Lockdown Biohack #9 - Snowga

Isolation creates fear, boredom, anger, and loneliness.

Quarantine is about avoiding contact with other people but not with nature. As I mentioned in previous blogs, some biohacks to help deal with this situation include hugging trees, going barefoot in the snow, feeling snow with our bare hands, and becoming aware of adaptation for survival, Have these tips been helping you? About 5 years ago I did a SNOWGA challenge on Instagram asking people to send in pics doing yoga in the snow. It was a huge success and everyone loved it so I thought I would share it here.

There are almost 15 million people in Ontario in lockdown. What are they supposed to do if the gyms and yoga studios are closed for lockdown and they really want to go somewhere? A huge percentage of them have been practicing Yoga at a studio for years as a community. Some newbies have recently taken it up during the pandemic as they now have the time.

Doing yoga online helps us keep up our practice and we can feel a part of a community but it’s not good for our mental health to be trapped indoors all the time. My dear friend and yoga instructor Cathy Mines, from Reach Yoga Lifestyle offers a Yoga community lifestyle based on mind and heart. She has kept connected with her community by offering online yoga classes, a YouTube TV station, ongoing Zoom conversations, and inspiring messages. It’s been hugely successful with all of her students staying connected. When she had her regular studio classes she always took her students outside to walk around barefoot at the end of a class. And she does Snowga too!

Why not give it a go? Encourage your family to join you and do some SNOWGA together. Put on your yoga clothes, step outside in your bare feet, leave the yoga mat indoors if you want, and do your practice in the snow. Yes, you will get cold and that’s the whole point of it. Experience the cold and do it anyway. It’s a huge distraction and makes for a perfect scenario to be more disciplined about your practice and hopefully, it will make you giggle as well.

When you feel you are getting too cold, just go back indoors and notice how alive you feel. Pay attention to how your body adapts to warm you up naturally and how long it takes to not feel cold anymore. Soon you will be craving the sensation of cold if you are anything like me. We’ve got to be creative folks!

Feel free to share your experiences and pictures so others can learn from you. Tag #lockdownbiohacks #snowga Tag me on Instagram @caminosue and FB Sue Regan Kenney

Keep being cool.

Soul to sole,

Barefoot Sue