A yoga teacher has begun offering group classes online to combat loneliness and inactivity during the coronavirus outbreak. Students will be able to choose how much to pay.
Tanja Mickwitz, who teaches in Islington’s Life Centre, started the virtual sessions on Tuesday after one of her students suggested streaming her classes to encourage a sense of community.
“I had done some online classes before so I had facilities set up, and I had recorded something and put it up on Sunday because the yoga studios were beginning to close down,” she said. “Then my student said, why not stream it? It’s good for the community.”
At the beginning of each session, all the students turn on their cameras so they can see one another and feel that they are engaging in the class together. They do the same at the end.
“That thing of being together in real time, when we cannot be together in person, feels really good,” Ms Mickwitz said. “It’s a real blessing to be able to connect in this way.”
Ms Mickwitz is unsure how long the classes would have to remain virtual, but said had been very well received, with between 16 and 20 students in the two classes so far.
The digital format had allowed former students who had moved out of Islington to rejoin. One class has included people in isolation in Finland and Switzerland.
The pay-as-you-like format was designed to make the classes as accessible as possible, particularly for those unable to work because of the pandemic.
“I’m in a precarious situation myself, I support my children off my income through teaching as a single parent, so it is scary,” Ms Mickwitz said. “If people are struggling, as I might be, I can’t offer financial support, but I can offer this. I want people to see it as a gift.”
She said she was confident that those who could afford to pay a little more during the pandemic would do so, to support h“There’s a sense of helplessness, and we have to think, what can we do with the skills we have and the limited resources we’re working with?” she said.
One student, Mette Andersen, who said she had been attending Ms Mickwitz’s classes for around six years, praised the decision to move online.
“As humans, we are hard-wired to dislike the unknown, so when we have to navigate [the coronavirus outbreak] it’s so important to keep emotionally and physically well,” she said. “The chance to come together with like minded spirits is so important, and this gives the opportunity to step out of the anxiety and fear.”
Ms Andersen described the decision to charge by donation as a “way to welcome people who are struggling financially”.
“It’s very true to the way that Tanya is,” she added.
