Karen Baker
Yoga isn’t just about chanting or getting the body into funny positions or doing poses you see a limber person do in a magazine. The mental and physical benefits of practicing yoga postures, asanas, and breath control, pranayama, can be very powerful in helping manage short and long term stress. In the past few years, yoga programs for vets, once almost impossible to find, have proliferated all over the country. Many programs were started by current or former military personnel and in some cases they’re sponsored and funded by the military itself.
Connected Warriors, a national nonprofit organization, believes that the practice of yoga can be a powerful tool in helping to overcome the stresses, injuries and unwanted effects of military service. Connected Warriors was founded on the principles of volunteerism and selfless giving. They are a group of yoga teachers, business professionals and military veterans, who have joined together to honor military men, women and their families by making available free yoga classes to help deal with stress and trauma with mindfulness. In war, soldiers are programmed to react forcefully to stimuli and to mask the affects of post traumatic stress. Yoga teaches them to accept whatever happened and focus on what’s going on inside their own bodies.
Karen Baker, an AFAA certified personal trainer and yoga instructo,r has been teaching classes and working in the fitness industry for over 30 years. Karen, a Connected Warrior volunteer, will be offering a free yoga class to veterans and currently enlisted service members and their families on Tuesday nights from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. starting on July 23 at the Anza Athletic Club in Quail Creek. You do not have to be a Quail Creek resident to attend. The class is geared toward beginners with no yoga experience and is designed and taught for people of all levels of physical ability and yoga experience. Even those who experience stiffness, inflexibility, injuries, limited mobility, amputation, hypertension, high blood pressure, and other medical concerns such as post traumatic stress disorder, should experience some benefit. The classes are taught in a manner that allows each student to safely deal with their own needs and potential. Students of these free classes learn how to handle stressful situations in a more relaxed manner by quieting and focusing their mind, which encourages positive thoughts and self acceptance.
Co-teaching with Karen will be Diann Shively, LMT and certified TRE, Trauma release exercise, instructor. TRE is a simple technique that uses six exercises to release deep tension or stress from the body that accumulate from everyday circumstances of life, difficult situations, immediate or prolonged stress, or traumatic life experiences. This technique has been used successfully with vets and first responders, as well as others who want to release tension and improve their quality of life.
For more information about Connected Warrior yoga classes contact Karen Baker at [email protected]. Karen currently teaches many different classes at Quail Creek to include Pilates, Aquafit, yoga and Cardio Pump. Check out her website at www.karenbakerfitness.com. You can also learn more about Connected Warriors and TRE by visiting www.connectedwarriors.org and www.traumaprevention.com.