Yoga for COVID Long Haulers: Exploring Healing Pathways

Who is vulnerable to long-term health impacts of COVID-19?  As it turns out, a surprisingly large number of people are vulnerable to the longer term effects of COVID.

According to studies, more than one third of COVID survivors experience lingering symptoms 3 - 6 months after being infected, and in some cases, symptoms remain much longer.

Can yoga help prevent or relieve lingering symptoms of COVID? In his new course, Dr. Baxter Bell looks at current research on what we know about long COVID as well as which yoga approaches may be useful to prevent or relieve symptoms.

The potential impacts of yoga to relieve and help prevent Long COVID symptoms are still in the early stages of research. However, yoga has already been recommended as an adjunctive treatment for COVID-19 and its long-term effects. 

Just how common is Long COVID and what are the common symptoms? Some studies have found that 2 months after COVID-19 infection, up to 53% of patients still had fatigue, 43% had difficulty breathing, and 22% were still experiencing chest pain. Breathlessness, symptoms of PTSD, light-headedness, and dizziness are also relatively common. 

If you yourself are concerned about the possible impacts of COVID-19 on your own health, certain yoga techniques and practices may be of great benefit, both preemptively and in relieving lingering aftereffects. 

In this course, Dr. Baxter Bell, an experienced physician and yoga teacher will introduce a number of breathing exercises and gentle therapeutic approaches that may help strengthen the respiratory and nervous systems to alleviate lingering symptoms of COVID. 

Dr. Bell will also cover research studies on the positive effects of yoga and Pranayama for rebalancing the immune and nervous systems.