LOGGING INTO Online Wellness

LEARNING CAN IMPROVE OUR QUALITY OF LIFE—AND THE EFFECT IS TWOFOLD FOR COURSES ON WELLNESS AND SELF-BETTERMENT.

- JESSICA BARON

Lifelong learners already know that studying new skills can be a joyful experience. But formal research has also shown a connection between education and health. Continued learning may even help ward off dementia and heart disease. There are also strong connections between adult learning and an enhanced sense of wellness, including more formal mental health benefits, such as reduced levels of anxiety, loneliness, and depression.

Jennifer Cohen Harper is the founder of Little Flower Yoga and a longtime faculty member with the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, which had to transfer its coursework online during the pandemic. She points out that online learning allows “people with challenging schedules or those in remote locations [to] find courses online that would be impossible for them to join in person.”

She also pointed to some benefits we typically don’t think of, including how “people benefit from things like captioning, audio recordings, the ability to pause and review recorded materials multiple times.” This can be crucial for people with disabilities or those who have trouble learning in a traditional setting.

The pandemic changed the way people participate in these courses. Cohen said that “before Covid, many people would register for an online workshop, and complete the content entirely on their own without joining live streams or reaching out for support. Now, I find that people are more likely to value the connection opportunities, join in live when there’s the chance, participate in Q&A calls.”