Connected Warriors and Yoga Tree SF will present a free yoga teacher training in San Francisco, led by Connected Warriors Director Judy Weaver. The training is for certified yoga teachers who want to work with veterans and their families to bring a sense of wellness and peace as they transition from battlefield to home.

Tuesday March 14 2013  12:00 – 4:00  Rsvp to the address below.

US Army Veteran Gerald Vest, accepting the Social Worker of the Year Award, 2012. Photo: Maria Bagwell

By Gerald Vest, US Army Veteran and retired Social Worker, Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center

Breathing may be one of our most important guides readily accessible and available to us every moment of our life. Tarthang Tulku Rimpoche, author, teacher and Founder of the Nyingma Institute, describes breathing as our most effective means for healing, interacting and supporting our whole being.

“Once we know how to contact the energy of breath, breathing becomes an infinite source of vitalizing energies.” Furthermore, he states: “…breathing charts the life rhythms, the way we breathe signals the disposition of our energies.”

It is for these reasons and because meditation has been a daily part of my life experience that I encourage all of our warriors and families to learn about their breathing patterns. I love to sit or work with Qigong/Kath State Exercises and observe my breathing while enjoying Nature’s relationship with us.

For example, every evening the Doves and other birds come for their early evening feeding, bath and strut around our back yard. They are very brave as are our four dogs who love to chase them from their territory. Cody, for example, our Shepherd, will take them out of the picture when their instincts are not focused. I realize that animals and Nature are not in competition, but rather possess an instinctual form of behavior that we all possess.

Wouldn’t it be great if our World Leaders would sit and observe their breathing prior to or during diplomacy and peace meetings? Opening our mind with our Breath offers us a real opportunity to engage and interact with others in order to find peaceful solutions to every problem as well as to discover the peaceful alternatives to war and conflict.

It is often hard to accept that All is Known; however, as we enter our mind with questions, challenges and concerns, our Mind discloses Truth and responds accordingly. An example of this knowing can be understood as we agree or disagree during our teaching-learning processes and experiences. As described in The Tarot, the Book of Life Experience, our knowledge, wisdom, love and truth are an unfolding process of ego and spiritual development of our whole being. The Minor cards show our ego development while the Major Arcana introduces us to our spiritual or essential qualities of maturation.

It is for these reasons and for our understanding that it is important to maintain a “continuum of awareness” of our senses, breath, pain, blocking, and flow of energies so that we can experience the Gestalt or Holistic presentation of life, Nature and our relationships.

We know that Nature or Mind has no judgment, as in the beliefs and rules established by our family and our society. Nature operates in a lawful and absolute Way—No Contradictions, only “collisions of energy” as described in particle science—All is in Total Interaction whether we are aware or not. It is only our Egos who are in conflict with Nature—the Self Preservation; Relations, and Adaptation Instincts respond to any dangers or insecurities as protective and supportive mechanisms. I suspect the greater the number of beliefs we hold, take us further away from the opportunity to be united with our True Nature and respond effectively or skillfully to symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.

Therefore, observing our breathing and becoming aware and mindful allows us to restore our health and wellbeing and become closer to who we are while offering us Hope and an opportunity to fulfill our aspirations and destiny to be complete loving, responsible, compassionate and respectful Human Beings.

Note:

I dedicate this log to SSG Woody who served as our NCOIC in the Ft. Bliss Restoration & Resilience Center, leader of the Wolf Pack and retired a year ago from military following 20+ years of successful leadership and following several tours of duty in Iraq. Woody reportedly took his life on May 3, 2011. God Bless you Woody, my dear friend and comrade. I hold our politicians responsible for these deaths as they had other alternatives and chose not to follow their instincts and past experiences of Wars.

Please join our SNM Alliance and serve as a volunteer, advocate, sponsor or friend of our injured warriors and their families.

Why yoga for Veterans?

By Capt. CJ Keller, USMC, Retired

After experiencing the devastating toll the Vietnam conflict took on our nations Warriors, and recently fighting two full military wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are now tasked with ensuring our active duty, reserve and Veteran populations are not taken for granted, and not forgotten.

 Across every branch of service, we train for and execute missions in austere and high stress conditions, most people would agree that this is our “bread and butter”. We take great pride in the sacrifices we make mentally and physically to be successful in training and defending our nation in combat. We do this all in the name of honor, courage and commitment. There is of course a dark side to this noble cause, and in order to allow an individual to cope with and manage the resulting mental stress or physical impairments, we need something on the other end of the spectrum to balance us out.

CJ Keller, USMC, Retired

 So, why would a Veteran try something like yoga…Isn’t it just for soft, pacifist,hippie types that burn incense and chant crazy talk? There are many different forms of yoga, and it is important to understand that the style we utilize is non-denominational and emphasizes simple but physically challenging postures, breathing techniques and relaxation. These proven methods are geared toward balancing your mind and body inorder to cultivate a feeling of strength, confidence and relaxed calm in both the mind and body.

 As Veterans and members of our modern military, we are very good at wearing and polishing our armor. We don our finest dress blues, pin our medals on our chest and stand tall with pride and honor. All too often, we find that underneath that shiny exterior is a sea of turmoil churning and folding. We don’t really talk about what’s below and in many ways, we don’t really know how to. This closed, inner world governs and can dominate our thoughts and actions. Yoga invites us to keep our pride, armor and medals, but to open up and safely address some of the disconnects that keep us stuck in a moment or pattern of behavior. It allows us to put words on feelings and to find happiness from within, creating balance and fulfillment again.

 Whether you take one yoga class a week or five, you can to start somewhere and we suggest that there is no better place than a simple yoga mat. Let 2013 be the year you come to the mat and bring yourself home.

Semper Fi and Namaste. 

 CJ Keller is the Yoga Development Director of Semper Fidelis Health & Wellness