The coronavirus pandemic has been devastating for the Black community, with data showing disproportionate rates of illness and deaths due to socioeconomic factors like insufficient access to health care, crowded and multigenerational living situations, and preexisting medical conditions that increase susceptibility of infection. On top of that, the ongoing police violence targeting Black and brown people and the nationwide protests that have since followed has triggered a wave of racial trauma thats difficult to process.

It creates this perfect storm where you need as much in your toolkit as possible, AZA Allsop , a psychiatry resident and neuroscience researcher at Yale University, told HuffPost.

Allsop said that now, more than ever, those in the Black community need accessible coping tools. Allsop developed a meditation and mindfulness practice to cope with stress during grad school, and is now working to bring this toolkit to the Black community through free online guided meditation sessions .

Allsop quickly realized that his anxieties arose from a combination of being in a very high-stress environment but then also having to deal with racial trauma. After finding that a consistent month of daily meditation eradicated his panic attacks, he became a proponent of sharing his knowledge so others could benefit, too.

Candice Nicole Hargons , a professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky and director of the Center for Healing Racial Trauma , said that practicing meditation and mindfulness is vital to processing and recovering from racial trauma, which can cause muscle tension, heart racing, shallow breathing and fatigue.

Meditation practices attend to the mind and body, Hargons explained. It helps us, first, recognize what our body and mind are experiencing without judgment, and second, release the tension through breath work and meditative practices. It regulates the autonomic system and other stress responses. These stress responses can be either over- or under-active when you experience racial trauma.

Especially for Black people in this country, its really important to think about because a lot of the other diseases we have, like diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, have all been shown to vary with stress and to decrease with meditation, Allsop added. Engaging in these interventions can lower things like blood pressure and lead to better control of a lot of physical conditions and help with our overall wellness.

A 2019 study in the journal Behavioral Brain Research found that as little as 13 minutes a day of meditation over an eight-week period improved attention and mood for people who were new to the practice. The study also saw reduced anxiety among subjects ages 18 to 45.

But incorporating mindfulness into daily life isnt exactly simple. Allsop said there may be a barrier to entry in the Black community, due to cultural, religious and socioeconomic reasons. For one, many identify as Christian and sometimes meditation practices could be seen as going against a Christian form of spirituality, if one isnt properly informed about what the practices really are, he said.

Moreover, depending on what kind of community you live in, the environment and what mechanisms are available for you, even if you wanted to do self-care, how can you do that if your environment is unsafe or you dont have money and you cant go somewhere or hire an instructor?

Below, the experts share some accessible mindfulness and meditation resources and how to start a regular practice:

Start a daily practice by doing meditation first thing in the morning.

According to Kresence Campbell , psychotherapist and owner of Holly Street Counseling Wellness Services , beginning the day with meditation can help to start you off with level headedness and it can help you with mood management, giving you an emotional head start to face whatever challenges the day ahead brings.

Meditation can help you focus on the here and now and slow down a lot of the buzzing thoughts you have in your mind, and deep breathing helps to increase the flow of oxygen to the brain, which helps release endorphins and calm your body, Campbell said.

In 2016, soon after the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, Hargons created a 17-minute Black Lives Matter Meditation for Healing Racial Trauma , which anyone can access online at her website .

Hargons recommends its daily use in the morning as a prevention practice, that serves as a hedge against the wear and tear of daily racism. She also recommends using it as an intervention following a racist stressor when we need something to help us recover from a race-based stress reaction or more chronic racial trauma.

Campbell also provides low-cost virtual guided meditation at Holly Street Counseling, and recommends the book True Refuge by Tara Brach for those who are just getting started with the practice. Allsop recommends free daily guided meditations through New Havens One Village Healing or downloading the Liberate Meditation App to use on your own. Starting out with just three to five minutes of meditation after waking up is a great foundation to build on, with a goal to get up to 10-15 minutes (or more) in a session.