By Alicia Dill

Starting in 2013, I’ve been practicing regularly at the same hot yoga studio two to three times per week. Hot yoga gives me intensity, focus, mindfulness, and dripping heat you feel in your bones even in the dead of winter. While holding a complicated pose well past your comfort zone, you start to comprehend all those buzzwords you’ve heard tossed around. The point where you are working mind, body, and soul. Where you forget your own name and everything else that led you to the class because if you waver, you might fall down in a puddle of sweat. It’s a glorious way to exercise the warrior that needs to push to the edge and just flow. So my confession of the pandemic…I haven’t stepped foot inside a yoga studio since March 2020. That’s crazy talk!

Just writing about it, I’m aching to be back. But the other part of me says, I’m not ready. And I’m giving myself the space to be ready. To be clear, I’m all about the yoga, and the heat, but I’m not ready to practice with other people again. Because throughout the past year and some months, I’ve been in my room, exploring different yoga routines remotely, sometimes cold, never breaking a sweat or remembering to breathe deeply. A very different sort of yoga than my group sessions. And as a former soldier, it reminded me of another time in my life, transitioning out of the military into the civilian world. Here are a few ways I used my military experience to keep me motivated on my mat:

It’s a Group Thing Until It’s Not

Group exercise is common in the military. It’s part of the success as our drill sergeants build us up into the fine specimens we all are. From the very beginning of our basic training, we learn to do things together and follow instructions. Running with a cadence helped me shave five whole minutes off my two-mile run, as I was filled with the baritone of the “Hard work, work,” echoed by a band of high-speed, low-drag trainees. In yoga, that energy builds throughout the class and even when I wanted to give up, I feel the collective will of others helping me through. “Lion’s breath,” anyone? I observe others manipulate their bodies into impossible beauty, and I find a way.

When it’s just me, I’m using a pre-recorded class to try and build that energy. It’s harder to go it alone, whether running or practicing yoga. Once I started, I could keep going and I could increase the intensity if that was the right thing for me. This was the Starbucks of Yoga, where I could customize exactly what I had in me to do that day. And I did. To be clear, I had to use every ounce of what I learned with technique from my other teachers to avoid injuries at home and overdoing it. But overdoing it wasn’t usually my issue―it was half-hearted under-doing it.

I remember my instructors from my studio classes saying “Leave it all on the floor.” I was used to a puddle. Now without it, on those cold winter days, I had to remind myself of what exactly I left on the mat and I didn’t have to pick it up. In the height of the pandemic, a lot of nervous anxiety and not knowing what was next. Thank you, yoga! Just like in the transition from the Army, we may be going it alone at times, but the lessons we learned together can still carry us through. Just showing up was the hardest step for me.

Adapt to New Surroundings

Swearing in to the Army, I learned the mantra “hurry up and wait.” Closely followed by, “embrace the suck.” I did both during this past year. I specifically used the ability to adjust to my work-from-home job and maintain a daily activity schedule. This wasn’t my first rodeo working out solo with apps. Before the pandemic, I traveled a lot for work and used various apps for whatever workout I was going to do. Yoga is the perfect post-flight activity in a hotel room. I already paid for a subscription to multiple platforms because I get bored easily. But in quarantine, working out remotely every day made this much harder. I signed into studios I attended in multiple states. I did guided meditations. I worked out outside a lot.

Yoga HIIT/ Sculpt meant tiring out quickly then laying down with 15-minute savasana staring up at blue skies and the puffiest of clouds. My favorite location was the abandoned Gaga ball pit I dubbed the “Octagon” at a nearby school with a softer pad for my knees.

Yin yoga became a way to relieve the pressure on joints from my stand-up desk and the new arrangement working from home. I bought a cushion to ensure it was a studio-like experience and I could fully relax into the dull pain.

Yoga Nidra was me finding that safe place I can go to in my mind at any time with guided meditation. For those who need the mental health benefits more than anything else, this was pure rejuvenation—and I do not write that word lightly. It was beautiful restoration.

