Since the corona crisis forced most of us to work and/or self-isolate at home, many people in my personal and professional network have started to offer free resources (or in exchange for a donation) online to nurture our mind, body, and soul during coronavirus time and beyond.

As I started sharing some of these initiatives in my social media feed or directly with my clients, I realized that it may make sense to collect all of them in one place for everyone to benefit, hence this list.

While this is surely non-exhaustive and it’s continuously changing, here are my favorite go-to-resourced to nurture my Body, Mind, and Soul during this time. I have given priority to sharing the temporary ones since they are time-bounded. In the next few days, I will add to the list more resources that I know of. All the resources are in English, unless differently noted, and nearly all are FREE or have a FREE version.

If you know of more resources, please feel free to add them in the comments and/or email them to me so I can regularly update this list. We are in this together!

In the next days, I will post an additional article with my key recommendations and practices – based on the Science of Happiness – to nurture body, mind, and soul during these challenging times. Stay tuned!

Resources Nurturing the Mind

• FREE COURSE:
  • Yale University is currently offering “The Science of Well-Being” course for free on Coursera starting on April 9
  • University of Leiden offering plenty of courses and having a continuously updated list of FREE resources
  • School of Becoming is offering “Navigating Uncertain Times” a free, four-week online education program taught by some of the top university professors and professionals, who will help you navigate this period of change
• Check out the amazing list of FREE workshops and sessions our friends Chantel Botha and BrandLove Service Design are offering and be part of our global community of learners and collaborators. Many are repeated weekly and include topics such as:
  • Design Thinking Bootcamp: Empathy Mapping for this world crisis
  • Curious Kids Club: Tuning Tuesdays Ages 3-12 (and adults young at heart)
  • Women in Business – Campfire Circle Discussion
  • Online Laughter Yoga Workshop
  • Basic smartphone video & video conferencing know-how
  • Sketchnote yourself smarter!
  • Full list, description and links to sign up here.

• On March 20, fellow Goldfish crew member and Pink Goldfish author David Rendall #BEDTalk David conceived the idea of a #BEDTalk and started the #BEDTalksChallenge. It is simple. We are all not traveling & confined to our homes. Why not share some thoughts and be helpful? The #BedTalksChallenge has a goal of bringing us together during our period of # #socialisolation & #stayhome These videos offer fun, helpful information from our bedrooms to inspire & motivate us. Here you find my 1^st Bed Talk. David is also keeping a full playlist on YouTube
• From the moment that schools closed in most countries, Audible has made kids stories free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.
• I’m finding so heartwarming and inspiring to see how many companies are stepping in to contribute in these times that, inspired by Stan Phelps’ crowdsourcing lists method (which we also used for Yellow Goldfish project), I started a dedicated list project “Yellow Goldfish Covid-19 Edition Project” to collect all the examples of #yellowgoldfish in time of #coronavirus that I came across so far. Here you can look around and get inspired for your own initiatives and/or you can add to this list additional examples you are aware of or come across, so that it can provide further inspiration and motivation to other companies to do the same.
• Stan Phelps and I earlier book Yellow Goldfish – which covers nine ways increasing H.A.P.P.I.N.E.S.S. in business can drive G.R.O.W.T.H., productivity and prosperity for customers, employees, and society overall – can now also be a source of inspiration for ways you can contribute to your own happiness and the ones of your customers or employees. See here a summary of the elements and activities suggested to fulfill your needs and contribute to your happiness and well-being. You can read the book key insights in the Yellow Goldfish Blog Series.

