Today’s guest is Robert Stern, an Assistant Professor of History and Legal Studies at Saint Thomas More University. While in his mid-thirties, Robert initially found yoga as a way to get through long winters as a graduate student. Yoga gave him physical benefits and also served as an outlet to deal with the stress of traveling to and from Cincinnati to Chicago while looking after his ailing father. Along the way, his appreciation for the physical practice grew into a focused interest in handstands. Robert found handstands sharpened his focus as the combination of mental and physical coordination forced him to be in the moment. In this episode, Robert shares more about how a handstand practice has helped him and how it might help you, too.

A veteran of the Iraq War and with 28 years of uniformed service, Dr. Vincent Arnold has supported and served nearly all the branches of the US military, including the Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corp., and the Navy before retiring with the rank of Chaplain in 2007. Upon his retirement from active military service, Dr. Arnold served as the first civilian Clinical Director and Department Head for the Deployment Health Center (DHC), becoming one of the largest in the Navy to include a comprehensive Post Deployment Health Reassessment screening program, creation of a PTSD multidisciplinary treatment team, and establishment of the Autonomic Neuropsychological Assessment Metric Program. He subsequently served as a Pastoral Counselor at Naval Medical Center, Camp Lejeune, where he worked directly with wounded warriors in the areas of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)and mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI). Specializing in holistic-oriented mindfulness-based pastoral counseling, Dr. Arnold offered individual, couple, and group sessions in Integrative Restoration Yoga Nidra (iRest) and Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR).  He continues to offer non-fee-based pastoral counseling and workshops and retreats on ‘I Rest in Him.’ In addition to his service as a board director with Warriors at Ease, Dr. Arnold is an ERYT 200 yoga instructor and Certified iRest®Yoga Nidra Teacher. Dr. Arnold received a BA in Religion from Emmanuel College, an MDiv from Duke University, a Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Renewal from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a Doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Argosy University.

In 2018 Brian Linton retired from the Army with the rank of sergeant first class after nearly thirty years of service. And while his aunt introduced him to yoga way back in the 1980s, he didn’t get really into the practice until he signed up for a 200-hour teacher training program to give him something to do during the lockdown. What he found was not only exposure to many physical modalities of yoga, but also a deeper understanding of the spiritual side of the practice which helped him navigate the mind-body challenges of post-traumatic stress after his service.

As a first sergeant in the US Air National Guard, Dominic Stanley’s job is to provide support in regards to health, morale, welfare, etc. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also a yogi who both practices and teaches yoga. Dominic found yoga after returning from deployment in Iraq, while dealing with some of the struggles and challenges associated with the return to civilian life. He was already physically active, but his wife saw a Groupon for a hot yoga place and suggested he try it. Shortly after, Dominic was attending yoga class every day and soon after that, he did his 200-hour yoga teacher training. Dominic pursued a variety of specialized training, including the Warriors at Ease Level 1 training, which was important to him as supporting the Veteran population – of which he is a member – is near and dear to his heart.

David Truesdale, a registered yoga teacher (RYT) and Certified Warriors at Ease teacher, is the founding board member of the Texas-based nonprofit Warrior Spirit Project. He serves others by sharing his passion for yoga and providing free trauma-informed yoga and iRest meditation to veterans and first responders in the great Dallas area. David grew up in a US Marine Corps family and spent over twenty-seven years with the Department of the Navy as a Special Agent with Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). As part of his NCIS duties, he was deployed to Iraq as a Counterintelligence team leader in 2004 and to Afghanistan in 2011-2012 as an Individual Augmentee to the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). David has received numerous awards and commendations, including the U.S. Navy Superior Civilian Service Award, the U.S. Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award, DoD Counterintelligence Team Award, and a Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award from CPA Administrator Paul Bremmer. David is a member of Save a Warrior (SAW) Cohort 063 and feels compelled to continue supporting U.S. military personnel whether they are still active duty or post service.

For Dennis Kerr, his military experience and yoga path have become intertwined over the last twenty years. Dennis enlisted in the Army in 2002 and went to Iraq where his path of yoga began after being inspired by the international bestseller, Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, and his curiosity led him to Rodney Yee’s introduction to yoga videos while deployed. Soon after the discipline of his military experience, musical background and yoga practice all evolved together through the breath.

After over twenty five years of service, Chris Davis retired as an assistant chief of police at the Fayetteville, NC Police Department with service duties consisting of patrol, investigations, internal affairs, and training, and as the Investigative Bureau Commander where he supervised over 150 employees. Prior to law enforcement, he served over three years serving in Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield and ultimately leaving the US Army with the rank of first lieutenant. He is a certified yoga instructor (CYT-500 hours) and created Yoga911 in 2019 to help serve others through the incorporation of yoga and meditation practices in combination with his passion and expertise in resilience and operational performance.

Retired Major Mark Voelker (USMC) shares yoga path and how developing a practice has helped him develop the mind-body connection, learn to make better choices off the mat, and be a teacher and leader for others in need. He’s a certified yoga and meditation teacher, Warriors at Ease graduate and Level 1 instructor.

