Yoga Warriors Research
Yoga Warriors is proud to announce that our latest research protocol: The Effect of Yoga on Symptoms of Combat Stress in Active-Duty Military Personnel, was successfully implemented in October and is now in the data analysis stage. Seventy U.S. military personnel stationed in Kirkuk, Iraq, participated in this randomized experimental/control group study. Air Force Major Jon Greuel, who just completed his tour of duty in Iraq in November, served as the Principal Investigator. Major Greuel is a certified yoga instructor who enjoyed teaching yoga to active duty military personnel during his off-duty hours. While officially "on duty", Major Greuel instructed Iraqis in primary and instrument flying. The purpose of the study, as Major Greuel so aptly put it, is to help our military troops develop proactive traumatic stress management to avoid developing post-traumatic stress disorder. There is an ethical imperative to develop effective strategies to enable our troops to transition more easily from “battle-ready” in preparation or response to a threat, back to a normal state of arousal once the requirement for vigilance has passed. Getting keyed-up people to completely relax was one of the most challenging and rewarding of Major Greuel's experiences while deployed. The study was approved by the USAISR and the IRB at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas. A big thank you to everyone who has supported this endeavor! We will be sure to let you know when the results of this study are available to the public.
Lynn Stoller, M.S., OTR/L, RYT
Yoga Warriors Research Coordinator
State-Side Research
The timeline for our state-side research has been pushed back due to the Iraq study. We are planning a multi-location study on the effect of yoga on symptoms of combat stress and/or PTSD in combat veterans. Currently, we are seeking certified yoga instructors who have been trained in the Yoga Warriors method to help implement this study. If you are interested & qualifed, please contact Lucy at (508) 835-1176.
If you are interested but don’t yet have the required credentials, please consider signing up for Lucy’s Yoga Alliance approved 200-hour teacher training (which incorporates Yoga Warriors training) or her Yoga Warriors training workshop.