Warriors for Healing Bhava Ram greets a yoga devotee at the close of yoga class his organization sponsored at the Hotel del Coronado. Photo courtesy of Warriors for Healing.
A sea of yoga mats filled the Windsor Lawn at the Hotel del Coronado. Yogis from around the county assembled to celebrate and honor veterans by holding a class and testifying to the ancient practice’s power to alleviate the anxiety and depression many former aviators, sailors and soldiers suffer, a syndrome called post traumatic stress (PTS).
Mayor Casey Tanaka welcomed the warriors and their supporters “to day of healing and wellness” and proclaimed June 28th “Warriors for Healing (W4H) Day” in the city. The event was sponsored by Warriors for Healing, the Give Back Yoga Foundation and Yoga Journal.
The Give Back Yoga Foundation helps establish and fund yoga and mindfulness training for underserved communities, such as first responders, at-risk youths and prisoners. It has partnered with W4H to programs in VA hospitals, yoga studios and community centers across the country.
The program is resounding with its audience. Six hundred people attended the event at the Del, according to Ann Berchtold, the events director. Among these there were 50 veterans, 150 Warriors for Healing, and 400 people who were attending the Yoga Journal conference being held simultaneously at the Hotel Del. While many were locals, a number of people traveled a great distance to participate.
Charles Arrington, who served in the United States Army for 21 years, came all the way from Colorado. After experiencing first hand the healing power of daily yoga practice, he decided teach others, not only fellow veterans, but also first responders and others coping with PTS.
Charles Arrington in Warrior II pose
Deep Yoga’s Bhava Ram led the assembled yogis in a series of poses. J.J. Brown (a Navy veteran who served during the war on terrorism and Operation Iraqi Freedom), Steve Gold, and Paul Damon provided the music.
The event streamed live on the Yoga Journal site, allowing individuals around the world participate. Berchtold said that she understood that a number of yoga studios and some deployed military units were taking part via the livestream.
Bhava Ram, W4H’s founder, conceived the event to raise money and awareness for his cause. Leading up to the event he also launched a Crowdrise campaign.
Sixty teams from around the country raised $80,000 for the event. Among these was a Coronado Team headed by Kristina and Buzz Fink; another led by Om A Yogi’s Danell Dwaileebe, a Coronado local; and a Deep Yoga Seva team headed by Bhava Ram and Laura Plumb. School board member Maria Simon and her husband Fred also raised funds.
“The military is such a large part of the fabric of Coronado it feels personal,” Dawileebe said. “I know Bhava Ram and how passionate he is about this I wanted to support his energy that comes from the heart.”
Danell Dwaileebe in Warrior I pose
Money raised will go toward offering yoga and meditation services online and training yoga instructors through its H4W project, an online service that allows those suffering from PTS to experience the healing benefits of yoga and meditation without having to go to a studio that may be miles away or too expensive.
After completing the three-stage online program, participants can enroll in a teacher training program at a nearby studio.
The online training will be free. The individual training will not. While an “exact price has not been determined,” Bhava Ram expects that cost will vary and that there will be some “partial scholarships for veterans and avenues for all who want to do this [teacher training] to raise funds through our new, upcoming event site to fund their training and help grow awareness of yoga science in the process.”
At the event on Sunday and on his website, Bhava Ram explained the scientific bases for yoga and mindfulness meditation’s healing properties. Both release brain chemical that reduces stress with emotional disorders, such as anxiety and depression, and the inflammation associated with major diseases including cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
The situation for the nation’s veterans is alarming. Some 500,000 veterans suffer from PTS; 127,000 vets are homeless. The most startling statistic of all? Every day, an estimated 20 veterans commit suicide.
These facts are more than statistics for Brava Ram; they are personal. He too bares the scars of war, not as a soldier but as a war correspondent.
Reporting on the Persian Gulf War and the post-9/11 Afghanistan campaign, he witnessed the same carnage as those who fought in those conflicts and fell to the same cycle of depression, drugs and despair. A failed back surgery sent him into a spiral of defeat that ended when his then two-year old son asked him simply “to get up.”
He made a decision to face the future clean and sober. He entered rehab and began the process of detoxifying his body. He next joined an experimental mind-body practice that included yoga. Bhava Ram credits his yoga practice with literally saving his life. Grateful for a second chance, Ram dedicated himself to sharing the power of yoga with others. Now he’s encouraging others to follow his lead.
“We are in this fight together. Friends, spouses, children and the community are all indirectly affected by PTSD,” he told the crowd on Sunday. “When we transform ourselves we transform everyone around us.”
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Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
