Orlando veterans use yoga to calm PTSD

Vets learn to breathe
By Brittni Johnson
April 5, 2012

Yoga can help war veterans cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder through breathing and other relaxation techniques in yoga. A group in Massachusetts is bringing that training to East Orlando.

For many military personnel, adjusting to life after combat is a struggle. For Sean McGrath, a Marine, retiring and returning to normal life was made worse by a divorce at the same time. Life was difficult for him, and readjusting to everyday life with his family back home wasn’t going smoothly. They were worried.

“They didn’t know how to help me,” McGrath said.

But that next Christmas his sisters had an idea – yoga. McGrath, a Massachusetts resident, got a gift certificate to attend a Yoga Warriors class. He wasn’t so sure at first, but with one session he was hooked. McGrath felt comfortable in a class surrounded by people just like him. It was made for veterans.

Teacher Lucy Cimini, director for the Yoga Warriors, developed the program specifically for veterans dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the daily and specific stresses military members are exposed to. Through yoga, soldiers are able to cope with situations that trigger memories that cause fear or aggression by using the tools taught in the program, like deep breathing to calm down.

After getting an interest in how yoga helps military members, Cimini partnered with representatives from the U.S. Air Force, Tufts University and Worcester University to conduct a study on its effects.

The study, published in the January/February 2012 issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy found that hatha yoga is effective in treating PTSD and the stresses experienced by military personnel, even better than other more common treatments, like talk therapy.

“A lot of veterans say, ‘This not only helped me but it saved my life,’” Cimini said.

Now Cimini is bringing her skills as the founder of the first and largest yoga for veterans program in the U.S. to Yoga East in Avalon Park. Cimini will be teaching yoga teachers how to conduct their own yoga for veterans program. She’ll teach Yoga East owners Michelle and Greg Owens while she’s there this April. And then, most likely in May, Yoga East will offer its own free yoga for veterans class once per week.

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