Community is Real – Virtual or Not

I wrote about how difficult it was going solo in my practice, but I wasn’t completely alone. Part of the way through the pandemic, I realized that I could start to follow some of my favorite yoga instructors on Instagram the same way I connected to my favorite veteran authors or creators. My community of yogis just opened up in the exact same way as my veteran community. As I started connecting with all their projects and free classes and meditations, I asked myself, Why hadn’t I thought of this before? My isolation in practice was an important step in understanding my own strength. But so was hearing how others were dealing with something similar when I finally connected to other yogis.

My yoga practice is a sacred thing where I connect to a very deep part of myself. Connecting to remote instructors outside of my local yoga community wasn’t something I thought of doing every day before the pandemic. With the success of connecting to other veterans, I needed this boost to grow with other virtual yoga community members―and why not with my veteran yoga community all at once? Now that’s synergy (the last buzzword, I promise!).

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Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Alicia Dill, an award-winning author, Army veteran, journalist, and yoga enthusiast. Originally from Missouri, Dill joined the Iowa Army National Guard at the age of 17, right before 9/11, and flew her first mission inside a Chinook helicopter as a journalist to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, the weekend after the Twin Towers fell. Dill then received a degree in journalism and international studies at the University of Iowa and a masters from the University of Dubuque, and served as a public affairs specialist for the Iowa Army National Guard and then a journalist for multiple Iowa newspapers. As an author, she writes thrillers that draw from her military experience and speak to the strong bonds between sisters in uniform. Her first book, Squared Away, was a 2020 International Next Generation Indie Book Award winner and a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award, and her second, Beyond Sacrifice, will be published September 7, 2021 from Circuit Breaker Books. For more, see www.aliciadill.com.

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If you’ve had trouble sticking to your fitness routine amid the COVID-19 pandemic, you’re far from alone. Despite having personal trainers and home gyms at their disposal, even celebrities have found it challenging to stay fit—and fitness expert, TV personality, and actor Brooke Burke is no exception. In an exclusive interview with Eat This, Not That!, Burke opens up about her relatable struggle to stay motivated over the past year.

When asked if she found it more difficult to stick to her workouts amid the pandemic, Burke candidly replies, “To be honest, yes.”

“Let’s face it: fitness can be boring and not everybody loves it,” says the multi-hyphenate star.

Burke, who recently launched a Summer Slim Down series via her Brooke Burke Body app, says that not having the camaraderie she usually finds in the gym was one of the biggest adjustments for her.

“The heat and intensity of being in a large class are different from the at-home experience,” she admits, noting that she particularly missed going to in-person SoulCycle and yoga classes amid COVID lockdowns. However, Burke says that she has a newfound appreciation for at-home workouts.

“I do believe in the digital gym at home,” she says. “The benefits are more efficient for both time and money. I have to work out smarter and harder to break a sweat. My programs on the Brooke Burke Body app do exactly that.”

RELATED: This Total-Body Home Workout Builds Strength and Burns Calories Fast

“I have learned to embrace the burn, crave the sweat, and understand the benefits of pushing through a workout and the energy that it creates.”

Despite the challenges of juggling a busy schedule and navigating life at home during COVID (with four kids to take care of, no less), Burke says that she has made a point to keep her wellbeing—and the “me time” her fitness routine provides—a top priority during this challenging period.

“Time has always been an excuse, so I’ve had to design a life schedule that works for me,” she says. “I’ve had to put myself on top of my to-do list.”

For more celebrity news delivered to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter, and check out our exclusive interview with Rob Lowe on the diet and exercise routine that keeps him fit!

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If you noticed that you gained a little bit of weight during the pandemic, do not worry—you’re not alone. According to a recent survey supervised by Google, around 38% of participants found that their eating habits had changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, some of them averaging 1,500 extra calories a day (which can add up to five pounds a month). If we were to apply this percentage to all Americans, that would mean an average of 100 million Americans also experienced changes to their eating habits over the past year—which could have easily resulted in some pandemic weight gain.

