Stress Management, Mindfulness, and Self-Care for COVID-19

2/29 Good Housekeeping features “Getting Organized!” I’ve let my home slip a little, as I tend to this time of year. Papers are in piles on the counters, the junk drawer is full of, well, junk, and there’s a pile of laundry a mile high to be folded and put away. If I’m going to be working and learning from home for the foreseeable future, I’m going to need an efficient, multi-purpose space. I’m going to need a clean and organized home. I hope this issue has some, tips, ideas, and inspirational photos to get me started. (Many previous issues have certainly helped.)
- Hanna

I haven’t read this book, but I like the idea of adapting yoga to fit my lifestyle. I’ve been doing yoga to exercise and deal with stress lately, and I want to learn more about it. This book seems like the perfect mix of learning about tradition and learning how to update it.
- Hanna

South and East Asian practices help me manage stress and anxiety, and in fact mindfulness and meditation (religious or non-religious) has been proven to have positive mental health benefits ("Meditation: In depth". National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, US National Institutes of Health. 1 April 2016.) This book provides information about several practices, familiar and unfamiliar, I’d like to try.
- Hanna

ICPL gets a digital version of Yoga Journal! This magazine is a neat place to go to find ideas and inspiration for yoga, whether you’re an experienced practitioner or just starting out.
- Hanna

I enjoy good self-help books, but they’re often bad: cheesy, trite, mean, or worst, they just quote other books! This one seems like a good one, on my first flip-through. And if I’m stuck home alone, it seems like the perfect time for some self-reflection. Right?
- Hanna

When I can’t BE outside surrounded by green things, I can look at photographs of nature. It helps me feel relaxed. At the end of winter, stuck inside to prevent spread of this virus, I know I can spend a few happy hours immersed in Outdoor Photographer magazine.
- Hanna

This e-book is from the makers of 10% happier, a book (and now app) that encourages people to take small steps towards happiness. Author Dan Harris knows that his readers are not all meditation masters. And I know my recommendation list readers aren’t, either! This book explains meditation in a straightforward way, and it’s encouraging just when you say to yourself “This meditation thing is stupid. I’m going to go make coffee instead.” And meditation is useful for sitting through difficult circumstances. Like COVID-19 quarantine. So give it a shot! What do you have to lose?
- Hanna

I’ve checked this book out several times over the years. Zen Tangle is a sort of guided doodling, somewhere between adult coloring books and actual drawing. The book will make you think you need special drawing paper, special pens, special pencils, etc. In reality, all you need is some paper, a writing utensil, and maybe a ruler (if you’re picky about how big your squares should be.) It’s easy to do with the materials you have in your kitchen or desk drawer. And it’s fun; I get sucked in, and I don’t realize how much time has passed while I “tangle.”
- Hanna

Jazz standards to brighten a gloomy mood or a gloomy day. I think I saw Blaker Shaw perform on his bass once, at a weird little open mic in someone’s living room. It was absolutely beautiful. Just like this album. If you don’t listen to a lot of jazz, this is a great chance to open your ears and open your mind. If jazz is your favorite, enjoy something cozy and familiar. Either way, you’re in for a treat. And listen with some mindfulness: improvisation is all about being in the moment, listening to your impulses, and not worrying about the past or the future. Think about how the musicians are coming up with a lot of the music as it goes along. Let them surprise you. This is not music for the background, but rather music that can take up your whole attention.
- Hanna

This series provides information about why mindfulness is helpful as well as some practical applications. I’m particularly interested in Episode 10 “Solitude—An Antidote to Loneliness,” and Episode 13 “Befriending Fear, Worry, and Anxiety.” ICPL has a lot of materials from The Great Courses collection, and I’ve always thought I’d be interested in trying them out after I finish my formal schooling. They’re created by professors and sometimes based on their courses and lectures taught at universities (though modified and edited to be even better. Some include books or booklets, and this one includes films as visual aids.)
- Hanna

This is another series from The Great Courses collection. It includes Episode 1 “Western Yoga,” a background on yoga traditions we Iowa Citians may be most familiar with, as well as Episode 10 “Anusara Yoga,” which introduces more spiritual and Hindu elements to a Western-style practice. For this season of my life, I’m interested in Episode 6 “Yoga for Depression and Anxiety,” which I hope will help me ground myself and calm my anxious thoughts about the spread of the novel coronavirus in our community.
- Hanna

Pema Chödrön is a foundational teacher of meditation in the Western world. I see this as a classic, akin to reading Sherlock Holmes if you enjoy mysteries. Compassion, especially self-compassion, is an especially helpful tool during difficult times, and this book promises to show us how “to transform difficulties into insights.”
- Hanna

Sometimes, people feel like they’re always “full catastrophe living,” and maybe this book is aimed at people with unusually high levels of stress/ who need unusually low levels of stress: those with anxiety disorders, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc. But, in this moment, when the world is facing a health crisis, aren’t we all kind of living in a catastrophe? I figured this book could give everyone some tips for better stress management.
- Hanna

This is another set of guided meditations for anxiety. I anticipate that demand will be high for these materials, so I’m including several options. I haven’t used Glenn Harrold’s meditations myself, but even the lavender and green cover art seems soothing. It’s definitely worth a try.
- Hanna

I’m cooped up with my cat right now, and there’s not a lot of guidance in the world for what to do when my cat bites my toes while I’m on a work call. (He also likes to walk over the keyboard when I’m writing. Not helpful, Domino!) This ebook seems like it could be my guiding light. Maybe it will help create feline-human peace throughout the homes of Iowa City, as we meditate and boat pose with our curious and furry friends at our sides, or on our tummies, or biting at our ankles to play.
- Hanna