Yoga encourages everyone's inner soldier to overcome challenges in life.

The daughter of an Army Captain and Vietnam war hero (my father received a Bronze Star for his active duty service), I was raised with military philosophy. My boyfriend is an Army Captain and I teach yoga to the troops at Fort Bragg, so I’ve been even more immersed in military life. In my practice and teaching of yoga and my experience with the Army, one thing has become clear: many of the philosophies are similar. It may just be why soldiers and yoga make such a good fit. Yoga enhances that part of the soldier’s innate personality that strives to master, and offers empowering mind/body exercises that nurture inner strength and discipline. The added perk of yoga is it helps soldiers release the mental, emotional and physical stress that comes with one of the most stressful jobs there is.

1. Strength. Both Army and yoga beliefs encourage you to be the best you could be. Yoga also encourages one to learn how to just be. It takes just as much strength if not more to stop doing and let go as it does to engage your energy with force. It also takes strength to find peace with where you’re at, who you are and what you’ve been called to do in this life. Most of us will have regrets at some point in our lives. Yoga helps us learn how to let go of regret when we accept the wisdom we’ve gained from the experience. It can also inspire us with understanding  how we can a turn negative into a positive, usually by way of making a difference.

2. Resilience. The Army calls it “sucking it up.” Yoga calls it “non-attachment.” Both beliefs strive toward avoiding excuses to get caught up in the drama of suffering. Yoga’s non-attachment practice asks you to be the observer of your emotions as opposed to allowing your feelings to overwhelm you and throw you off balance. Holding asanas for long periods can sometimes feel challenging, but the yogi is asked not to give up. Instead, work through the mental, emotional and physical challenge and it can result in feeling more strength and confidence on deeper levels.

3. Discipline. Physical discipline: “Move with purpose” is a military saying, meaning make yourself useful. Don’t get idle, lazy or stagnant. Soldiers are routinely given physical fitness tests they must pass as part of their military contract, so you will often see soldiers working out. Physical fitness is an important part of military life, regardless of which unit you’re in.

Yoga is moving with purpose. The body, emotions and thoughts are monitored with self-awareness to help guide you and foster meaning in your life. Yoga encourages you to avoid stagnancy. The physical yoga exercises are only one part of the yoga discipline, and an important one not just for physical health, but mental and emotional as well. Each asana has an effect on the body, mind and spirit. Some days the yogi may not feel up to practicing an asana, but with discipline, yogi’s know that practicing this “movement with purpose” instills them with a sense of inner strength, health, ease and balance that will serve them throughout the day.

Mental/emotional discipline is practiced in boot camp. Drill Instructors will test a solder’s mental strength by temping him or her to fly off the handle and react to their verbal taunts. Yoga encourages the student to use self-awareness, breath and non-attachment to refrain from over-reacting to outer challenges and relying on inner resources to help you stay calm, cool and collected.

Self-discipline is a huge factor in the practice of yoga. One must have discipline to practice the asanas, the breath and to use the philosophy to better themselves in daily life. Many of us will fall out of our routine in moments of stress or busyness and return to our practice once things have settled down. The challenge is always to remain faithfully committed to our practice no matter what’s happening around us. This commitment to self-discipline is what helps yogi’s take their practice deeper and receive long-term benefits. Yogi’s believe in using your energy wisely, in productive ways.

4. Bravery. You have to be brave to be a soldier. To get through boot camp, away from loved ones, being tested to your mental, emotional and physical limits, sacrificing your freedom of where you’d like to live, when you could get away and how you could run your schedule takes courage. Soldiers give up a lot of freedoms to serve, and some give up their lives. Every soldier knows once they join, there is always the possibility that they may be sent to war and not come home.

Yoga asks us to be willing to let go of things that no longer serve us. And to push past self-imposing limits so we can be all that we can be. There are yoga poses that you may feel scared of trying. Sometimes trying those poses can liberate you from deeper fears. Meditation can be scary to some. Sitting alone with your feelings takes courage. Admitting you’re not perfect takes courage. Committing to the higher ideals of a yoga lifestyle that include taking responsibility for yourself and honoring the divine in others, not over-reacting to life, being kind, compassionate and respectful – these ideals take bravery in a world that often worships violence, hatred and drama. A soldier must act in defense of his life and to protect others, but that doesn’t mean that he subscribes to a violent state of mind. I’ve met many kind, giving, bighearted soldiers who are struggling with the fact that they had to commit acts of violence because it doesn’t feel right to them. Their act of bravery now is to forgive themselves, to feel liberated from the past and accept the wisdom gained, which is freedom. Acceptance leads to peace.

