NEWS: Yoga for Warriors
News Item: Yoga trend catching on with soldiers
Summary: Former NAVY Seal and Marines have started showing up to yoga classes in Pensacola, Florida. They report various reasons for their trying yoga such as help for back problems, flexibility and breath control and for concentration and focus.
Quotes to Consider:
“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.”
“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.”
” ‘I spent 14 months in Iraq, and I didn’t see anybody doing yoga while I was over there,’ he said.”
My Comments: I knew the yoga instructor, Nancy La Nasa, quoted in the article, having trained with her 15 years ago so I knew this wasn’t a gimmicky gym thing. But I read the article with mixed feelings about “warriors” using yoga…and knowing the power of yoga, I hope that yoga will transform their life experiences as well.