Long Covid Study, Gerda Bayliss Yoga Teaches Us to Cure What Need Not Be Endured and Endure What Cannot

Long Covid Study

Gerda Bayliss

Long Covid has been a continual struggle for me and many others. The number of people suffering all over the world is growing daily, yet there has been very little support, and some have often had to fight to be believed. Whilst ill with Long Covid, Iyengar yoga has been a huge support for me mentally and physically.

The Long Covid therapy project was born out of a desire to help Long Covid sufferers and to demonstrate the benefits of Iyengar as a support system. Initially, we were keen to access some of the available funding for research into Long Covid, but realised early on that it could take months before anything tangible was achieved. Instead, we decided to concentrate on getting support out to the ever-growing number of people with Long Covid as quickly as possible, while still collecting some useful data on the effectiveness of Iyengar yoga therapy in helping Long Covid sufferers. Our aim was to help first and work on the research and funding later!

The project will be entirely online, providing ten weeks of yoga therapy for participants in the comfort of their own homes with no need to travel. It will involve ten qualified lead therapy teachers, 51 students, and 102 assistant teachers. We look forward to sharing more about this exciting project in the next magazine!

Gerda Bayliss is a Level 2 teacher based in Leeds. Prior to the pandemic she was teaching in Leeds and the surrounding area. She is now teaching online.