The Art of Living Launches three key protocols to help people in the 2nd COVID wave

The Indian community is faced with one of its biggest challenges. There is loss of lives, grief on one hand, and on the other, financial and professional setbacks are pushing people over the brink. To support people's mental and physical health at this crucial time, The Art of Living today has launched an essential series of 3 protocols of asanas, meditation, and breathing practices or pranayama for different categories of people to boost their immunity, improve their mental resilience and bring a semblance of quiet and peace.  The Art of Living faculty across the country will be conducting the programs to help people tide over these trying times. 

(Link for the programs:  http://aoliv.in/fightcorona)

All the trained Yoga and Meditation teachers of Art of Living in India will for the next two months conduct nonstop online free workshops to support communities in the current crisis.

The 15-20 minutes protocols of asanas and pranayama will be delivered in three categories of people:

• A. For a healthy population in order to help them build overall immunity and lung capacity.
• B. Supportive intervention of effective breathing exercises and stretches for patients with mild symptoms either at home or hospitals. 
• C. Supporting rehabilitation and recovery during and post-COVID. 

With social distancing, medical isolations on one hand, and the lockdowns on the other, people are also battling with loneliness and fear. People across borders, cultures, communities and economic classes are suffering as a consequence of this pandemic. The protocol will give hope to people who are in home isolation, and give them someone to talk to. This will also help significantly reduce fear, anxiety, and rush for hospitalization.

According to some medical experts, only 5 to 7% of patients actually require hospitalization. Many can benefit from pranayama and breathing at home along with Ayurveda and other prophylactic medicines like Kabasura Kudineer, a time tested Siddha formulation that Frankfurt Biotechnology Innovation Center, Germany study found, to be a strong inhibitor (84 per cent) of Spike glycoprotein in coronavirus strains, in restricting entry of the virus into cells in in-vitro studies.

It is also said that nearly 10 per cent of people diagnosed with COVID-19 experience prolonged symptoms that include breathing trouble, shortness of breath, nose bleeds, blood clots, headaches, nausea, muscle pain, and fatigue which tend to last months after testing positive for the novel coronavirus. 

But there is hope, after all. 

Researchers at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California did an analysis of effective pulmonary rehabilitation treatments and determined that breathing exercises that strengthen the diaphragm such as sectional breathing – Art of Living’s Three-Stage Pranayama, Ujjayi Pranayama are important for such recovery. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) describes Yoga as a valuable tool, one that increases physical activity, mental wellbeing, and decreases non-communicable diseases. The positive physical or psychological outcome of Yoga intervention has been hypothesized to be a result of complex pathways involving relaxation, physical flexibility, breathing exercise, coping strategies, acceptance, and self-efficacy (Büssing et al., 2012). 
In the recovery process, meditation plays a vital role in helping one achieve a relaxed state of mind that enables healing and regeneration. There are numerous studies to show that just twenty minutes of daily meditation can decrease blood cortisol levels and increase endorphins causing a positive and happy state of mind. 

Regular practice of Yoga, pranayama, meditation, and Sudarshan Kriya taught in the Art of Living Programs cultivates peace, resilience and health. It can effectively lower stress hormones, strengthen the nervous system, stimulate the lymphatic system, while also removing the toxins from the body.