2.7% of the population, 1.7 million people, have Long Covid in the UK

The statistics are daunting…

1.1 million people report symptoms adversely affecting their day-to-day activities and 322,000 report that their ability to undertake day-to-day activities has been “limited a lot”.

Development of Long Covid bears no relation to the severity of the Covid episode even developing where symptoms were mild. It is also the term used to describe on-going symptoms for those who were hospitalised with Covid. Of those 1 in 3 have serious issues and will be readmitted to hospital within 6 months.

If you teach yoga, you will certainly have yoga students that have had Covid and increasingly likely that some have Long Covid. The most common long-term symptom is fatigue but others are brain fog, respiratory issues, shortness of breath, muscle ache, as well as heart and gut problems. It's now known that the SARS virus can remain in the body, causing symptoms to re-emerge periodically

As a yoga teacher, there are steps that you should now take

• review your intake form to ask about Covid infection and lasting symptoms

• ask current students whether they are expereincing covid aftereffects

It’s important to encourage post Covid students not to do too much too quickly, even if symptoms were mild. Request that students stop as soon as they start feeling tired in the class. Ask them to assess how they are afterwards, later that day and for the following days, to check that the activity level is manageable for their current state of health.

A common pattern to fall into for those with longer term symptoms is a boom-and-bust cycle of activity; feeling somewhat recovered but then overdoing activities, and experiencing an energy crash. It’s better, although not easy, to find a sustainable level of activity, to use as the recovery baseline and find what is manageable on a day-to-day basis.

At the same time, yoga participation post Covid is beneficial. Whether that’s moving the body to reduce stiffness created by tension or to maintain strength, getting to know and feel comfortable about breathing issues or shifting the autonomic nervous system to a more relaxed state.

With the current limited options for treatment, helping students with Long Covid develop awareness of their health, to rest sufficiently and to manage symptoms is paramount.

Resources:

· BCYT Report July 2021 – this can be obtained by contacting barbaradancer@gmail.com

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