For those recovering from prolonged post-viral symptoms, yoga for long COVID can provide gentle support and a structured way to rebuild energy and resilience.
The below excerpt is from Nadyne McKies’ book, due for publication in November 2024, Breathe, Rest, Recover, in which she shares her personal story and first-hand experience in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:
“I’ve always been a plate spinner. In fact, it was something I prided myself on. I worked in the City for many years and was up at 5am to get to the gym, followed by a full day at work, followed by more exercise and then out with colleagues or clients. This was my pattern and taking on more and more plates to spin was something I celebrated. I loved to exercise. Hard. When I left the City I retrained as a Personal Trainer, then a Yoga Therapist and then a Psychotherapist. But it was only when I got Covid I realised that I was not able to do all the things I had loved to do.
When I got ill, it was during a very stressful time in my life. I was taking exams for my yoga therapy qualification and in the middle of a divorce. I was surprised to find my symptoms were a lot worse than I expected. But, even in the acute stage, I didn’t really stop, despite feeling exhausted and unwell. I was well practised at overriding my feelings to keep going.
Having Covid was my first experience of breathlessness, and the sheer panic I felt at not being able to breathe was scary. I became quite fearful about many things at that time. Even when I recovered, I was frightened to venture back outside, although the government guidelines said I could. But I really wanted to get back to normal! Eventually, I went for a short walk and was shocked to discover how fatigued I felt, after such a small amount of activity. This was my introduction to the many symptoms of Long Covid.
I felt very lonely during this long period of illness, which reminded me of my teen years when I had been diagnosed with post-viral fatigue. That was also an incredibly isolating and scary time. Consequently, I tried to get back into my normal activities pretty much straight away, but found that I couldn’t. My wellbeing has always been very much based on physical exercise and dynamic yoga. I can see now that these patterns of constant doing, achieving and keeping active, were an adaptation to my early childhood which was often chaotic. My father was a heavy drinker who sadly died in a car accident when I was only 12. This was very traumatic. In my grief, I poured myself into schoolwork. In later years this turned into studying hard, working hard, exercising hard, partying hard…pretty much anything other than facing how I was really feeling.
It was only when I developed Long Covid that I slowly realised the power of radical rest. Our society talks about rest as if it’s a nice idea, but my previous life didn’t allow for that, what with work and family and studying, and my need to exercise. Eventually, my body said no, and I was forced to stop. And yes, it was hard. I felt like a rebel when I was resting because it seemed so unfamiliar! It was the ultimate challenge to face myself in this way, knowing that the distractions I had used to stay away from my feelings were no longer available and my emotional inner world, which had been buried for years, had to be finally acknowledged and accepted. I’ve learnt now to view this time of chronic illness with a deep sense of compassion.
It took time to properly recover and heal because, as a plate spinner, I set myself up for continual relapse and debilitating fatigue for many months by overdoing things before I was ready. I eventually realised I needed to reframe my life and I took a step back from the activities I had used to cope with stress. So many of my clients tell me they have no idea how they managed to do what they did before they had this condition. I was the same. But Long Covid taught me some transformative lessons.
I’m grateful for learning to rest, to breathe better, to take time for myself when I need to – without waiting for my body to crash. I still have times when I relapse – I’m only human after all and my perfectionist patterns trick me into thinking I can still do everything. But having Long Covid taught me that my body is wise and if I listen to it, and don’t ignore the whispers, I can live the life I want to live. And it’s a better life.”
Nadyne McKie is demonstrating her experience and knowledge of Yoga Therapy for Chronic Fatigue this July. Amongst our ever-growing community of yoga therapists, Nadyne McKie is becoming a leader in the field of Yoga Therapy for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Nadyne understands this not only as an experienced yoga therapist working in this field, but also as she has first-hand experience of CFS. Her work also extends to supporting recovery from post-viral conditions, including yoga for long covid, applying her expertise to help clients rebuild strength, energy, and wellbeing.
In this observation you have an opportunity to observe Nadyne’s expertise working live with a CFS-affected client. Following the client session, observers are able to ask Nadyne questions about the techniques they have just observed, as well as Nadyne’s personal and professional experiences working with this condition.
