How I Overcame Covid, its Physical and Mental After Effects Through Meditation
- Under the direct supervision of a ‘Heartfulness’ educator and coach, I designed an 8-week program integrating a guided relaxation.
In 2020, prior to the pandemic, I was juggling 2 sports, 3 clubs, and countless extracurricular activities. I was getting so overwhelmed that I literally was praying for a break from it all. Little did I know my prayers will be answered in a bitter-sweet way… thanks to the pandemic. When the initial two weeks break for quarantine began in my school district, I was beyond excited. I would still be able to continue my academic rigor while getting a short break from all that was going on around me. That this short period of time would be extended for over a year was unthinkable at that time.
The first few months of quarantine went smoothly. I would wake up late to 4 classes a day. Then I would cook some food, workout, and watch some TV. Honestly, I was taking care of myself much more than ever.
I entered junior year, often considered the most difficult academic year. Adding school and clubs into my quarantine schedule was close to impossible, so I did what made the most sense at the time, I gave up anything outside of school. I stopped exercising, cooking, and even talking to my friends. Although I was able to keep up with this routine, time seemed to speed up almost as if there was never a break.
Around October of 2020, I contracted Covid-19. From the constant headaches to the dizziness and fever, I was completely miserable. I ended up skipping an entire week of school, but finally recuperated. Because of the isolation, I began to feel even more lonely, a symptom almost everyone was feeling at that time.
Covid and the additional lack of self-care made me feel like I was in a slump. I would do the bare minimum in school and stay in my bed throughout, with no desire to get out. My health went down the drain, I went from exercising regularly to rarely getting out of my room. In January 2021, I started noticing some physical changes in my health, my hair was thinning, I had gained a lot of weight, and I was always unmotivated. I remained that way for almost a whole month.
During this time, I was presented with the opportunity to help others address their stress levels and mental health. At that point my own mental health was not the best, so I decided to take this opportunity to get myself to regularly take care of my personal mental health, while helping others.
I decided to bring a hands-on wellness program providing tools to identify stress factors and manage them. Under the direct supervision of a Heartfulness educator and coach, I designed an 8-week program integrating a guided relaxation each time, along with guest speakers from all over the globe who have used meditation to enrich their personal and professional lives.
The Heartfulness Institute is a non-profit organization present in over 150 countries and has provided support to schools, corporations and communities world over, empowering them with the unique tool of meditation, relaxation and detoxification, to name a few. It not only showed me how important taking care of one’s self is but how impactful it is on one’s environment.
I was really able to understand the reason why I was feeling so low mentally, and how I could rejuvenate and refresh my entire being. My morale went up as I was able to understand and utilize self-care tools for my own well-being, which in turn helped me empower others with the same.
I started understanding the science behind meditation and rejuvenation, and I decided to take up my heartfulness meditation practice more seriously. Talking to others on the platform and sharing the knowledge I develop through my experience really helped me connect with others and relate to what they were going through.
Working with such a large organization I was able to see how many people truly need a support system, and how many people I could personally have an impact on. Not only did I become aware of my mental health even more but it helped me connect with others who were going through similar issues that could be tackled with using practical tools.
Reena Tandon is a passionate student, who finds comfort in art and music. Fond of communities and its people. Always in search of finding ways to enhance life in general.