Yoga is a holistic approach to life which takes courage. It’s a brave act to change one’s diet, to sacrifice things that bring you instant pleasure but are unhealthy. Both the Army and yoga ask us to sacrifice something for freedom. Yoga asks us if we’re brave and willing enough to sacrifice an attachment to material illusions for emotional freedom?

5. Focus. “Boot Camp is 80% mental, and 20% physical. Don’t get discouraged or give in to the temptation to give up (namely because quitting is not an option.) Don’t look too far ahead and stay focused on the task at hand.” -military.com. The military life asks soldiers to be very focused and mindful in every aspect of their life. On the job, focus is critical for many soldiers who are placed in life or death situations. Mindfulness is also important in their personal life. If a soldier acts unbecoming and less than is expected of his character, he or she can face a demotion or even dishonorable discharge.

Many yoga asanas such as Tree Pose can also be considered 80% mental and 20% physical. That’s what draws people to yoga – it’s an exercise that requires focus in the present moment. When you’re holding a yoga pose, you’re not thinking about what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. You’re focusing on your breath and maintaining the integrity of the pose: lengthening, grounding, extending, exhaling. There’s a lot happening during a yoga pose that focuses you to be present and to free your mind and body of the stress that tightens, constricts and restricts. Yogi’s who are interested in cultivating spiritual values will practice yoga on and off the mat, striving to judge less, and to be more patient, kind and compassionate human beings.

Are you up for the challenge?

It takes a lot of focus and self-awareness to raise the bar on your standard of living and aim to be the best person that you can be. Both the Army and yoga ask us how strong are we, just how much we can persevere and what level of integrity are we willing to reach. Yoga helps us find peace among the answers.

©2012 Lauralyn Harter

www.simplyserenityyoga.com

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Lauralyn is a yoga therapist specializing in holistic healing. She is currently providing yoga to the wounded warriors at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl13FrMmOA8

Lauralyn is a certified yoga, reiki and angel therapist®. She specializes in holistic healing and intuitive spiritual mentoring. She is currently providing yoga therapy to the wounded warriors at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

“I have my health. I have a job. I have no debt, and no dependents. I have a tiny bit of savings and a small retirement fund that I cling to.
But Wall Street is hungry, and our political leaders have shown whose side they are on. Business and government will work together to steal what we have.
I did not get here, to this tiny island of stability, alone. I owe so much to my brothers and sisters who worked hard for the ideals of DEMOCRACY and LIBERTY and FREEDOM.
And I will not stand by, silent, while any of my brothers and sisters falls through the cracks: the sick, the unemployed, and underemployed, the kids who depend on us all.
I will not stand by while the One Percent who have manipulated our social contract to their vast favor leave the rest of us to fend for ourselves.
I will not stand for it.
And I am not alone.
I am the 99%.”

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In the book and movie, when you looked past the people wishing for sport’s cars, checks showing up in their mailboxes, million dollar careers, and mansions, there were several spiritual gems there.  The thing is most people didn’t look past the cars, checks, money, and mansions.  In some cases it just fed the desire for more, more, more by convincing everyone they deserved it and would have it.

It is a tragedy that we think ourselves smaller than we actually are, but it is also a tragedy when put our own self-worth before the good of the people we are meant to be of service to.  I love to go to workshops and learn about new things, but I refuse to pay out the wazoo for something that is supposed to heal me and improve my life.  Shouldn’t we want everyone to be healed and improved?  Sadly, most of the teachers that offer these type of experiences make them unaffordable for anyone on a budget.  Those people who died at James Arthur Ray’s spiritual warrior retreat paid $10,000 to be there.  The last person I talked to about this said “Yep, that’s about the price of a funeral.”  From what I heard about the incident, James compensated the families of the victims by giving them $5000.  They didn’t even get the money their loved ones had paid to participate!

In everything I read there is a promise of abundance and prosperity to those who are awake and aligned with Truth.  I believe that, but I don’t believe that abundance and prosperity mean that if we connect with God and follow our hearts we will all get a million dollars and a fancy house.  I believe that actually the two are measured in love, not dollars.  If you love your work, are surrounded by people you care about, find joy in the small things, and allow yourself to be mindful in each and every moment than you are very wealthy indeed.

At some point we have to stop feeding this myth that money equals value.  Money doesn’t make people happier and healing/self-improvement should be accessible to even the poorest among us.  In the end it is what we offer to the world that makes us valuable…not what the world decides to pay us.

