Whether it’s someone close to you, part of your family, a friend, a neighbor, young or old, living or passed on, we all know a veteran (or a few). We also know that not all wounds can be seen on the surface, and in fact, of the over two million American soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, one in three is coping with PTSD or another stress-related disorder. Unfortunately, the news gets worse, as one out of five suicides is committed by a veteran.
But there is good news.
Organizations like Give Back Yoga and Yoga Warriors are making it their mission to help bring these veterans ease and relief so that they may return to civilian life with a deeper sense of self and maybe even inner peace. Give Back Yoga have developed a project teaming up with Mindful Yoga Therapy for Veterans and have launched a crowdfunding campaign to bring free Yoga Veterans Toolkits to 2,000 veterans. It’s their goal to ultimately reach 10,000 veterans, service members and their families this year.
“The veterans are the ones that helped me create the Mindful Yoga Therapy toolbox,” says MYT founder Suzanne Manafort. “They told us what was working: ‘This helps me sleep better at night. This makes me feel clearer, this makes me find rest. This makes me find a little bit of peace when my mind is out of control.’”
Some of the perks for your generous donations include MP3 downloads of guided meditations, and the multimedia Yoga Veterans Toolkit with a Mindful Yoga Therapy for Veterans practice guide, poster and two meditation CDs, Deep Relaxation: Yoga Nidra with Patty Townsend, and Breathe In, Breathe Out: Breathing Practices to Help Balance the Nervous System by Suzanne Manafort.
“Yoga is the single thing that helps me to mitigate my symptoms, more than anything else,” says Paul, a Navy veteran who struggled with PTSD for 45 years.
Check out the campaign here: http://piglt.com/viewcampaign/122/
Give Back Yoga website: http://givebackyoga.org
More on the Yoga for Veterans project: http://givebackyoga.org/projects/yoga-for-veterans
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Earlier…
I love this! I am an acupuncturist and have partnered with other wellness practitioners (yoga teachers, acupuncturists, reiki practitioners, etc) to start a non-profit website designed to link vets with all the cool wellness initiatives in their local area. If you or your family members are or were a part of the military, please take a few minutes right now to let us know what you need!
Thank you! Thank You! Thank you!
Survey for Military Members, Veterans & Families
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/soldierhoneymilitary
Hi,
I am a Ashtanga yoga teacher, please let me know If I can help out.
Thanks
Aryan
It is very good idea to give training in yoga for veterans. This will develop their physical, mental and spiritual well being. These veterans will be able to participate in normal social life also. If we can bring more participants to this program that will be good to the society.