"To roll your yoga mat out is now as important as to wash your hands"

Lotte C Reiakvam, a home health care nurse and MediYoga instructor with knowledge of Stress Syndrome, Burnout Syndrome, and MediYoga Kidz, tells how the new and different everyday life is affecting work, private life and yoga.

“Finally, Saturday March 14th, I was going to an inspirational weekend in Oslo with Elisabeth, happy as a child! My MediYoga friend from Bergen was also going to be there – this was going to be perfect.

I’m on leave of absence from home health care in Norway, now living in Denmark with my Danish loved one, my mother, and sister. And now – on March 4th it is time to leave Copenhagen with my yoga wool mat and pillow. One week in the west of Norway, to be with my 17 year old son that now lives there on his own, and with a ticket for Oslo on March 12th. I’m combining the yoga weekend with some time for a few film shots of my yoga class for my upcoming web page.

And then Covid-19 hit and the trip to Norway got cancelled.

I choose to stay with my son in west Norway since it wasn’t safe for me to go back to Denmark. By this time my son had lived on his own for 6 months, and I had on my hand, been gone for the same length of time, so this was a new situation for us. My loved one and I agreed that this was the best deal for all of us. I was lucky and instantly got a job within home care nursing.

I’m getting my yoga mat out, pondering on what yoga program to do. Lately I’ve been stressed and only doing yoga sporadically, and been anxious throughout winter.

“Lotte, now it is time for Starter Pack 3. Every day at noon you will be rolling your mat out no matter what or where you are” – this clear message came from deep within.

There and then I made a deal with myself, like when I stopped smoking. Totally convinced from deep within.

No two days on the mat are alike. Some days everything just flows, other days a thousand thoughts are in my head. As a nurse I need to keep a distance at work, use a visor in close contact with patients, and increased hygiene routines. A lot to think about all the time. Days I have off, or when I have the night shift, I sleep in and then roll my yoga mat out at 12:00 sharp, fully focused within.

I’ve been doing the same yoga program over and over since March 13th, when I got stuck in Norway with my son, due to Covid-19. Starter Pack 3 has become my Corona-program – and I love it. The breathing exercise is just love, love love. When I have the day shift I only do 10 minutes of long deep breaths before going to sleep.

As a matter of fact, since Covid-19 started I haven’t felt stressed or anxious, and the uneasiness I earlier felt disappeared as soon as I got my daily yoga routine going.”