Role of Spirituality in mental health resilience during Covid 19 pandemic

“ I miss going to college

I miss my friends

I miss socializing

I miss attending events

And certainly I miss going out and I am sure we all are missing that too”

The ingress of COVID 19 has marred human life. We are in midst of this unprecedented global

affair which nobody ever thought would change life so drastically. Its impacts are indeed

dreadful causing economic stress and increasing vulnerability. The ILO has estimated that over

1.25 billion workers are at higher menace of “drastic and disastrous” layoffs and cut down in

wages. Social distancing and lockdown are dominating our life now, it is everywhere due to

which businesses are running down, daily income workers are unable to provide sustenance

for family , employees are working from home at the same time trying to balance out lot of

things in personal life, not only that even the students are facing tough times . The influence of

Covid-19 is particularly challenging for older people who may be experiencing cognitive

decline or dementia. This older generation may be socially isolated already and going through

loneliness which can actually defeat mental health . The doctors, nurses and entire health care

workers and their families are getting effected too. World Health Organization has taken the

influence of this crisis on people’s mental health in a very serious way and is observing the

situation in cooperation with national authorities, providing information and advice to the

Governments at the same time.

The consequences of such circumstances and patterns in life is the arousal of stress and anxiety

issues among people. It is very unfortunate that as the days are passing by it is very ineptly

impacting mental health and I am afraid if this crisis continues for long we will have to pay

huge price in terms of mental health issues. With such disruptive effects of COVID-19 , the

anxiety and stress issues should be acknowledged and not neglected . To combat it , it is

imperative that one stays positive, mindful and at peace. This could be achieved by embracing

remarkable powers of spirituality in our daily lives. Spirituality has already made entry into the

world of modern work very clandestinely. We are aware of our philosophical foundations of

spirituality based on ancient spiritual traditions of Vedanta and the Bhagawad Gita. It is time

to take a deep insight of this spiritual knowledge and utilize it for developing a sense of

contentment, meaningfulness and purposefulness in our daily lives. This would help in

deploying energy in doing work with full dedication, creativity and positive emotions. On a

positive note several spiritual practices could be initiated and practiced during lockdown.

Harvard medical school has suggested yoga to combat with COVID-19 anxiety. One can start

with simple breathing exercises and meditation. Regular breathing and meditation is very

calming. One simple technique of breathing which could be practiced is known as square

breathing- In this one Visualizes one’s breath travelling along a square. One can also go for

Pranayama , yoga , praying to god, reading spiritual books and following some spiritual guru’s

guidance. All these can go a long way in alleviating the engrossing isolation anxiety across the

world.

It is important at this point of time that we strive to convert this collective solitude into right

circumstances for communal isolation, doing so we might realize that spirituality is a

reasonable choice and a seedbed for mental renewal