You Do Yoga??
I’ve been doing yoga for almost a decade now. At first, it was because my wife loved it and I wanted to win her affection before we were married. Then in 2014 everything changed. I suffered a potential career ending hip fracture that left me immobile and in significant pain. From there, Yoga became a necessity. Even with a lot of pain and serious mobility issues, I was able to continue my career for another 8 years.
The main reasonI became a believer was because of the benefits yoga provides. Purely from a physical standpoint, the alignment of mind and body wasn’t something I was interested in or even cared about. It was doing the job I needed it to but like most of us in this profession, my mind started to have its own issues. It wasn’t one event, it was a lifetime of trauma, pain, and struggle.
This is when I found out about breathing practices which was more of a method to calm my heart and mind when it started to race. To fall asleep, I would practice breathing techniques in my office during the day and I would start to use them as everything started to move so fast because I was afraid I was going to crack.
Then while researching some new techniques, I stumbled upon some articles Tim Ferris had written about mediation. It seemed hippy to me but it helped. I was willing to give it a shot. I was terrible at it and just the idea of sitting still and meaningfully trying to slip into my mind, made me want to scream. I tried it out, would quit for months, and then try again. It was a lot of trial and error with nothing fancy, just focusing on my breath and trying to keep my mind free of anything specific.
So here I was during yoga in the physical sense, practicing breathing exercises and mediating. All compartmentalized at separate times and places, never giving any thought to how the benefit could come from trying to unify the efforts. At the same time I was maximizing the benefits of each.
About 8 months ago, my amazing wife told me that I should apply through a program with the Veterans Yoga Project for a 200 Hour Mindful Resilience Yoga Teacher Training program. If accepted, I would become a Yoga teacher and could host my own classes. Frankly the thought made me laugh. Mike Burke, the Ranger, CSM, and supposed tough guy eating granola, wearing tights, and teaching yoga?
It sounded like a challenge and if I could potentially help others, why not at least do the course? But then the thought of using most of my weekends to take online classes was daunting. I’m already overwhelmed with life and the demands of it all. Adding another thing to it was causing me stress. Ultimately, I signed up for the program and out of hundreds of applicants, I was selected.
The rest is not history because there have been times over the last 6 months where I’ve questioned what the hell I got myself into. Times where I’ve rolled my eyes as they talked about Chakras, Sanskrit, and the eight limbs of yoga. In the days that would follow, each class would provide clarity. They would build on each other and very slowly, they unlocked a new dimension of my own inner workings. Slowly I was starting to align my mind and body. Have you ever had a pinched nerve in your shoulder while trying to do stretches and poses that stretch it? What is even better is trying to practice some breathing where you mindfully reduce tension in your face, neck, and back. We don’t just carry stress in our mind, it’s our whole body that’s affected and to properly relax, you need to link the mind and body.
I know you’re probably rolling your eyes and questioning why you are reading this post. What if I’m right? What if you could reduce pain, fatigue and stress by some simple routines that aim to connect the mind and body? It’s worth looking into so I recommend that you dedicate some time and find an instructor that is a fit for you. I’ll be honest, that was the hardest part for me because most yoga instructors annoyed the hell out of me.
As the months rolled along, I was starting to make progress and last month, we had an opportunity to meet as a class with all the instructors at the Himalayan Institute. Over the course of the week, we had the opportunity to conduct workshops, instruct, and feedback was given by all in every class. Experts came in to teach specific portions of yoga practices. We linked it all together and slowly over the week, more and more pieces started to click for me. It was a once in a lifetime experience and has changed my views on yoga and other aspects of my life. Maybe yoga can be a vehicle where I can add a hell of a lot of value to people’s lives.
So what of all this is threefold; you should consider yoga if you’ve never had the opportunity to do it. The Veterans Yoga Project has some amazing classes and staff to utilize if you’ve ever thought about it. If you’re looking into becoming certified, this would be a program worth looking into. Lastly, there are going to be some classes available in person in the future and online by yours truly. My focus is going to be rehabilitation and realignment. I’m working on offering classes specifically geared for leaders and high performing athletes.
MORE TO FOLLOW
~Mike
