A YOGA teacher with long Covid is using her “terrifying” experience to help others suffering from the condition.

Suzy Bolt, who lives in Brighton, contracted coronavirus in March last year but she continues to experience “debilitating” symptoms.

Long Covid is where prolonged and debilitating symptoms continue for more than three months.

The Argus: Brighton-based Suzy has started running online yoga classes for long Covid sufferers Brighton-based Suzy has started running online yoga classes for long Covid sufferers

The 48-year-old has set up a special yoga class to help others suffering from the condition.

Over one hundred people attend her Covid Long Haulers online classes, both live and recorded, with 2500 more, from 55 countries around the world, getting vital help and support from her Yoga and Meditation for Gentle Covid Recovery Facebook group.

Suzy said there is growing evidence that yoga, breathing exercises and meditation can help to calm and repair the damage to the nervous system that Covid can cause.

She said: “It helps to regulate the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems, in charge of many of the body’s essential functions like heart rate, saliva production, airways and stomach function.

“All of these are linked by the vagus nerve and are prone to damage from Covid.

“Calming the systems down in the body, soothing it with gentle movement and breath work, takes the body out of panic mode and into recovery mode.”

Suzy said she hit “rock bottom” around nine weeks after testing positive for coronavirus when she became complete bedridden.

She developed a stammer, irregular heartbeat, extreme pain in her lungs and the skin peeled off her foot.

It became difficult for Suzy to tolerate sound and she developed insomnia.

Suzy said: “It was like Covid planted bombs in my body that went off bit by bit, attacking different parts of my body. It started with gastrointestinal symptoms. I felt like I had been poisoned.

“I experienced chills for about six weeks. Initially I tried to carry on working but as the days and weeks passed I got more and more ill.”

In early June, Suzy set up her own Facebook page to post her restorative yoga classes and reflect on her own journey of recovery.

The group gain followers from around the world and now over 5,000 people have accessed her classes.

Suzy said: “The class, which takes place twice a week, ends with a chat to check that everyone is ok.

“People need to connect and share their experiences. It’s an amazing session. Very powerful.”

To join Suzy’s Covid Long Haulers’ class go to www.360mindbodysoul.co.uk and access support via her Facebook Yoga and Meditation for Gentle Covid Recovery here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1095053437543132