Going Back to Basics

The Corona pandemic has got us all to reassess our lives. Starting from lifestyles to the need of swanky shopping malls in our lives, we are all weighing the importance of many things that became part of our lives without us realising it. 

The most important change I am seeing among people is their awareness about personal health. Even though the most obvious destination for the health conscious few used to be the gym, they are now considering other options to keep fit. This is where yoga comes in.

This development led me to write this article on how people are going back to basics to live a normal and sane life. I have been giving online yoga asana, kriya and meditation classes for couple of weeks now. The feedback I get after the classes are inspiring. People are realising how they can work with their body to keep it fit and healthy. Moreover, yoga improves your overall health – mind, body and soul.

Pic source: Pinterest

In a recent event, couple of doctors commented on yoga to be something mostly used for stretching. As per them, it doesn’t involve cardio. Well, of course they were naïve to say that as they neither learnt true yoga themselves nor do they practice. I don’t blame them. Their belief on yoga is similar to that of the layman. Because they don’t really know. I would like to clarify here that yoga can as well be used as a cardio exercise as running on the treadmill. The purpose of a cardio exercise is to increase the heartbeat to a certain level. There are yoga flows with combination of different asanas that can give similar result. All you have to do is, learn from the experts and not from some self-taught guru.

We all know the fact that yoga originated in India. Just like many other contributions of India in the fields of Engineering and Architecture, Navigation, Metrology, Science and Technology, Genetics, Games, Well-being, Mathematics, Medicine and so on. However, just like the saying, a Prophet is not honoured in his own country, we Indians take these “Indian origin” things for granted. 

However, yoga is not a part and parcel of life for Indians the way it should have been. But I am glad now that people are coming back to their basics and embracing this ancient Indian way of well-being. 

Pic: My Photography

Talking of going back to basics, I know people who are now learning to survive on a vegetarian diet. On purpose. I have been a vegetarian by choice for 21 years, People often ask me, how do you do it? It may seem impossible as Assamese people are known to be meat and fish lovers. But it is not. I am glad to see people either reducing meat consumption or stopping it until this pandemic ends. This is such a welcome change.

Supermarkets, oh what an important part of our life it had become! But now, we are fine getting our groceries and household essentials from the local kirana shop. Life has not stopped moving for any of us. Supermarkets charge the MRP printed on the packets, which they themselves decide, print and paste on the packets. Whereas, the kirana shop charges less than what is company printed because there is a goodwill for his neighbours, especially during these times. The other day, the neighbourhood shop-owner said that he is happy nowadays not because his sells have gone up, but because he is getting to meet all his neighbours once in a while. He doesn’t feel ignored by his own neighbours anymore. Isn’t it a great feeling to be a part of his happiness? How about we continue buying from him even after everything goes back to normal?

Pic source: Google Images

My green thumbed friends, including me, are increasing our pots and focusing on growing vegetables and herbs for self-sustenance on vegetables. It doesn’t take much to fill a pot with soil and sow some seeds that are already available in the kitchen. A few matured peapods left unused will sprout. Just sow it in a pot of soil and you will get sweet peas at home. A few coriander seeds soaked overnight and sowed in the mooring in a pot of soil will give you coriander in a few weeks. The seeds of pumpkin washed and sowed in soil will at least give some green leaves to make curry and pumpkins later. Yes, it is that easy to source certain things if you put your mind to it.

Pic source: Google Images

Junk food, home delivery of food through online applications, all these have stopped for all of us. Aren’t we surviving well despite that? We are cooking at home, baking, grilling and canning food and we are loving it. It is an amazing feeling to be experimental in the kitchen. How about we make an effort to continue this trend when the lockdown is lifted? If not anything, we would all at least be eating healthy and home cooked food. Isn’t that a good enough reason to go back to basics? All you will need is a little bit of planning ahead of joining work.

Pic source: Google images

Going back to basics has been the trend during this lockdown. We all are assessing our options and admit it or not, a lot is going to change when the lockdown ends. I am positive that people would be more considerate towards our home planet and would consider adopting an eco-friendly, healthier lifestyle for good.

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  4. Rightly depicted .The human race had to bow down and taught a lesson to change their mindset’s and coexist with eco friendly environment .

  5. Such a lovely article. It’s true…this pandemic has changed our approach to life. Back to the basics indeed !