Professor Laurie Santos on Sustaining Mental Well-Being During Covid
Professor Laurie Santos on Sustaining Mental Well-Being During Covid
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/health/laurie-santos-covid-happiness.html
Professor Santos teaches the most popular course at Yale University. Here she explains how to “sustain mental well-being” during Covid. Her “preventative medicine approach to mental health” is exactly what we do in our weekly Zoom Qigong classes. Just as she describes, we work in an integrated, whole bodymind way to notice, accept, and gently work with our stress, our anxiety, and (in our case at least!) our aches and pains, transforming that “stuck” energy into feelings of peaceful, healthy, well-being.
We do it together, as a group, and have been ever since Covid lock-downs began in March. As Prof. Santos explains, social contact, even via Zoom can have a surprisingly positive impact on our health. “We need to double down on the social contact that we do have” she writes, and encourages her students to log on early to class, just to have a chance to chat. We do that, too, each Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday morning. Class starts at 9:30, but some of us hang out before and after, just to chat. It’s helps keep us sane, calm, and connected, whatever is going on around us. Join us! The more the merrier. (Class is free to those who are experiencing financial stress.)
Zoom Qigong Classes