5 Tips To Ease Anxiety About Coronavirus

It’s difficult to avoid the topic. Everyone is talking about it. Media, coworkers, your kids’ schools, airlines and beyond. The Coronavirus outbreak, formally known as COVID-19, recently arrived in the United States. Although it is not yet a global health emergency, the anxiety has already transformed the everyday for many of us.

Some of us are holding our breath while commuting on the bus or walking down the streets. There is fear of touching doorknobs, sharing pens, using machines at the gym. More than anything, there is fear of what we can’t see.

Today, Simple Habit launches Ease Your Coronavirus Anxiety, the first collection of free guided meditations & coaching designed to specifically help you manage your anxiety about Coronavirus.

Sometimes, when our thoughts get carried away or when our mind and body get into sensory overload, it can be hard to find a way to bring ourselves out.

Simple Habit Meditation Expert Danielle Havasy explains, “We experience life through our senses. When we’re feeling anxious or fearful it’s a warning sign that one or more of our senses is being overloaded.” 

That’s where Simple Habit comes in. We’ve launched this collection to so that you can lean on our world-class experts at any time in your day – right when you wake up, on your commute to work, or even before bed. Each series in this collection was created to help ease your mind, relax your body, and shift your perspective.

5 tips to incorporate into your daily routine right now

Simple Habit experts provided a few mindful practices to incorporate into your daily routine to ease anxiety and this sense overload.

Tip 1 – Focus on your tribe

We’re starting to see a lot of social distancing. Companies are encouraging employees to work from home. Social events and conferences are being called off. All of these decisions can cause us to start to fear our neighbors or strangers on the streets. Plus, for many of us who are spending at home, we can become stuck in worried thought loops while alone. One of the lessons we learn from meditation is compassion, and oneness. This is very relevant now, because we realize that we are all together in this sticky situation. Call someone you love and let them know how you’re feeling. Or, reach out to someone and see how they’re doing. and see Taking care of yourself is taking care of the other, and taking care of the other is taking care of yourself. You are not alone in this!

– Giovanni Dienstmann, Simple Habit Meditation Expert

Tip 2 – Go for a walk

Instead of obsessively watching the news and scrolling your phone, set aside 10-15 mins to go on a walk. Try not to bring your phone. If you need to bring your phone, put it on airplane mode. As you’re walking, name the sound you hear. (Ex: dog, birds chirping, wind). Try to list every sound you hear silently or out loud. This will bring you into the present moment and help you focus your attention on what you really can control your thoughts.

– Danielle Havasy, Simple Habit Meditation Expert and Spiritual Coach

Tip 3 – Practice Ujjayi breath work

Nose breathing can help reduce your risk of getting sick. The microscopic hairs inside our nose moisten and filter the air we breath, and trap microscopic particles that can lead to sickness. Set a timer for three minutes. Sit up tall and gently close your mouth. Inhale through your nose for a count of three. Hold the breath for a moment and exhale through your nose for a count of five. As you exhale imagine your breath is fogging up a glass window. Feel free to lengthen or shorten the inhale and exhale.

– Danielle Havasy, Simple Habit Meditation Expert and Spiritual Coach

Tip 4 – Take care of your gut

Nurture your gut health. Most of our immune system function actually takes place in the gastrointestinal system, so making sure you’re supporting a healthy gut also supports a strong immune system. Consuming plenty of fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut or taking a probiotic supplement with a variety of bacteria strains helps populate the GI tract with beneficial gut bacteria. Foods rich in prebiotic fiber that act as food for those probiotic bacteria also play a supportive role. A few examples include apples, bananas, garlic, leeks, onion, and oats. You can also try a probiotic supplement to make it easier to stay consistent. Additionally, high-fiber foods like vegetables, berries, avocado, nuts, seeds, beans, and whole grains also helps promote regular digestion and a healthy gut microbiome. You also want to drink plenty of water to keep things moving through the GI system.

– Jess Cording RD, Simple Habit Expert and Nutritionist

Tip 5 – Try a mantra

And when all else fails, you can always repeat a mantra of your choice. If you feel yourself going down the rabbit hole of what if’s try repeating the mantra “this will pass” or “I am safe”. You can also make your own mantra up.

 – Danielle Havasy, Simple Habit Meditation Expert and Spiritual Coach

Havasy, Cording, and Dienstmann are among 10 experts from around the world who created content specifically for this collection. Ready to ease your anxiety? Listen now.

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