Yoga for Veterans

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Channel 4- Health report: War Vets Soothed By Yoga
Mental illness, particularly post traumatic stress disorder, is common among soldiers returning from combat. Dr. Mallika Marshall reports on one group of veterans who think yoga can help.
View Channel 4 Video

Channel 5- Health report: Veterans Turn To Yoga To Ease Mind, Body
One in six veterans who return home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder suffer from nightmares, panic attacks and night sweats. But they're now using yoga classes like one in West Boylston, Mass., to help ease their symptoms...
Read report - View Channel 5 Video

Yoga Helps Vets with PTSD at Central Mass Yoga Institute: An article on WBUR 90.0 Radio by Alan Coukell

Vet Yoga: A report on Channel 7 WHDH by Deanna Lites

A Soldier's Heart: Veterans and PTSD  an article on the Himalayan Institute website by Alicia Bessette

Read more information about Yoga, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Mind-Body connection. This page gives general information regarding PTSD as it relates to the general public as well as veterans.

CMYI HELPS VETERANS WITH POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER  by Alicia Bessette

Paul Malboeuf’s mind tends to run amuck. Concentrating on one task has been a struggle ever since he served as a combat infantryman with the Marines in Vietnam.

Malboeuf fought overseas for 13 months. He returned home only to find more battles raging—this time inside of himself. He was intensely angry, overwhelmed with anxiety.

Six years ago, Malboeuf was diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, which affects many combat veterans.
And several months ago, he discovered a practice that is turning his inner battles into bliss: yoga.

"Sometimes after a yoga class, for a few hours, I am absolutely free of anguish in my mind and free of physical pain," Malboeuf says. "There is this realization that I can do something about my problems, and I can do it through yoga."

PTSD is a health condition that can occur after a life-threatening event such as military combat. People who suffer from PTSD often relive their trauma through flashbacks and nightmares. They might feel angry, anxious, guilty, hyper-vigilant, and paranoid.

According to the National Center for PTSD, the condition is marked by biological symptoms, too. Some veterans with PTSD experience chronic pain, headaches, muscle tension, and sleep disorders.

Symptoms can be so severe that they significantly impair day-to-day living. Psychotherapy, medication or a combination of the two are helpful in treating PTSD.

And, like Malboeuf, some local veterans say that yoga is an invaluable complement to their regular treatment.

Central Mass Yoga Institute in West Boylston offers a yoga class just for veterans. About eleven men—veterans from Vietnam, Korea and World War II—regularly attend the class of gentle, therapeutic stretching and breathing exercises. The men all belong to a support group for PTSD at Worcester Veterans Center on Lincoln Street.

The veterans report being better able to deal with anger and other PTSD symptoms as a result of practicing yoga. Tom Boyle is a Vietnam veteran and counselor at Worcester Veterans Center who attends the veterans yoga class. "These are real men, combat-weary guys, who have discovered that yoga really helps them," Boyle says. "The message to be aware and to be mindful is the solution to many of their problems."

Joan Platt, who leads the class, has observed her students’ progress from week to week. "On some level, it’s got to be healing to know that you can let the past go, let the violence go, and bring yourself back to a place of non-harming and acceptance," Platt says.

Yoga’s physical postures promote healthy, flexible bodies and often provide relief from pain. And because the class is so gentle, the veterans—many of whom have other health conditions or serious physical limitations—find the postures comfortable.

"I need to be able to do something physically and mentally to take care of myself," Malboeuf says. "I’m limited to what I can do because of my blown-out knee. But I can do this. I can do yoga."

Yoga directly addresses the fight-or-flight response, which is at the heart of PTSD. The fight-or-flight response is a reaction that prepares the body to fight or flee from perceived threat. When nerve cells fire, chemicals such as adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol are released into the bloodstream. Breathing gets faster. Blood is shunted from the digestive tract to muscles and limbs, which require extra energy for fighting or running. Pupils dilate and awareness intensifies.

Soldiers in battle are in a constant state of fight-or-flight. But for many soldiers, that state becomes so ingrained that they cannot shut it off—even after they return home from battle.

Because yoga deals directly with the mind-body connection, it helps veterans retrain the fight-or-flight response. Now, when they confront a situation that triggers their memories, instead of resorting to aggression or drowning in fear, they have other options: breathing deeply, for example, in order to self-calm.

And so, for former soldiers desperate to heal themselves through peace, yoga is the perfect pursuit.

So perfect, in fact, that the veterans of CMYI can’t seem to get enough. "Every time we have a class," Malboeuf says, "the guys tell the other guys in our support group, ‘You should join the yoga class. It can help you. Yoga has been around for 5000 years. It works!’ "

The veterans’ requests for more yoga has prompted Lucy Wagner, owner of CMYI, to seek certification from Massachusetts’ Department of Labor. CMYI is in the process of becoming an approved agency for veterans’ vocational rehabilitation training.

Plus, with a grant from the Vietnam Veterans of America, Wagner hopes to expand the program to include workshops on meditation, breathing exercises, and nutrition.

Wagner has made it her mission to educate the public about how yoga can benefit veterans, and Malboeuf is happy to know that she is spreading the word. "Yoga is a safe place," he says. "I look forward to coming to class because it’s a place where I can deposit my anxiety and the stress of the week. I have never walked away from yoga class more stressed. I always walk away with a recharged battery."

Both Malboeuf and Wagner anticipate that younger veterans will express an interest in the class. "There are people coming home from the Iraq war, and they don't know what hit them," Wagner says. "Yoga can help them."

For more information on the veterans yoga program, please contact Lucy Wagner at 508-835-1176.

My in-person and telephone consultations are a fee-based service to help set up a veterans yoga program or give you more information on how yoga can help those with PTSD. I have been working with combat veterans diagnosed with PTSD for over 3 years. Fees are as follows:

Phone Consultation-Veteran	15 minutes or less	$50
Phone Consultation-Veteran	Half hour	$75
Phone Consultation-Veteran	45 minutes	$120
Phone Consultation-Veteran	One hour	$150

After paying for your consultation choice,  call 508-835-1176 and press one to leave a message to select a convenient time for your phone consult.