AP PHOTO/MARI DARR~WELCH
WARRIOR
POSES
has since become a centerpiece
of the retreat, called Semper Fi
Odyssey. “This whole idea of relaxation, there’s a lotta guys who
can’t do hardly anything physical,
can still do yoga. And there’s a lot
of value in meditation.”
The results, Jones and others
have discovered, are indisputable.
A study published earlier
this year of 70 active-duty U.S.
troops, then-based at Forward
Operating Base Warrior, in
Kirkuk, Iraq, found that daily
yoga helped relieve anxiety, reduced irritability and improved
sleep — even amid daily “gunfire
HUFFINGTON
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and helicopter sounds.”
Progressive relaxation, calming
breathing and relaxation techniques “reduce physical, emotional, mental and even subconscious
tension that characterizes PTSD,”
according to retired Air Force Maj.
Nisha N. Money, a physician who
recently served as chief of fitness
policy for the Air Force.
“Guys with trauma — their
center is out there,” said Annie
Okerlin, flinging her arm outward. She’s a yoga expert who
works with wounded warriors,
families and staff therapists at
the VA hospital in Tampa, Walter
Reed and elsewhere. “What we do
is gently and sweetly bring them
back to their center, here,” she
Instructors
work to guide
veterans to
find their
“center,”
helping them
turn inward
rather than
focusing on
the stressors
outside.