COVID-19 Xtras
These are challenging times and people are struggeling under the current circumstances.
Also the group events of meditatie.amsterdam are gecanceld for the time being. It is possible to book a one-on-one session with me online if you are looking for guidance these days.
For now I am mainly focussing on offering free meditation training to anybody that is looking for that. All about that you can find at this page.
If you know anyone that might benefit from this, please share this page to help me to reach and help as many people possible.
Meditation in your toolbox
In times like these, I am very grateful to have my meditation training. Something that people that are also more experienced in meditation probably will recognise. This is where you practise for with meditation, you of course not train to being able to sit quietly as long as possible on a meditation pillow. It gives access to inner peace and clarity when you need them most, like in times like these. Especially now use your ‘mental gym’, when you can’t visit your physical one.
Even experienced meditators can experience that meditation works less well for them now in periods of restelesness like tis one and that stess and thoughts seem to ‘win’ during their meditation sessions. This is normal and I also recognise this from my own experience, despite the thousands of hours I spend ‘on the meditation pillow’. This is not a problem or discouragement if you want to start with meditating now. Often it helps to just choose a slightly different form of meditation so your mind focusses a bit easier because it gets something new, or to use a guided meditation if you didn’t yet. Both you will find here in this free toolkit, that is even specifically aimed on that. Also you can find more meditations in my podcast and the recordings of my weekly meditation evenings that I made free and openly accesible in this Corona period.
If you are looking for more individual guidance then you are always welcome for a privat one-on-one online session wih me, for which I lowered the price significantly in this period. Here you can find more info about that.
Meditating during the corona crisis
The real heroes of especially this moment are working in the hospitals or healthcare with the sick. Everywhere though I see beautiful initiatives emerge to contribute and also I want to help by sharing my knowledge and experience regarding meditation with offering online meditations to help those that need it. In the Corona toolkit I created, you will find online training and guided meditations for among others to become more calm and clear mentally and give the immune systems the oppertunity to function optimally. They are free of charge and with no strings attached, and suited for the beginner as well as experienced meditator.
I hope that it also helps you and if there are any questions or requests, please let me know at roel@meditatie.amsterdam.
Stay healthy and take care of yourself and eachother.
All the best,
Roel
I like to be very clear about the fact that I am not a medical expert or scientist, or in any way claim to be an expert on the covid-19 virus. I have a certain amount of knowledge and experience about meditation though and that is where these trainings are aimed at.
The Corona meditation toolkit
In the process of creating this toolkit, I observed what was going on among the population and in my direct surroundings and asked myself what would benefit my needs in these times. I noticed, also with myself, that my state of mind about the subject, changed per day and sometimes even per moment. Especially in these times the meditation you do should fit you instead of you having to adapt to it. That led me to creating a ‘menu’ in which everybody can choose what he or she needs most in this specific moment.
Like you are used to of my podcasts and meditation evenings, I always give more than just a guided meditation and make it into a training around the subject. If you already listened to it, which I recommend you do at least once, you can also choose just the meditation below.
- When you have the virus; how meditation can help you when you have the virus and are ill in bed because of it (although the meditation is also a very good way to relax)
- Dealing with stress and restlessness; how do I manage the threath and insecurity and the effects now on society and economy of the Corona crisis
- Help if you are overwhelmed; a specific audio that helps you to get out of it when all is a bit too much for a moment
- A sanity and recharge moment for parents of young kids; how to keep the balance with working at home and the kids there more present as well
- Strengthen your immune system; how do I protect myself optimally against the virus
- The next step: contributing to the bigger picture; how do I maintain overview and can I contribute and not lose myself in my own survival reaction
As said, I would strongly recommend you to listen to the file with the explanations at least once to have maximum benefit of the meditation that accompanies it.
All the best! And if you have any questions, remarks or feedback, please let me know by sending me a message at roel@meditatie.amsterdam.
Meditating when you are ill of the virus (or really want to relax)
This meditation I created for people that have the Corona virus. I did this consulting and with the feedback of people that actually went through this and had problems with their lungs and were short of breath. This meditation probably won’t work for everybody but does for many I hope, so I want to share it with you. And if you have feedback, please share it with me so I can improve it. All the best and quick recovery.
If you would like to have this meditation offline, send me a request at roel@meditatie.amsterdam and I will mail it to you. The link to the breathing exercise I mention is this one: https://doorfocusnaarflow.nl/en/practise/. Scroll down until you see ‘Relax Yourself’.
You can also use this meditation for relaxation and if you aren’t ill, or have something else then Corona.
Only the meditation (22 minutes)
Meditating when you are restless and stressed
The Corona virus has a big influence on the world and gives us more than enough to worry about. Your health and that of the ones close to you, your income and financial security, your job or business, what this all means for our future and so on. This leads to mental restlessness. Especially because there is all but certainty about how long this is gonna last.
