of the teachings to lose weight, get sober, and abandon the corporate grind. In 2012, he formalized his yoga education, completing Dragonfly’s 200 HR Yoga Teacher Training. Joe went on to study Yoga Therapy and Peaceful Weight Loss Through Yoga with Brandt Passalacqua of Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy (where he is now a Teaching Assistant) and Advanced Vinyasa Yoga with Rolf Gates. In 2016, Joe co-founded The Fiaria Project, a non-profit organization that aids foster children. He is also the frontman of Destroy It Up, an indie rock music project inspired by yoga philosophy. Joe holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Arizona State University.