Leslee Horner
http://lesleehorner.wordpress.com/

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I said in another post that I am low-maintenance.  I enjoy the simplicity of my life and at times am even proud of it.  But I’ve also always craved the limelight a bit.  When I was a teacher I did fantasize about being “teacher of the year” (or even being nominated) and the second that I started writing again I dreamed of being the next big author.

Then there’s the fortune part of this post.  I think it’s also in all of us to desire riches.  When I was young I had plenty, but there was always someone who had a little more.  Every time my mother bought me a new Barbie, the next-door neighbor’s mom would buy her two.  I had the Barbie Jeep and she had the Barbie RV.  She had the Barbie dream house 2 years before I had mine.  In high school, I drove a 1979 Honda Accord that we (my friends and I) named “The Little Brown Turd” and two of my closest friends drove much newer and better cars.  They also lived in bigger houses.  I had it good, but sometimes I thought if I had  a better car or a bigger house and more money to spend my life would be better.

Here I am as an adult and for the most part I have all the stuff I want.  Mark and I have come a long way through the years.  We started our life together with nothing but a few pieces of furniture we brought from our parent’s homes.  Each year we’ve grown a little bit richer and yet there is still the desire that if we just had a bit more we could be happier.  I still browse through Realtor.com from time to time checking out the bigger houses and occasionally wish I could replace my entire wardrobe with clothes from nicer stores than Old Navy and Target (no offense as I love these stores).

Recently I had the opportunity to get the feel of both fame and fortune.  I sat next to a woman at the television studio before Lissa’s interview.  I didn’t even realize she was famous.  She walked in fidgeting with her phone.  Apparently, it wasn’t working.  Being connected was an absolute necessity in her world.  She had a day filled with appointments including a telephone interview with NPR that same afternoon.  I was beside her as she made the call to her cell carrier and for the first time truly understood what it meant to feel someone else’s energy.  Her world was crashing down upon her because she didn’t have a cell phone.  It might sound like I’m picking on her a bit, but I really am not.  This was her world…one of fame.  In order to stay in the position she is in, she must keep all these balls in the air and that includes the ability to make and answer the calls that are constantly coming in.  I’ve dreamed of her life without even grasping just what it means and what has to be sacrificed to live it.

I also met someone who was ultra-wealthy.  This person had everything money could buy, yet longed for deep friendships and connections with like-minded people.  I looked around their amazing home and knew in that moment the grass isn’t always greener and money will not buy happiness.

I’ve alluded to this topic in my last two posts.  I wrote about realizing my big dream wasn’t really right for me and about how we miss opportunities to do things that are great for ourselves and the people in our small circle by trying to fit labels.  This is just an extension of that.  I think ultimately the motivation behind the choices we make has to be pure and beneficial.  If we are doing things just to get rich or famous, we will probably find ourselves less than full-filled.  My advice to myself (and you if you dare to take it) is to seek to give, help, connect, and heal and perhaps by following that path the stars in my eyes will be transformed.

Leslee Horner
http://lesleehorner.wordpress.com/

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Of course this book got me thinking about my own life.  Over the past few years I’ve been given a huge opportunity…the privilege of being a stay-at-home-mom.   Sure in the beginning my world revolved around nursing and nap times, but at some point my girls got older, started preschool, and began to entertain one another.  I was gifted with time that I’d never had before.  I started reading, meditating, and creating.  I began to visualize the life and career of my dreams.

At times I have worked hard towards my goals but often I have simply waited for something to happen to me. I managed to write two novels but have allowed myself to think just because I wrote them they should be published someday. Maybe the right person would stumble on a blog post I’d written, ask to see my other work and I’d become an overnight success.  In all my studies of the Law of Attraction I was missing the key ingredient…ACTION.  And in all honesty action equals work.

People are successful because they attract to themselves the right opportunities, but more importantly because they ACT on the opportunities.  Bill Gates spent hours and hours and hours working on a computer that he was privileged to have access to as a teen.  The Beatles said yes to playing 6-8 hour nightly gigs in Hamburg, Germany when they were little more than a garage band.  It was the whole equation that led to their success…saying yes to what was presented to them plus the hours of hard work.

What I learned from reading this book is that I have been sitting on a gold mine and now it is time to start digging.  No more procrastinating.  No more waiting for the click.   It is time for me to put in my own hours of hard work.    That’s the only thing missing from my equation!