This stress and restlessness is clearly present in our society and as contagious as the virus itself. Stress also decreases the functioning of our immune system, our defense against the virus. Often we even contribute to our own restlessness, mainly by media consumption. Keep yourself inform, but ask yourself if another hour of browsing the internet for new knowledge and insights to get more grip on the situation and more peace of mind, is really giving you more insight and calmness. In such a moment maybe it is a better choice to focus on working on your clarity and mental wellbeing.
About how to do that and deal with your restlessness better, listen to this episode.
And just the meditation (28 minutes)
Meditating when you are overwhelmed
Now the Corona virus is threathening our securities where we built our lives on, it can easily lead to more than just restlesness. For a lot of pelople there is a lot of insecurity about their health (do I catch the virus and how dangerous are the symptoms for me?) and that of the people close to them, about their job and income (how does it continue after this?) and about the financial security and future (will that still be there?). Also social activities are reduced to digital and the interpersonal contact with strangers often is experienced as threathening and there are many other related circumstances. And nobody knows how long it will continue and what the next steps and consequences will be.
It is easy to lose yourself in all these changes and insecurity. If all becomes too much, it is hard to keep the calm and overview and get yourself out of this state. Therefore this podcast to help you with that and it contains a ‘CNTRL-ALT-DEL meditation’ to get you out of it.
And just the meditation (22 minutes)
In the audio I do a breathing exercise and you can find more about that, and the belly breath exercise I refer to, on this webpage. Scroll down and you can find it under ‘Relax Yourself’ and ‘Reset Yourself’.
Sanity break and recharge for parents of young kids
The parents of young kids that have to work from their homes while the kid are more at home, especially when schools and childcares are closed, often have an extra hard time right now. This meditation is short so it fits in the probably full scedules.
For more about recharging for parents in this period, see the special webpage I made for it.
Meditation for strengthening your immune system
In these times I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to have a good functioning immune system. Because if you become ill and how strong the symptoms will be, is influenced by the ‘fitness’ of your immune system. That determines how strong your body is to fight the virus. It is for a reason that mainly the older, sick and weak part of the population, is where it leads for the biggest problems.
The immune system is our natural protection against diseases and viruses. About how the immune system works, if and why it functions well or not and mainly how meditation can help with that, I will dive into in this podcast. Find out how meditation strengthens the functioning of your immune system and helps you against the covid-19 virus.
And just the meditation (22 minutes):
In the podcast I mention Wim Hof. If you want to know more about him, here you will find what his message is in this time of Corona and here you will find his guidance to his breathing technique.
More about the scientific research about meditation and the immune system, you can find here.
The next step: contributing to the bigger picture
In times of crisis the attention often primarily goes to the own survival. Our activated primitive system leads to stress, restlesness and self-centered behaviour. gedrag. It takes a lot of mentale development to move beyond that in the acute phase, especially when the people around you are also stressed. What can be even more contagious than the virus itself. See what happened in supermarkets, where people went to pretty relaxed but came out with more than they planned to buy.
With this panic reaction the least social side of humans can surface, but in these times of crisis you also see the most social side of human arising. A lot of beautiful initiatives emerged. From former IC staff that offered to go back to work till people that help the weak and elderly with shopping, and from people that do big donations for care or research to companies that offer their services for free like my podcasthost Buzzsprout that gave me free space for this initiative.
Also the view on the positive side effects that every crisis brings along are noticed more. Liek the flurishing of the climat and the people rediscovering nature, the awareness what is really important in life, what are essential professions and less crime and more collective thinking. We realise now more than maybe ever before, how dependant we are of people that work in the food industry, healthcare and childcare. If the virus in it’s rapid spreading showed us one thing, it is how interconnected we are. And this interconnectedness is also the force behind the extermination of it. Just like with other big issues like climat and economic crisises, the solution is in working together and all contributing to the bigger cause.
When more overview and peace of mind occurs, where the first meditations in this toolkit were mainly aimed at, the comes also more attention for the world around you. Is there more space for ‘we’ instead of just personal survival, and more the urge to contribute to the greater cause. You don’t have to be ashamed if you over shopped or didn’t apply as a volunteer. Your insight and focus can shift every moment. You only have to approach your fellow citizen as you possibly having the virus instead of the other one can potentially infect you, and yoru interaction will change completely.
To keep the view on the bigger picture is important now. As a solution but also to prevent a fallback. Because where time brings overview and more peace of mind, the longer the restrictions are maintained also can lead to new restlesness and selfcentered behaviour. Focus on compassion is a good step forward, for your fellow human beings but also for yourself. And with meditation you can even in isolation contribute to the bigger process. How that works, I will explain in this podcast.
And just the meditation (24 minutes):
If you want to read about the exercise I mention at the end of the podcast, you can find it on this webpage when you scroll down to ‘Connect Yourself’
The weekly meditation evening online
Also the meditation evenings are cancelled of course, where people maybe even need it more than ever now. To serve all previous visitors and interested, I continue my meditation evening online. As long as there are advised restrictions for direct social interactions, I will make sure there is a new edition here posted every Thursday evening. You can find them here.