Compassion, Meditation – Finding Remedies To Lessen Coronavirus Fears

On this West Virginia Morning, we have a few stories about how best to cope with anxiety – both for kids, and adults. We also bring you this week’s Mountain Stage Song of the Week.

Most kids will be home for at least another week to help reduce the spread of coronavirus. New routines and new expectations could lead to a lot of questions and anxieties. WESA’s Sarah Schneider spoke to educators and child psychologists about what parents should be mindful of when talking to their kids about the pandemic.

Life this past week has been…crazy. The anxiety is real. West Virginia University assistant research professor Julie Brefczynski-Lewis said one way to deal with that anxiety is with compassion and meditation. While many of us are practicing social distancing to help slow the spread of the virus, tapping into our compassion for others may help manage coronavirus anxiety.

Reporter Brittany Patterson spoke with Brefczynski-Lewis about how thinking of others during this time can actually help us all feel less alone. Here is an excerpt of their conversation, which was recorded over Zoom.

The Portland-based band Fruition brings us our Mountain Stage Song of the Week — Dawn. You can hear this and more as part of this week’s brand-new episode of Mountain Stage.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.