Written for the Yoga For First Responders® course completion requirements and shared here.

Day One, Yoga For First Responders® Instructor School.  A quick orientation, squad huddle and we jumped into our first mat class.  This is exactly what I thought it would be, a lot of learning yoga poses and calming the mind.  It took me about 15 minutes to realize I was not correct in my assumption.  We were gathered in a well lit room with distracting noises outside.  The instructor was not soft spoken, using challenge and respond and command presence. We began with repetitive breaths standing at attention, also known as standing mountain pose.  By the end of day one, we had our introduction to the ground rules and YFFR Protocol and I knew I was about to learn more than I thought I would.  It was clear, this was not your typical yoga class.

The Yoga For First Responders® Protocol is methodology, an approach to training and structure.  We saw and felt the structure in our intro mat class through command presence and expectations on the mat. We began to see the methodology and approach to training as we learned the Sun Breath and intro to Sun Salutation.  The YFFR Protocol consists of Tactical Breathwork, Physical Drills, Cognitive Declarations and Neurological Reset.  Over the course of the week, we would break each one down, learn the importance of each, how they tie back to the origins of Hatha Yoga and how each contributes to the mission of Yoga For First Responders®; To provide first responder, military personnel, and medical providers with traditional yoga training that is job-specific and culturally informed to effectively process stress, build resilience, and enhance performance.  

For this blog, I will focus on my transformation and turning point in training.  Although I knew people held stress in various parts of their bodies, when instructors boldly declared we would ‘process stress out of our body’ using the YFFR Protocol, they lost me.  I’m a science guy, you’re telling me we can do some poses and my stress/trauma will leave my body?  But, because I walked into the week with a completely open mind and vast willingness to learn new skills, I kept my eyes and ears open.  I locked into the 8-Reasons Why We Do Physical Drills, specifically numbers 3, 5, 6 and 7.  Functional Movement and Spine Health, Facilitate Mindfulness, Changes the Experience/Perception of Stress and Unlocks Stress and Trauma. 

Backtrack about five months.  I had developed right hip pain.  I have a relatively high pain tolerance, so really it was an annoyance.  I shift a lot in my office chair and car.  I try to extend my leg, flex and extend my lower leg and ankle to get relief.  I visited my massage therapist who declared ‘your hips are tight’ and worked her hands and hot stones providing mild relief.  I was doing ‘yoga for men’ to release tension in my hips and pelvis which is where men hold stress and emotion.  Day one of this course had me shifting side to side and pivoting in the rather firm chair.

A brief, very brief, overview and some definitions.  Physical Drills provide a vehicle for functional movement and spine health.  They increase our strength and mobility and serve to challenge and mimic activation of the nervous system.  Mindfulness, the beginning of my turning point at instructor school.  The definition, Intention + Action + Awareness.  Further, intention is the goal or purpose.  Action involves the mind, body and nervous system.  Awareness, paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment without judgement.  This, THIS, is where I began to take my pre-instructor school enthusiasm and apply it to the protocol and go all in for mat class.  

Back on the mat with this insight and excitement, this science guy perked up when we moved into discussion of changing the experience/perception of stress.  “Is it a challenge or a threat?” the instructor would call out during physical drills.  Somehow, taking a breath and saying ‘CHALLENGE!” made the drill easier to hold longer… we had changed our perception of the stress.  For the science guy, we were talking about neuroplasticity, changing the neural pathways in our brain.  

Each time we moved onto the mat we did increasingly more challenging physical drills.  I particularly focused on low lunge, pigeon pose and variations of warrior poses while practicing the tactical breath work.  I breathed and pushed to my 4%, which is a technique used to push us past our perceived limits.  I was all in working through repressed trauma and stress.  

But wait, for those keeping track of the four parts of the 8-Reasons Why We Do Physical Drills, did I skip right over one? Was I avoiding it above?  

In fact, no.  Remember I said on day one I knew I was about to learn more than I thought I would.  This is the transformation.  This is the turning point.  Day Three.  I am sitting in lecture on Day Three and I notice something.  My hip is not annoying me.  What is going on? My mind immediately goes to the science behind YFFR.   Our bodies do hold stress.  Not like I was thinking of, not just as tight muscles and joints.  Our bodies really do go through chemical changes, hardening and stiffening of the fascia.  Our bodies store stress and trauma at the cellular level.  We can unlock stress and trauma.  We DO NOT ‘have to stuff our responses to stressors.’  We DO need techniques to process stress in the moment, change our perception of the stress and recover after.  Not only do we need to process the stress and recover, we MUST.  In YFFR, it is called regulation and techniques are taught to self-regulate following activation of our nervous system.

In The Body Keeps the Score, Dr. Bessel van der Kolt MD states “trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust.”  He further explains, “neurofeedback and meditation… and yoga” offer innovative treatments.   It is true, through yoga (application of the YFFR protocol) we can change the way our brain interprets threats and change the way our body responds to it.  We can process stress and trauma out of our body.  I felt it. Or should I say I no longer felt it in my hip?   When I went all in on the mat, I allowed the physical drills to be the vehicle to train my mind and nervous system to eradicate stress from my tissues, processing stress hormones from the tissues.  Through neuroplasticity, we can recover our brain and all systems connected to the nervous system; muscles and connective tissue, digestive, integumentary, skeletal and endocrine.

“Humility is one of the greatest character virtues.  It will help you maintain the wellness of your spirit so that, as a first responder, you can survive and thrive in your profession.  It is essential to step back from the image of being a superman or superwoman and realize that you are human like everyone else.  You’re just as vulnerable and just as susceptible (if not more) to pain, suffering and emotional trauma.  No one is capable of doing any first responder job without it potentially changing them and making a significant impact on their emotional wellness and spirit.  If your leg were seriously hurting you,  you would go to the doctor.  When your spirit is suffering, you are in even greater need of healing.  Emotional trauma isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s an injury to the brain and spirit, to a personal ability to effectively process traumatic circumstances.  And it is not a sign of weakness to seek help… it is a sign of  courage… you will be unable to meet anyone’s needs if you stubbornly (and stupidly) refuse to meet your own.” (Pg 90, Bulletproof Spirit by Captain Dan Willis)

I signed up for YFFR Instructor School initially to learn new skills to help others. That’s what we do, right? We help others.  But the truth is I went in with the right growth mindset which helped me to shift my perspective and launched me on this new journey.  We cannot take care of others if we are not taking care of ourselves first.  

I dedicate this blog to two first responders who did not get the benefit of programs such as Yoga For First Responders® and did not make it to their retirement, Matt and Mike.  Matt, a 24 year veteran fire fighter died of an acute immune disease the week I attended YFFR Instructor School.  Mike, a 20+ year veteran fire fighter died of cancer 6 months before instructor school.  Together we can stop the deaths.

For crisis intervention, call 988 or go to www.988lifeline.org