Resources Nurturing the Body

• Eat foods that strengthen your immune system! Two key resources here:
  
  • This simple table by “Healthy Kids Happy Kids” (Source) which is as true for kids as it is for adults. The author also has a great article explaining all the scientific facts you need to know about Coronavirus.
  • This article from the Indian Government who released certain precautionary guidelines to improve immunity based on the principle of Ayurveda. A visualization of these advise can be found on Contagiously Healthy (which is a functional medicine expert I have been working with in the past months to improve my nutrition)
• In this time when we most need to reduce stress and anxiety and allow our body to rest and recharge by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (which slows the heart and lowers the blood pressure, allowing recovery after a stressful event), yoga and meditation are two of the best and most effective ways to nourish our body. Here just a few of my favorite resources that I personally use:
  • Inner Smile Meditation
  • Laughter Yoga (which really provides a full DOSE of happiness chemicals): FREE Zoom Online Laughter Yoga Workshop by BrandLove (see above) or try this exercise on YouTube
  • (in Dutch) Live online Qigonglessen by Yvonne Alefs (my Qigong teacher!) – FREE donation based on your possibilities
  • (in Dutch) Plenty of recorded classes of Yin Yoga, Nidra Yoga, Inner Flow, Essentrics, Meditations, Critical Alignment, …. by De Lichtplaats (the yoga club I use) – Love&Support donation based on your possibilities
• Another great way to nurture body (and spirit) is to laugh, which provides a great dose of endorphins, for example watching comedy shows and/or improvisation theatre. One of my favorites here is Boom Chicago and, since they are closed too right now, they have gone online so you can watch them too right from your couch wherever you live in the world. You can buy tickets for upcoming live-streamed shows on boomchicago.nl or you can still watch the replay previous shows on YouTube Boom Chicago channel and then, if you like, donate your contribution.The Wim Hof Method to strengthen your body and immune system ((based on the three pillars of cold therapy, breathing, and commitment) is currently offering free mini-class and a reduced price for their online courses
• Do any of the activities suggested below to provide your body with a DOSE of chemicals that most contribute to our happiness and well-being

Resources Nurturing the Soul

• Eva Visser Plaza (the coach with who I had a wonderful Soul Leadership Retreat in Mallorca in 2019) is offering FREE “Online Group Session for Connection & Support in Uncertain Times” via Zoom in the week before 6 April. Check dates and sign up. Eva is also offering live FREE meditation on Instagram Eva Authentic Living
• Yoram Mosenzon (the teacher from who I learned about “Non-Violent Communication” from Marshall Rosenberg) is offering FREE 1.5h long sessions once every 2 days about “Navigating connection through new landscapes”. Dates and instructions to register to join zoom call here.
• Brene Brown Podcast Unlocking Us
• Practicing each of the ten keys to a happier living under the acronyms of “Great Dream” by Action for Happiness
  
• FREE Oprah&Deepak 21-DAY MEDITATION Experience “Finding hope in uncertain times”
• Meditation apps: Omvana, Headspace, Calm, Insight Timer
• Inner Smile Meditation by QiGong master Lee Holden, available for free on Spotify: the best 10 minutes meditation
• My latest books including colorful intuitive paintings and the uplifting quotes inspired by each of them
  • Words of Wisdom Nurturing our World in English. (KINDLE version ASIN: B0868XPX5Z; Paperback version ISBN 1795440961)
  • Pillole di Saggezza per Nutrire il Cuore in Italian. (KINDLE ASIN: B08643GCB5; Paperback version ASIN: B0863S23BG)
• Additionally, as my personal way to contribute with words of inspiration, resilience and encouragement in this period, all my 4 books (Yellow Goldfish, Words of Wisdom Nurturing our World, Pillole di Saggezza per Nutrire il Cuore, and The Gift of a Connecting Gaze KINDLE versions will be FREE to download on Amazon on Wednesday 1st April PST (CET from 1st at 9 AM to Thursday 2nd 9 AM). Here direct links for each Amazon local shop: US, UK, DE, NL, IT ES, FR, JP, CA, IN, MX, BR, AU

Finally, I want to share with you:

• my 3 goals for this period:
  1. Maximize Health and what contributes to H.A.P.P.I.N.E.S.S. D.O.S.E.
  2. Minimize Stress and Anxiety
  3. Prioritize Self-Care
• my KEY to Happiness (which I happen to visualize during a Yoga session last December): just BE and BE
  • Kind
  • Enough
  • You!

I will elaborate more on my personal practices and strategies to nurture body, mind and soul in the next blog post, so stay tuned!

Stay safe! Stay healthy! Stay Yellow!

Be human! Be kind! Keep smiling!

💛 🌻 ☀️