Page 95 - Total War on PTSD
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keep myself pieced together enough to stay off profile and physically keep up with them, and at that time it meant going to the Chiropractor five times a week.
I went on like that for close to a month before a new program became available to the unit, Connected Warriors. I didn’t go right away, Yoga isn’t considered something that the “guys” would do, and I was very careful to keep my image of being one of the guys. When I started to hear about attendance increasing I figured that was my chance to give it a try. I was still only thinking at that time of changing up my physical fitness routine, and not wellness. When I did finally drag myself in there I discovered something wonderful, here finally was an instructor who “got it.” I had never before gone to a Yoga class and sweated as much as I did that day, I was sore, the kind of sore you get when you push yourself to your limit, and the pain that was threatening to put me on profile was going away. One Connected Warrior class a week brought my Chiropractor visits from five times a week to three, then once a month.
After a while I began to notice that the Yoga was also good for quieting the mind, for an hour I could let go and just breathe, not process, not worry, not stress. I could deal with the days issues without getting angry, my resilience improved, and stress management became easier. I began sleeping better, and relationships improved because I was a happier person.