The University of Westminster has signed up as a partner to ‘Wellness After Covid’, a prestigious yoga and healthcare symposium that will bring together experts for dynamic conversations about yoga, COVID-19, and the future of healthcare.
The event, which will be hosted virtually from 28-30 May, will include more than 30 experts from across the disciplinary spectrum discussing what they have discovered about how yoga can enhance resilience and bolster healthcare systems burdened by the COVID-19 crisis.
The virtual symposium will feature the latest research in the field, as well as panel discussions and experiential presentations to translate academic findings into teaching and practice.
Among the experts at the symposium are three University of Westminster academics from the School of Social Sciences who will be speaking on a panel event titled ‘Addressing the psychological effects of COVID-19 through yoga and relationality’.
In the panel, the speakers will explore approaches to understanding the role of yoga in addressing the effects of social isolation and supporting self-management in long-COVID.
Dr Tina Cartwright, who arranged the panel, will discuss research demonstrating the impact of both in-person and online yoga on social connectedness and its role in empowering patients to self-manage their health. Professor Damien Ridge will explore the importance of thinking relationally in responding to and living with long-COVID. Dr Nina Smyth draws on a psychophysiological approach to understanding the links between social isolation, physiological markers of stress and wellbeing.
In 2019 Westminster hosted the UK’s first Yoga in Healthcare Conference which brought together leaders and pioneers in yoga, healthcare and health policy to identify a road map to integrating yoga into prescribed healthcare and share best practice. That event was organised in collaboration with the Yoga in Healthcare Alliance, a charity dedicated to integrating the benefits of yoga into healthcare, which is also behind the upcoming symposium.
Talking about the symposium, Dr Tina Cartwright said: “This symposium will provide a much needed platform to generate discussion about the potential benefits of yoga and the impact it can have on healthcare in relation to COVID. The pandemic and physical distancing measures to reduce transmission have negatively impacted on mental health and wellbeing, with many of the most vulnerable feeling especially isolated. As well as benefits to physical and mental health, yoga offers a method to combat loneliness by increasing social connectedness, particularly when delivered through social prescribing pathways.”
For more information and to register head to the Wellness after covid symposium website.
