Yoga
trend catching on with soldiers
By
MELISSA NELSON, Associated
Press
Sun
Jul 16, 10:52 PM ET
When
Marine Lt. Alan Zarracina finally did the splits after months of struggling
with the difficult pose in yoga class, the limber women around him
applauded. Zarracina, a 24-year-old Naval Academy graduate and flight
student, admits he would have a hard time explaining the scene to
other Marines.
Each
class ends with a chant for peace. Then, instructor Nancy La Nasa
hands students incense sticks as a gift for their 90 minutes of back
bends, shoulder stands and other challenging positions.
Zarracina
has tried to drag some of his military friends to class, but they
make fun of him. "It's not necessarily considered masculine," he said.
Still,
the popular classes, based on ancient Hindu practices of meditation
through controlled breathing, balancing and stretching, are catching
on in military circles as a way to improve flexibility, balance and
concentration.
A
former Navy SEAL told Zarracina about the class. The August edition
of Fit Yoga, the nation's second-largest yoga magazine with
a circulation of 100,000, features a photo of two Naval aviators doing
yoga poses in full combat gear aboard an aircraft carrier.
"At
first it seemed a little shocking — soldiers practicing such a peaceful
art," writes editor Rita Trieger.
Upon
closer inspection, she said, she noticed "a sense of inner calm" on
the aviators' faces.
"War is hell, and if yoga can help them find a little solace, that's
good," said Trieger, a longtime New York yoga instructor.
Retired
Adm. Tom Steffens, who spent 34 years as a Navy SEAL and served as
the director of the elite corps' training, regularly practices yoga
at his home in Norfolk, Va. "Once in a while I'll sit in class, and
everyone is a 20-something young lady with a 10-inch waist and here
I am this old guy," he joked.
Steffens,
who said the stretching helped him eliminate the stiffness of a biceps
injury after surgery, said the benefits of regular practice can be
enormous.
"The
yoga cured all kinds of back pains," he said. "Being a SEAL, you beat
up your body." Yoga breathing exercises can help SEALs with their
diving, and learning to control the body by remaining in unusual positions
can help members stay in confined spaces for long periods, he said.
"The
ability to stay focused on something, whether on breathing or on the
yoga practice, and not be drawn off course, that has a lot of connection
to the military," he said. "In our SEAL basic training, there are
many things that are yoga-like in nature."
Zarracina,
the Marine, said yoga has helped him improve his posture and become
more comfortable while flying. "Sitting in an airplane for two hours
with a harness pulling on you, you will feel a hot spot around your
back," he said. But he said mastering difficult stretches like the
splits wasn't easy despite being in top physical condition.
"For the first two weeks, I didn't like (yoga) because it was painful,"
he said. At Marine training in Quantico, Va., "we did hikes and field
training. Yoga taps into those core muscles that people don't really
use."
At the Army's Camp Rudder on Eglin Air Force Base outside Pensacola,
Army Ranger candidates go through their final and most difficult stage
in their grueling training regimen. Capt. Jeremiah Cordovano, a Rudder
instructor, said that yoga isn't a part of Ranger training but that
some use it to build flexibility.
"It's still something that is sort of catching on, but a lot of guys
have done it," he said. "I have done it quite a few times. A friend
introduced me to it and I was surprised. At first I was just smiling,
but after five or 10 minutes you really start to work out your muscles
and stuff."
But
the peaceful meditation techniques and chanting taught in yoga classes
don't necessarily transfer to the combat zone, Cordovano said.
"I spent 14 months in Iraq, and I didn't see anybody doing yoga while
I was over there," he said.
Non-traditional
therapies may offer some veterans with PTSD hope
By Jessica Fargen
Boston
Herald Health
& Medical Reporter
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Traditional Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder therapy,
in which a patient relives a violent moment with a therapist and works
from there, is still relevant, but alternatives like yoga
and relaxation CDs are also drawing attention.
The Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute in Brookline runs
yoga classes for veterans with
PTSD as a therapy to rewire their heart rates, which are out of whack
because of the trauma.
“When some startling thing happens, like a car backfires, your heart
rate is supposed to shoot up and go back to normal,” said Dave Emerson,
yoga coordinator. “In PTSD, that doesn’t happen.”
Jennifer
Strauss, an investigator with the Center for Health Services Research
at the Veteran Affairs hospital in Durham, N.C., said PTSD symptoms
in female veterans have been reduced with a technique called guided
imagery. Patients listen to relaxation and breathing-training CDs
at home and get a weekly phone call from a therapist, as well as one-on-one
help.
“Women are guided through this audio to create symbolic images of
how trauma has affected them now and view themselves as a survivor,
not a victim,” she said. “It’s basically like guided mediation.”
Dr.
Patricia Resick, a director of the National Center for PTSD at the
Jamaica Plain VA, said the disorder has come a long way in the last
20 years - from a mental sickness that one copes with to a syndrome
that is far more treatable.
Resick,
who trains VA hospital staff around the country on treating PTSD with
one-on-one therapy, said some patients see an 80 percent reduction
in symptoms in 12 sessions. Once patients get help, she said, they
get their life back.
“Someone
with PTSD is always looking back and never forward,” she said. “PTSD
will derail you and you are just kind of stuck there.” Source: Boston
Herald