Naturally, some will say you need to diet in order to lose weight—probably because diet culture has been saying the same thing for years. Diet culture says the solution to weight gain is to restrict your eating and workout like crazy in order to drop the pounds. And yet, after these survey results came out, one doctor says the complete opposite—dieting does not work. Glenn Livingston, PhD and author of Never Binge Again, says the worst way to handle pandemic weight gain is to go on a diet.

“Many are planning to fix the problem by dieting their weight off when this is all over,” says Dr. Livingston in a recent press release. “Unfortunately, using food to soothe trauma during the pandemic creates a strong link between emotions and overeating that may last long after COVID ends. Dieting after this experience can stress the individual and trigger the link, thereby creating even more overeating episodes.”

Here’s why going on a diet would be the worst way to handle pandemic weight gain, along with healthier solutions to take care of your body, straight from Dr. Livingston. And if you’re looking for even more healthy tips, be sure to check out our list of The 7 Healthiest Foods to Eat Right Now.

Living through the COVID-19 pandemic was a stressful time, and it can be easy to turn to comfort foods in order to soothe worried emotions. Why is that? UT Southwestern Medical Center published a study showing how our “hunger hormone” ghrelin is released in stressful situations, meaning we can feel emotionally hungry when we’re stressed out. Meanwhile, the Journal of Consumer Psychology published another study showing how those comforting “indulgent” foods can help alleviate a bad mood.

If you were reaching for your favorite snacks during the pandemic or cooking up some of grandma’s classic comfort foods (which another study shows can be a reaction in stressful times), the reaction was a natural one.

Understanding your emotional eating triggers is the first step into making healthier choices, according to Dr. Livingston.

“To correct for COVID-19 overeating, don’t diet right away, instead focus first on modifying the overeating behavior,” says Dr. Livingston. “Working with over 1,000 binge-eating clients has taught me even if you’re bingeing every day, you can quickly retrain yourself to experience those negative emotions without the urge to overeat.”

Here are 5 Ways to Quit Emotional Eating for Good.

How many times have you reached for a snack bag when you’re stressed? As we explained, it can easily happen if your hunger hormone is flipped on. But what if your body isn’t even hungry for it?

Dr. Livingston suggests shifting from that “eat on a whim” model and instead, focus on a “eat and snack by design” structure.

Take a few days to evaluate the times you feel hungry. When is the best time to eat your three square meals? Do you need a snack between lunch and dinner? Is there a time you crave something sweet where you can incorporate a healthy dessert or a small bar of dark chocolate?

Having structured times for meals can make it easier to say no to those overeating practices, because your body will fall into a rhythm that works for you, rather than eating whenever you feel like it.

RELATED: Get even more healthy tips straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter!

Diet culture tells you to restrict your eating. Dr. Livingston says you should eat all of your favorite healthy foods.

In fact, he even suggests you “overstock” your kitchen with healthy food, that way you always have something on hand that’s delicious and nutritious to eat.

The easiest way to make this happen is to look for healthy non-perishable items that you can turn to in a pinch. Frozen produce will last longer than fresh (but you should still get fresh produce if you love it), whole-grain products, beans, legumes, cans of fish and vegetables, lentil- or chickpea-based pasta, healthy frozen dinners, can all fit into a healthy diet.

Here are 20 Healthy Pantry Staples That Belong in Every Kitchen.

One of the easiest ways to ensure you are always eating a nutritious meal is to follow the USDA MyPlate Guidelines, straight from the Dietary Guidelines from Americans. This formula breaks down the exact way you should set your plate every time you sit down for a meal.

The guidelines tell you to set half your plate with vegetables and/or fruit, a quarter of your plate with a lean protein, and a quarter of your plate with a fiber-rich carb or whole-grain. Incorporating some dairy every now and then, as well as some healthy fats (like olive oil, or avocado) will ensure that you are getting all of the nutrients you need.

So…will this help with your pandemic weight gain? Clearly, Dr. Livingston’s suggestions are not a crash diet, and they don’t come with some kind of ultimatum. Nevertheless, these tips will help you create healthier eating habits for the long term that will help you tear away from any emotional eating practices you may have picked up during the pandemic. And according to numerous health professionals, following these types of practices will result in some weight loss and help you to live a long and happy life.

