It has been twenty-five days! We do not know how many days more to go!… It is true that we all are fighting against this COVID 19. I believe that you all are eating healthy and following the best hygiene practice you ever did. But are these sufficient enough to fight against this deadly virus! If you are thinking what else you could do more, then there are few more questions for you. Are you in stress or in depression? Are you feeling lonely? Is this social condition making you short-tempered? Is the mental distance between you and your spouse increasing though both of you are staying together? Are you scolding your child more than what you do usually? If one of the answers of these questions is ‘yes’ then you need something more to do. For your own self and for others too. Because our emotions are not ours only.

Stress and depression are two major causes of low immunity and injure subtle psychosomatic balance. It has been clinically proven that pranayama or breath control technique helps reducing stress, anxiety and depression and eventually brings back the psychosomatic balance. Since pranayama is all about controlling breath, it helps improving the oxygen flow in body and thus balances the nervous system. Each pranayama has its manifold benefits. Out of main five pranayama-s you may start with anuloma-viloma pranayama since it has the power to cure blockages, bronchitis, asthma, hypertension to name a few.

Try to follow few abstinences [it is one of the preparatory stages of yoga]:

• Abstinence of over-eating (eat only when you are really hungry)
• Abstinence of using rude words (try not to harm anybody by using foul or crude words. Remember offensive words eventually indulge in depression)
• Abstinence of movement (once in a day try to sit in a calm place and meditate for at least few minutes)

You need to control three main aspects:

• Control your eating
• Control your words
• Control your breath (by practicing pranayama)

These are the basics and have been deduced from below mentioned aspects. If you wish more you may try to follow:

• ahiṃsā: non-violence
• satya: truthfulness.
• asteya: non-stealing.
• kṣamā: forgiveness.
• dhṛti: endurance, fortitude.
• dayā: compassion.
• ārjava: non-hypocrisy, sincerity.
• mitāhāra: measured diet.
• śauca: cleanliness.

One of the famous yoga guru in Paris wrote me “Le Coronavirus s’attaque aux personnes en mauvaise santé surtout. Mon corps de Yogi a beaucoup de reserves” (The Coronavirus mainly attacks people in poor health. My Yogi body has lot of preventions/ substitutes).

Close your eyes. Believe in yourself. Say yourself that ‘I am fine’, ‘What I have is enough’, ‘I am loved’, ‘I love others’, ‘All will be well’. Remember, believing in your own self is the best way to reduce all ill emotions. Think positive and be positive. I am not asking you to practice yoga or pranayama rigorously. Being an ordinary human being if we all can practice these for few minutes a day, we will get rid of few unwanted hindrances in our quarantined lives and can make our lives less vulnerable.

Trust me you will get the result because I care. Do you?