Month: March 2011

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a serious condition that affects individuals who have experienced some sort of serious trauma. It can develop soon after the individual has experienced it or months after the fact. Many individuals will notice that their symptoms subside after about three months. However, not everyone will. Those who do not experience any relief after this amount of time may end up being diagnosed with long term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which can last for many years. There are various forms of treatment available to those with PTSD. One that is gaining notoriety is yoga. Below, we will discuss how the popular exercise can help soldiers with this particular anxiety disorder.

Yoga is an effective way to decrease both mental and physical stress, hallmark symptoms of PTSD. The use of meditation, relaxation, breathing and stretching works to ease the mind and the body. It also helps soldiers deal with traumatic memories which tend to haunt the sufferers of post traumatic stress disorder.

Yoga is lauded for its ability to help soldiers develop techniques that will help them relax when they begin to feel a great deal of stress. This can come in handy when a soldier starts to experience flashbacks and stressful emotions. It is believed to be effective, in part, because the practice is grounded in principles very similar to therapy. The mind-body connection that yoga emphasizes is especially beneficial to soldiers suffering from this condition.

When the body suddenly comes under stress, the flight-or-flight mechanism is triggered. A person will either run or stick around and fight. When an individual has been traumatized, their flight-or-flight switch may become stuck. A person will subsequently, continually feel stressed physically, mentally and emotionally. They will always feel like they are under attack or in danger. This can be quite distressful and damaging overtime. Yoga is one method that has proven to help regulate the automatic nervous system so that it is once again normalized.

Yoga has proven to be such a powerful weapon in the fight against Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, that the army has adopted it as a formalized way to treat it. Walter Reed Army Medical Center has been using yoga to treat its soldiers since 2006. They offer it because it works and is a safe and gentle approach to treatment and care.

While yoga as a treatment option for PTSD won’t work for everyone, it can be very effective for many individuals. Those interested in giving it a try, can do so by purchasing a yoga program or taking classes.

Check out parts one and two of the series.

Part 1: What is Yoga

Part 2: How to Incorporate Yoga into Your Daily Life

Part 3: How Yoga Can Help Soldiers with PTSD

Yoga is a popular ancient eastern practice. Millions of people practice it regularly. It has many benefits. It improves your mental and physical health.

Some of the simplest ways to incorporate Yoga into your daily life are:

#1: Do it right in the morning.

Do at least 20 minutes of Yoga right after you finish your morning siesta. This will prepare you for your entire day. You will feel full of energy and motivation.

#2: 20 minutes of meditation after your workday will refresh you.

This is a much healthier and better alternative than watching TV or playing games. It refreshes you and you can do something useful with the rest of the time.

#3: Practice Yoga breathing during a walk or during a break at the office.

Yoga breathing is easy to learn and practice. Pick the simplest kind of breathing. Practice the breathing in 1 day. The next day, do another 10 minutes of breathing. You should learn to practice yoga breathing unconsciously. Most people breathe through their upper chest. You should breathe from your lower chest while doing your Yoga breathing exercises.

#4: Keep a healthy diet.

Eat as much natural food as you can. Your diet is truly important to your body. Don’t neglect it and pretend that it doesn’t matter. Most people eat unconsciously. Make your food choices rationally and consciously. Prepare what you are going to eat ahead of time. In this way, you will not be influenced by your emotions.

#5: Start small.

Don’t overextend yourself by practicing Yoga for a couple of hours right from the beginning. Start with 15 minutes and increase your practice. 30 minutes to 1 hour of practice per day is quite enough.

#6: Find a practice partner.

The best practice partner is a person with whom you spend a lot of time together. Humans are very emotionally susceptible to the people around them. It’s much easier to change yourself if other people around you change as well.

Yoga is a great practice that will improve your health. You should give it a try. Start small. Practice 20 minutes each day. You will like it more and more. Your health will improve with each day.

Check out parts one and two of the series.

Part 1: What is Yoga

Part 2: How to Incorporate Yoga into Your Daily Life

Part 3: How Yoga Can Help Soldiers with PTSD

So the Army’s been using Yoga to help Vets with PTSD; but a lot of people aren’t familiar with the practice, so I figured I’d spread the info for those who are interested.

Yoga is an ancient practice. It originated more than 5000 years ago. It is part of many Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. The most known types of yoga are: Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Hatha Yoga. They are practical ways to achieve enlightenment. Yoga is known in the western world for its Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga is the beginner’s yoga. (My girlfriend and I’s first date was doing Hatha Yoga.)  It is mainly used for achieving mental and physical health. The name “Yoga” means union between your body, mind and spirit.

The most important yoga facts and principles are:

#1: Exercise.

The Yoga’s exercises are called Asanas. They are certain positions of the body that you need to maintain for a short period of time. They will improve your health.

#2: Breathing.

Breathing is truly important for the health of your body. Through breathing your body receives oxygen. And the oxygen makes you think better. With the use of oxygen, your body can heal itself much quicker.

#3: Relaxation.

One of the Yoga’s purposes is to reduce and eliminate the ego based effort. By practicing Yoga, you will become more at ease with everything around you.

#4: Diet.

What you eat influences how you think and feel. It has a direct effect on your productivity. This is why you need to eat only healthy foods.

#5: Meditation.

The art of meditation involves focusing on only one thought at the exclusion of all the other thoughts. The more advanced meditation techniques involve completely emptying your mind from all distractions and thoughts. This is quite hard to do for most people in our fast paced society.

#6: Practice each day.

To get the most of Yoga, you need to stick with it. Yoga is not a magic pill that needs to be taken only 1 time. Practice each day. And with time you will achieve greater and greater levels of freedom.

Yoga is a great set of practices that will improve your mental, emotional and spiritual lives. You will reduce your stress and feel better with each day.

Check out parts one and two of the series.

Part 1: What is Yoga

Part 2: How to Incorporate Yoga into Your Daily Life

Part 3: How Yoga Can Help Soldiers with PTSD