from The Yoga Institute
Dr. Achint Choksy is based in Ohio. He is a US-based holistic family physician who learned Yoga from The Yoga Institute. Dr. Choksy contracted COVID-19 in February while travelling in the US. He experienced mild symptoms only like headaches, body aches, night chills and a sore throat after a few days for only a day.
In terms of a routine he followed after contracting the virus, he recalls, “I started out my day by taking breaths in and out. I made sure that my breaths were deep. I wanted to bring this prana, this source of prana, in as deep as possible, as soon as I woke up, even when I was half asleep on my bed. So this brought my awareness and it was a form of meditation where you’re half asleep, half awake.”
Dr. Choksy also did Surya Namaskars, as many as he could, while chanting prayers, especially about the sun because “the sun brings in that energy to us so I wanted to enhance that energy,” he says. He also advises of doing them out in nature whenever possible and to do them in the morning to absorb the morning rays of the sun that are soft in intensity but powerful in terms of the prana they bring.
In addition, he drank tea with lots of herbs in it, whatever ayurvedic herbs were available like ginger, basil, turmeric, guggul, brahmi, as well as cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, jaggery. Sometimes he put honey in his tea, or even ghee or coconut oil.
Particularly beneficial was the practice of jalneti or water snuffing: “In Yoga, we also talk about doing jalneti. Jalneti is a nasal-sinus-rinse. When the virus goes in, it lives inside the nasal cavity and then the mucus lining, so I wanted to make sure I cleaned that every single day,” he says. In addition, he took steam inhalation of water that had been boiled with herbs in it or with essential oils added.
“The very last thing I did at night was visualised meditation. Visualised meditation is visualising and really practicing the energies of the sun that are within you at the core level, so you’re increasing your prana,” recommends Dr. Choksy. “I was sure throughout the day that I was taking deep breaths that I was in focus, in that zone. Shallow breaths will increase inflammation. So this is another Yogic practice – to be in the present moment,” he adds.
Last but not least, he advises to find one’s own path to health and healing: “What I would recommend is go on this journey, talk to people who are doing Yoga around you, talk to your teachers around the world and see where you find yourself at peace,” he concludes.
