People of Sarasota and Manatee counties, please take a moment to pause and just breathe. In fact, inhale and exhale 10 times deeply. We Floridians know how to respond in a time of crisis— we experience this each year during hurricane season. We weathered Irma, Michael, Wilma, Dennis, Jeanne, Ivan and Charley. And our communities survived. 

When we become stressed, the pre-frontal cortex shuts down. This part of the brain controls creative thinking and decision making. When a dog is stressed, it could bite. When a honey bee is stressed, it could sting. As animal-beings, we don’t make rational decisions when we are stressed. We often react impulsively or combatively.  

Stress also robs the immune system of its much-needed nutrients, so we become depleted in B vitamins and minerals, and our adrenal glands burn through Vitamin C. In other words, stress, anxiety and fear rob the body of what it needs most in order to fend off this season’s most famous immune celebrity—the Coronavirus. 

We know the smart actions to take in this situation—wash our hands, disinfect germs and boost our immune systems. But our mental, emotional, and spiritual health is just as important in fending off this crisis as our physical health. Have you heard of the Nocebo effect? It’s the opposite of the Placebo effect, and it proves that we can actually make ourselves sicker by thinking it so. This is the time to be attentive to our whole-being health.   

Attend Dr. Cynthia Clark’s free Qigong for the Immune System seminar, either live or through Zoom. See the NA calendar for more information.