UNITED STATES, June 16, 2024 (New India Abroad): Did Covid-19 change yoga? Of course. Most visibly, many yoga studios shuttered, and classes went online. But in the aftermath of the worst pandemic in a century, the content of a yoga class is also changing, hastening the trend of recent decades to adapt to the more stressful times we live in. Covid, points out Juliana Di Leonardo, a yoga teacher based on Long Island, made people fearful and anxious. “In my classes, I pay attention to warm up and breath work, regularly discussing tips and tricks with students that they can add to their yoga toolbox to help them traverse turbulent situations with more ease, clarity, and intuition,” she told Lotus, a wellness and spirituality web magazine. One of those tools is mindfulness during yoga to help calm the mind. When warranted, Juliana also prolongs the shavasana (corpse pose) that usually closes a yoga class.

Many yoga teachers turn shavasana into a condensed version of yoga nidra (yogic sleep) for deeper relaxation. Developed at the Bihar School of Yoga in India, this half-hour practice in a supine position includes rotating your awareness through the body and certain visualizations. Some gurus now teach their own versions of yoga nidra, which is growing in popularity as a surefire way to relax the body and mind. The most noticeable impact of Covid was to shift yoga classes online, posing tech challenges for older yoga teachers and students. But many people now miss the connection they find in a physical class, plus the soothing ambience at a studio and opportunity to meet kindred souls. A standing complaint of some Indian activists has been that yoga in the Western world is going too far away from its roots, reduced to mere physical postures sans its contemplative, spiritual aspects. Mention of the Indian roots of the centuries-old psycho-spiritual system, which is one of the six systems of Indian philosophy, does not even get a passing nod, except for a Namaste greeting at the beginning or at the end of a yoga class.

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https://www.newindiaabroad.com/english/health-wellness/international-yoga-day-special-how-yoga-is-evolving-to-suit-stressful-and-sedentary-times

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