Shree Upadhyaya is our guest blogger for the day. She has studied Psychology from Kamala Nehru College and City University London, U.K. She is an artiste of performing arts, along with a healing therapist of modalities of Access consciousness, psychic tarot and white light healing. She has her own spiritual brand Mystique, which provides clients and people with opportunities of self healing through healing audio meditations and journals like Gratitude diary and Self love planner. She has recently been awarded for her work in healing and making people happy by Aarohan Foundation by Dignity Restoration and Grievance settlement association.

Mental health in the times of Covid 19

Amid this unprecedented time of a pandemic of novel Coronavirus, humanity is faced with serious threats to economy and physical health.

With fear looming in all parts of the world and constant news updates of loss of lives due to Covid 19 along with exposure to unnecessary fear mongering through social media, our collective mental well being has taken a beating leading to mass hysteria.

I, Shree Upadhyaya, being a healing therapist of various modalities of energy medicine (Viz., White light healing, Access consciousness, frequency music and vibrational teachings of Abraham Hicks) can only say one thing – we brought this pandemic upon us. One of the main teachings of Access consciousness is that everything is a conscious or unconscious creation of the human mind.

If we look at the positive side, mother nature and earth are healing, there’s more communion in species on earth and there’s an unsaid cooperation towards co-existence. Animal slaughter has reduced, air pollution has decreased adding to the much needed rest for our planet. Also, many of us hustlers, who work day in and out created this break of a lockdown, unconsciously. All of us were craving this pause of change where bodies could rest, minds would nourish and proper self care could be carried out. The word depressed, phonetically sounds like ‘deep rest’, which calls out for widespread rest across humanity. Another thing that I must stress upon is that this pandemic, spiritually is a reawakening. There would be newer ways to work, to create and very little reference points of creation from the past.

On the denser side of this pandemic is an unfortunate loss of lives, people falling sick due to contagion, excessive reporting from news channels leading to a lot of fear mongering. This kind of creation of panic leads to low vibrations and can create mental illnesses like anxiety and depression even in people who haven’t had a history of mental illness. It’s also flu season, so a lot of people with minor symptoms of flu would think that they’ve coronavirus, leading to unnecessary panic and hysteria.

So one of the first coping mechanisms is to have a limited screen time for both social media and news channels. The world is already suffering, and one is unconsciously picking up on low vibrations, don’t jeopardize it further with continuous exposure to news and death tolls. Secondly, this time of quarantine is not a productivity contest where you’ve to forcefully do things which you don’t feel like. However, flow with the energies and incorporate some sort of self care like adequate sleep, eating delicious home cooked meals, listening to meditations, listening more to motivational teachers and watching happy content that brings a smile on one’s face. You could also contribute to others in need in small ways like providing the homeless cooked meals, or reaching out to a friend and checking up on his/her well being. Providing job prospects or potential leads to people who’ve lost their jobs in this pandemic. Small steps of contribution go a long way in one’s own health and building goodwill with others.

Speaking of contribution, I, being a body processes therapist of Access consciousness, can’t provide personal sessions right now due to social distancing yet my other source of white light healing audios of meditations on different topics is adequate for my clients in such harsh times. I focus more on a client’s empowerment and self healing so that there’s limited dependency on a therapist. So in these testing times, they’re really braving the sweat of relapses of mental health situations yet at the same time, having confidence in recovery through these audios and one’s own ability to self heal.

Most importantly, if you’re going through a mental health situation, one needs to be in allowance of all stages of survival mode, thrive mode, relapse and recovery (not necessarily in order). One needs to be patient with themselves yet at the same time follow a balance of flowing and discipline. For instance, if you’re triggered, acknowledge that you’re triggered by something and let the relapse take a natural course instead of numbing it with medicines (unless it’s a life threatening situation).

Let the energies flow of crying, sharing with a trusted person, lots of rest, journaling, investing time in meditations and once you feel whole and relaxed, come back to your course of discipline. Incorporate exercises, healthy food eating with fun indulgences, consuming more immunity building super foods, reading books, doing yoga and meditations, basically everything to keep you busy and productive. Yet be mindful of not forcing anything neither the rest nor the productivity.