Here are 17 Healthy Eating Habits To Start Today, According To Our Medical Experts.

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In a 2018 study across the UK and the US more than a fifth of surveyed adults reported feeling lonely. Today in most urban areas, 30% of households consist of only one person. Millennials especially are at risk to suffer intense and prolonged feelings of loneliness due to isolation, lack of social connections and a lack of opportunities.

In the past year the pandemic increased the intensity and frequency of bouts of loneliness and depression for 14% of respondents in a recent study.

The Role Of Online Dating Apps 

According to experts from Datinghive, worldwide pandemic and the isolation it imposed boosted not only Netflix, Nintendo and Co. Apparently it has also ushered a new era of mass online dating, making it more approachable and legitimate for the masses. The quarantine caused a doubling of clicks for online dating platforms.

While it became increasingly difficult to visit with friends, let along meet new people, the barrier to using dating apps sunk for all ages.

From traditional marriage matchmaking services to online apps for casual encounters, providers saw their click rates soar. Everyone reached out to meet someone new. New dating platforms emerged to meet increasing needs. And in times of social distancing these needs were not only romantic but social contact.

Comparison sites such as datinghive help singles find a fitting dating app tailored to their specific profile, background and proclivities. From diverse specialized dating platforms members can select a site that promises a perfect match.

Originally set up to provide an easy way to contact singles in the neighborhood dating apps aim to facilitate personal meet and hook ups. During lockdown however many online dating platforms such as Tinder expanded their geographic reach to enable worldwide contacts and saw their reach increase.

From an initial contact to providing platforms of exchange and conversation, online dating provided a chance for sharing and combatting the dullness of life in lockdown. Without the possibility of meeting in person, users started chatting with strangers. Chats turned into talks. Strangers become friends. And began to share. Online dating apps turned from being sites for a quick connection to a forum for connectedness and extended conversations.

Consequences Of Loneliness

Loneliness affects your wellbeing in profound physical manifestations. Chronic feelings of loneliness compromise the immune system, raise blood sugar and cortisol, and make one susceptible to a range of health problems, such as cardiovascular diseases, depression, and dementia. It is a precursor to poverty and disenfranchisement.

Causes 

Research points to the discrepancy between the desired range of social contacts and the present reduction of opportunities to socialize, connect, work together. Some blame our competitive, digitalized society, the stress of uprooting to follow jobs to a new city, of losing touch with old friends, of lacking time and opportunity to cultivate a wide social circle.

Yet despite its prevalence, it is considered a taboo. Who openly admits to being lonely? It smacks of incompetence, of not being able to cope successfully, of being unable to relate and build friendship. It is a stigma for the affected. Except when there is a death, few acknowledge their feelings. Aloneness is accepted as it is considered temporary. Loneliness as an existential condition is met with a shameful shrug.

Coping Strategies 

Who doesn’t experience feeling alone and disconnected at times? Living in a haze of exhaustion and depletion may be a temporary condition easily remedied by diversions, activities or entertainment shared with others. But how do we cope when all our friends have a significant other to turn to, enjoy the comfort of a family, or hunker down with their roommates to play computer games.  Loneliness is the dearth of close friends, a lack of the warmth of human contact, and of emotional and physical touch. It is people.

Lockdown loneliness led to various coping strategies that included hobbies, sports and withdrawal into the solitary life of the mind. But all of these activities may increase feelings of isolation. Well-meaning advice about reaching out to family and friends is useless when friends and family are few and distant.

After the end of the pandemic social life will resume, and we will return to our offices, meet friends at a bar, or share a dinner with our extended family. But for many it will also include new contacts and possibly a new friend or lover.

*collaborative post

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By Shanti Kaur Khalsa

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the world far more uncertain. It’s impacted our work and finances, our relationships, and of course, our physical and mental health. Finding the sense of surety we all crave is almost impossible, which leads to stress, anxiety, and powerlessness that drains us emotionally. These feelings of helplessness can be traumatic, putting our body and mind in a constant “flight or fight” state. Staying in this tense state for too long not only hurts our quality of life but makes our immune systems more vulnerable. 

