The magic of meditation, yoga nidra and hypnosis for long covid recovery

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.

Overview

When I first got long covid, I asked a friend who had been living with the condition for over a year what to do. She told me to meditate. I was uh… not pleased. Something was physically wrong with me. What would sitting quietly do to help me heal?

Fast forward six months and I was starting to get it. I now understand what many doctors and healthcare providers are saying about long covid. It’s a nervous system problem.

We have to get our systems out of chronic of fight, flight and freeze. We need to spend more time in rest and digest. There are lots of ways to do this. Here are three approaches I loved that brought me a great state of self-awareness, mindfulness and relaxation.

Yoga Nidra

Yoga nidra is the ancient technique of allowing your body to fall asleep while your mind stays awake. You lay down in a very cozy yoga nidra nest and listen to the teacher guide you. The session usually starts with you silently repeating your sankalpa, or heartfelt desire. This can be just for this one practice or for your life as a whole. Mine right now is “I am cultivating gratitude and joy.” The teacher then leads you through a body scan. After this the session may end, or you may observe other things like your breath, your emotions or a series of visualizations.

If I am feeling wired and tired, I pop on an hour yoga nidra and then happily drift off into some space between awake and sleep. There are shorter ones as well. Twenty to thirty minutes is common, but there are some online that are just ten minutes. I will link to my two absolute favourite teachers:

• Ally Boothroyd on YouTube (free)
• Kirsten Rose on YouTube (free)

I initially learned about yoga nidra through Suzy Bolt’s Rest Repair Recover classes, which are not free but amazing.

Clinical hypnosis

Before getting sick, I had heard of stage hypnosis where people are made to do funny things like cluck like a chicken. Clinical hypnosis uses the same power of people being highly suggestible but for your own greater health and happiness.

With online clinical hypnosis, you get very comfortable laying down or sitting up. The hypnotist will walk you through a series of prompts to bring you deep down into a state of relaxation. They may have you imagine clouds overhead or walking down stairs. I have aphantasia and am unable to visualize with images, but I just imagine these scenes with other senses that are strong for me like movement, touch, smell and taste.

Once you are deeply relaxed, they will tell you things on the theme of the session. This can be about growing confidence, coming out of depression, ease of falling asleep or befriending your inner child. You may fall asleep so you don’t always hear all or even anything of what they say. Allegedly what they say enters your subconscious anyway and has a positive effect.

I honestly love hypnosis. It gets me more relaxed, faster than anything else. Here is where I usually do them:

• Sleep hypnosis on YouTube with Michael Sealy (free)
• Hypnosis on YouTube with Andrew Major (free)
• Live, group, online hypnosis with Zara Dureno — focus on chronic fatigue, long covid (paid)

Meditation

There are lots of different types of meditation. The basic principle is staying with an anchor such as your breath, body sensations, sounds or something else. You will get distracted. This is inevitable. And then you turn your attention back to your anchor. Repeat.

Meditation is the best thing you can do to train your brain to be in the present moment. In the long run, this practice will make you less reactive to suffering, more relaxed and sometimes filled with happiness and gratitude for no particular reason. But in the short term, it can be really hard! It’s hard to sit with your mind racing all over the place and try to bring it back to your breath.

The one thing that makes meditation work is doing it in community. I’ve been practicing for 15+ years in the Insight and the Vipassana (Goenka) traditions. I found it’s really quite hard (impossible?) to stick with meditating on your own, by yourself. Luckily there are so many offerings out there for online programs and groups.

Most meditation groups in Buddhist traditions do not charge a registration fee to participate but ask for donations (dana). If you do not have funds, this is OK. I have at times in my life been financially generous, and now that I am unemployed, I am not. You can be generous when you recover your energy again.

• Queer, trans and disability-friendly meditation groups (list at bottom)
• Suzy Bolt’s Rest Repair Recovery program includes two weekly meditation and chat sessions (long covid focus)
• Search for a meditation centre near you that offers weekly sitting groups with online options. I let teachers know I need to meditate laying down because of chronic illness.