Week 1-3 of Lockdown
I have to admit to initially being rather complacent about Covid-19 and the impact it would have on the world, when it was a way off in China it was going to settle quite quickly, it wasn’t going to impact my plans for Summer, I was busy training for the World Masters Athletics in Toronto. I was proudly picking up more teaching work in Yoga, gently stepping back into the Corporate World as a teacher, rather than an office worker/Banker.
My change of mind occurred fairly suddenly as I started to question the increased cases and deaths. The Global impact, attitude & responses changing at rapid pace. The Supermarket shelves emptying of bizarrely toilet rolls, then pasta and flour. Finally the thought of wanting to keep safe my close friends with underlying health conditions. I was not fearful of contracting the virus, more fearful of picking it up and passing it onto someone who’s immune system couldn’t cope. As I looked a little deeper, it became apparent that day 6 onwards is a lottery of improving or worsening whether you’re young, old, rich poor, healthy or not you could find yourself fighting to live.
One Sunday evening, I sat crying with the speed of the changes going on around me, the deaths, the need to distance, not knowing how long it would go on for, I’d put so much energy into changing career, building a better life for myself and now it could all be ripped out from under me by an invisible virus capable of spreading across the World in a matter of months. My will to do the right thing resulted initially in a lack of ability to earn funds-how long would my savings last?
I woke up the following morning and set my useless panic to one side and drawing on my previous banking role in risk management, wrote myself an action plan around maintaining some form of cashflow. I shared it with other therapists and yoga teachers.
I saw an Ad on Facebook for a three day webinar to start teaching yoga online…I signed up and threw myself into absorbing everything I needed to know. I signed up to Zoom and found myself teaching a 1-2-1 online the following morning, through my macbook propped up on a couple of yoga bricks. The following day, I popped into the shop to update my mailing list and was asking a colleague for recommendations of a microphone – he donated a pair of Aftershokz Bluetooth headphones with a built in mic…they’re so comfortable they pretty much live on my head now !!
I let my regular students know I can now offer online classes, I listened to podcasts, watched youtube clips, shared ideas with others on facebook and found myself emailing an offering of online yoga classes and online consultations for injury and rehab. Feeling the need share techniques I personally found helpful, I recorded some short breathing and meditation clips and put them out on youtube, facebook and linkedin.
I have pared back my outgoings to essentials….its not that hard when you can only go for a run or the supermarket LOL. I now have confidence that whilst my business falls through the cracks on the Government offerings, I will be able to ride this out with an additional offering of online yoga and online exercise adherence, for anyone who needs to be accountable to help their body to strengthen and repair.
Before Covid-19 having an online presence other than a website was for other folk, definitely not for me!! However, having the ground ripped from underneath me, I had no choice if I wanted my world to survive, I had to adapt to the situation. I learned through Project Finance Risk Management that no matter how disasterous something seems, there is always a solution, it’s often difficult to navigate, however there is always a way forward. Through yoga I have learned and continue to remind myself that each moment we live in, whether enjoyable or difficult will pass and If I step back I can choose how to respond to each moment.
What I have learned in this period:
- Meditating daily is helping me to stay calm and focused.
- My emotions will change and pass, sometimes, like our weather I will experience every emotion within an hour.
- Gratitude for my garden and my athletics training.
- I can still connect with people.
- Its ok to not be ok emotionally and I don’t have to be a technical genius or perfect infront of the camera, I just need a passion to help folk to learn, build strength and grow.
- A greater understanding of Namaste – I am as you are, never did this word hold such deep understanding for me, this virus has touched the lives and emotions of every single person in the whole world.
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