It’s important to recognize that this stress is a natural response to what’s happening in the world. After being gentle with ourselves, we also need to find a self-care routine that treats both the body and the mind, helping us to break the cycle of endless “what-ifs” about tomorrow’s challenges. 

There are plenty of ways to cope with anxiety from uncertainty. Exercise, meditation, and breathing techniques have all been proven to mitigate stress. Recently however, health care professionals, researchers, and practitioners are finding consensus around an activity that combines these three techniques into a powerful tool for regulating emotions and managing stress – Kundalini Yoga. 

How Kundalini Yoga Can Help

Kundalini Yoga is an ancient practice that incorporates movement, dynamic breathing techniques, meditation, and mantras to channel your body’s energy. While most forms of exercise produce the endorphins that make you feel better, Kundalini Yoga also releases the tension and anxiety that builds up over time in your body’s glands and nerves. It resets your stress response so that you can achieve an internal biochemistry of calm, balance, and depth of self.

This is supported by a growing body of evidence indicating that contemplative practices such as yoga and meditation are effective at treating anxiety. In one recent study, researchers from Harvard Medical School, Boston University and the Sundari Satnam Kundalini Yoga Center compared Kundalini Yoga with common cognitive treatments in reducing symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. Those who were treated with yoga had lower relative levels of anxiety and had a decrease in physical symptoms compared to traditional treatments (Visit JAMA Psychiatry to read the study).

Start Your Practice at Home

One of the many beautiful aspects of yoga is that it requires no special equipment – though a yoga mat is helpful — so there’s nothing to stop you from practicing Kundalini Yoga in your living room. Training with a qualified Kundalini instructor will eventually be necessary to learn proper form, but there are plenty of techniques you can easily perform on your own that will help to cope with the uncertainty of the pandemic. 

Try this Kundalini mediation at home whenever you feel worried or anxious. Choose a peaceful surrounding, inside or outside.  You can have soft music playing to enhance your sense of peace.

1. Sit in Easy Pose.
   • Sit on the floor. You can use a pillow or cushion for comfort.
   • Cross your legs in front of you in a comfortable and relaxed way.
   • If you are uncomfortable sitting on floor you can sit in a chair with your legs uncrossed and your feet flat on the ground.
   • Place your hands on your knees, palms down, close your eyes and observe the sensations of your body and mind.
2. Place your hands on the center of your chest at heart level. 
   • Begin by resting the back of your left hand in the palm of your right hand. 
   • Gently grab your left hand with your right, so that your right thumb is nestled in your left palm.
   • Cross your left thumb over your right. 
   • Curve the fingers of your right hand around the outside of your left hand and hold it gently with the four fingers of the left hand remaining straight. 
   • Bring your hands to your heart center, resting them against your chest. 
3. With eyes closed, inhale deeply and relax. Breath slowly for 10–30 minutes. 
   • In daily life we typically breathe 15 times a minute. Try slowing down to 4 breaths per minute by inhaling to the count of 10 and exhaling to the count of 10.  A slow breath will slow your heartbeat, reduce your stress response, and give you a peaceful, secure feeling. 
   • Your mind will begin with a lot of “chatter” and anxiety.  That is normal!  Don’t try to suppress your thoughts, let them come and go until your mind is peaceful.  If you have a particularly persistent thought, try naming it.  Say to yourself, “This is my worry about my son,” for example.  And let it go.
   • It is difficult at first, but if you do this breathing technique regularly you will find that your mind will welcome the silence and will start to relax. Soon, you will build the habit and the capacity to keep your mind calm in challenging environments.

For more ways to reduce stress through Kundalini Yoga, visit: https://www.3ho.org/

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Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Shanti Kaur Khalsa, a yoga teacher and business consultant who brings spiritual values to every aspect of life.  She is an engaging Sikh teacher and her involvement with Sikh youth has led to mentoring young people around the world. She is a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher who has traveled widely teaching and giving inspirational kirtan and lecture programs.  Shanti is a published historian and regularly contributes articles on both current events and Sikh history.  

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