Coronavirus anxiety is on the rise, and understandably so. But one meditation platform is offering free bite-size sessions on Instagram Live to help us manage our stress levels

Lead image: @beejameditation

In these turbulent times, it’s only natural that many of us will be feeling ill at ease.

Being asked to adhere to previously unfamiliar concepts like ‘social distancing’ and ‘self-isolation’ for an indefinite time period has triggered anxiety in many of us.

To help people cope with the added stress of the situation, Beeja Meditation has launched a series of daily live meditations on Instagram.

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The bite-size 25-minute sessions, hosted on Instagram Live, will give us the tools needed to bolster our sense of self-connection and ease the anxiety brought on by a sudden loss of human contact and the many indefinites we’re now facing.

‘By using meditation to catalyse greater coherence within the brain, we create the neurological conditions for a much improved sense of self connection,’ said Beeja founder Will Williams.

‘In doing so, it helps compensate for the lack of connection we may experience during isolation. The result is a feeling of being comfortable in our skin, no matter what the circumstance.

‘Practising Beeja Meditation will also enable us to generate greater “adaptation energy”, allowing us to better adapt to situations that are out of our control.’

Meditation has also been proven to reduce the hyper-activation of the nervous system, which is a major contributing factor in anxiety.

By balancing the production of neurotransmitters such as GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and also reducing our levels of cortisol and other stress hormones, meditation helps us become more resilient to stress.

It also gives the brain a precious period of time-out, stemming the tide of negative thoughts and stressors that can run unchecked around our minds, often without us realising.

Williams – the author of The Effortless Mind and founder of World Meditation Day – founded Beeja with the aim of democratising the world of meditation and making it easy and fun.

And now, when we can’t access many of our usual stress-relievers – football, climbing, a sweaty HIIT class or even a trip to the pub – is the perfect time to give it a go.

The daily live meditations will be hosted on Beeja’s Instagram channel, @Beejameditation, at midday and will last 25 minutes