Yes, helpful
On this site, I review the strategies that helped me recover from long covid and chronic fatigue syndrome. See all long covid recovery posts.
This is for information purposes only and nothing I share should be considered medical advice. What works for me may or may not work for you. Please do your own research and consult with your own trusted medical professionals.
What is Rest Repair Recover?
Suzy Bolt is a yoga teacher based in the UK who got long covid in early 2020. She used yoga, breathwork and meditation in her year-long recovery. She also threw herself into research into recovery by interviewing experts on her YouTube channel. On top of this, she is incredibly nurturing and knows how to build community. She started Rest Repair Recover to help others recover. Even though I am on the other side of the world, I can usually do a few classes live each day with even more on “catch-up” that were recorded while I was asleep.
What I love about RRR
This program is what kept me sane and hopeful during long months alone, unable to go outside. Most classes start with a teacher greeting every single student (usually 50-70 people) by name. I can’t even explain what a boost to the mood it is for someone to see you and say hello to you when you are housebound or bedbound.
In some of the smaller classes, I also got to know people better. I developed a friendship with one person in particular and Devon has been a lifeline for me. It’s been a year of sending Devon happy texts when someone went well or calling her crying when I felt awful. We send each other links to videos we read or quotes from recovery books we are reading. We finally got to meet recently in person!
Oh yes, about the classes themselves. RRR is what introduced me to breathwork, which was a huge part of my early recovery. It also introduced me to yoga nidra (yoga sleep), which become an indispensable practice for me to calm myself down enough to get some rest.
RRR classes are broken into levels from zero to give. Zero is you can do it from your bed, like yoga nidra. Five is a regular exercise class with cardio and weights. I spent half a year just doing level zero before I was ready to move on. I spent months just watching level one classes, maybe trying one move or two. And then something just clicked and before I knew it I was doing things that looked like normal yoga classes.
The biggest difference between doing RRR and doing yoga on your own is the community. But it is also how the teachers break everything down into tiny pieces. They constantly tell you to check in with how you feel and remind you to only things that feel good to you. It’s so gentle and compassionate. I think this is what you’re actually learning in RRR: how to treat yourself with kindness while you learn to move again, not really the movements themselves.
RRR is one of my top things that contributed to my recovery. I can’t recommend it enough!
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