Blessings in Disguise

When the COVID pandemic began in 2020, we were optimistic in the beginning that life would return to normal quickly. We hoped to be off globe-trotting again, doing what we love and supporting the Scleroderma community as we had in recent years attending in-person events and being physically present. 

That optimism was short-lived and we had to find new ways to connect and continue to offer our presence and support our mission. 

 Kathy came up with the idea to offer a monthly Guided Meditation that each of our team members would alternate leading. 

 This quickly evolved into a weekly event and then a two-per-week offering of what we call “Wednesday Wind-Down” - a chance for individuals to join us via Zoom for 15-30 minutes to take care of their physical and mental health in these challenging times. After all, stress management is a key factor to managing autoimmune conditions like Scleroderma. 

 Our Wednesday morning (U.S. time) is actually a session scheduled so our friends from Scleroderma India could join at a time convenient to them, and is our most attended session each week.  We love the relationship that we’ve developed with this group, so much so that on the third Wednesday of every month our India session is translated into Hindi.  As a result of this collaboration, we have welcomed Neetu Wadhwa to team Yoga for Scleroderma. (Look for a blog post from Neetu soon.)

 These sessions then turned into the podcast that we share each week via podcast AND YouTube platforms. We have recently uploaded our 50th episode! We have received over 5,200 downloads from 76 countries and over 1,100 cities. 

 This is our biggest outreach effort to date,and we couldn’t be more proud. This work has spawned other efforts like webinars and Zoom attendance at Support Groups - both in larger numbers than when we were mobile. 

 Additionally, on our YouTube Channel we are now beginning to offer some of our videos with closed-captioning andtranslations into other languages – Hindi and Dutch to start. 

So, while the world has been battling a pandemic, for us it has been a blessing in disguise.