Mark is also a team lead at Semper Fi Odyssey (SFO) where he works with injured and combat-wounded U.S. Marines and other service members through their transition back to a life out of uniform but continued service to the country. SFO is a six-day, holistic, transition-assistance program that provides injured and critically ill active-duty military service members and veterans an opportunity to not only gain valuable employment resources, but also life-planning skills to assist with their re-entry into the civilian sector. Primarily focused on their career advancement, SFO also reinforces the significance of mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, and social well-being, to ensure long-term success for these individuals.

Christina Hickey is the Executive Director of Warriors at Ease (WAE), a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2011 whose pioneering co-founders were involved in some of the first clinical studies funded by Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs involving the use of yoga and meditation as an adjunct therapy for combat-related health conditions. In response to the success of these early studies at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the founders developed a teacher training curriculum to meet the growing demand for specially-trained instructors who have the knowledge and skills to share yoga in a way that is safe, effective, and relevant for warriors and their families. This conversion kicks off an eight-episode co-branded series to highlight six graduates and the evidenced-based, trauma-sensitive yoga, meditation, and breathing practices curriculum of WAE has made an impact on their lives.

Warriors at Ease is a 501(c)(3) organization. This content is not intended to imply endorsement by the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, or any federal entity.

Former litigator and corporate banker Larry Drexler entered his first yoga class curious but apprehensive. He soon realized the impact and perspective that yoga provided within his work and relationships, specifically the place of power and autonomy residing between his breath and thoughts. “When you’re a litigator, when you’re a lawyer, you’re trained to be an attack dog. You’re trained to be aggressive all the time. And what I learned was by taking a breath and stepping back, that space gives you so much more – I stopped being competitive and started being collaborative. I became a better lawyer, colleague, and person.”

Growing on the ponds of Canada, Riley Cote dreamed of playing in the NHL and eventually made it. However, after five years in the intense role as an enforcer for Philadelphia Flyers, he realized he wasn’t living his true path. Shortly before retirement, he found yoga as a means to physical, mental and spiritual health and well-being. In this conversation, Riley shares his story of shifting his mindset from living in the competitive mode of fight-or-flight to exploring spiritual freedom through yoga.

Neil Taylor is many things – a musician, a meditation teacher, a yoga teacher, and a bodyworker. In this conversation, Neil shares how travel and lifestyle as a professional musician forced him to address health and wellbeing and led him to a meditation retreat that sparked his spiritual path. For Neil, yoga is about connecting with what is most important – our awareness. As he explains, “We all have a physical body, thoughts, emotions, and an underlying sense of consciousness itself. As we become aware of these different aspects of our human experience, we can become more skillful at navigating the inward path and tuning into what is more important.”

In his early twenties, Ryan Burnes carried a mindset of invincibility and bravado instead of the authentic version of himself that simmered beneath. He initially found yoga through the recommendation of a chiropractor to deal with back pain from years of pick-up hoops, but later, as he discovered the mind-body connection, the practice “found him” and offered the insight he was seeking into how he should be living his life.

In 2015 Phil Sussman was a captain in the US Army who fractured his spine in two places during a training exercise. After struggling through the physical, mental, and existential pain of his trauma, and in his words “hitting rock bottom,” his wife suggested he give yoga a shot. Soon after that first class, Phil’s nascent practice began to not only pull him out of his pain and suffering, but also gave his life meaning and purpose again, ultimately leading him to create a brand, community, and movement called American Yogi.

Johnny Gillespie is the founder and owner of Empowered Wellness Studio and the creator of The Balanced Athlete®, a functional fitness program that teaches people how to mindfully move their bodies in a safe and more integrated manner. In addition to being a registered 500-Hour teacher with Yoga Alliance, he is credentialed and certified in strength and conditioning (CSCS), personal training with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (CPT), and a meditation teacher trained by David Nichtern, senior teacher in the lineage of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In this brief but packed discussion, Johnny shares his passion and perspective on yoga, fitness training, Buddhism and finding the right yoga teacher and practice.

Former emergency room physician, Dr. Ken Starr, got introduced to Bikram yoga in 1996 while doing a rotation as a fourth-year med school student at Stanford. In this conversation, Ken, a board-certified addiction medicine specialist, shares how the adaptability of yoga can be a resource and solution for working through the emotional and physical stress that manifests in the body.

Sit or lie back and let Chelsea Duke, owner of Glow Yoga of Eugene, take you through a short guided meditation that helps anyone reconnect after their practice, or any time when they need a moment to check out - and check in.

Chelsea Duke, owner of Glow Yoga of Eugene, has been leading a range of yoga instruction and training with the athletic department of the University of Oregon since 2013. In our conversation Chelsea shares how she’s incorporated a style of yoga focused on joint mobility, injury prevention and restorative practices to help men’s teams dominate their game, and lives, on and off the track, field, court, and course.

Michael Susi is the director of global wellness at LinkedIn where he created and scaled its health and wellness program to meet the needs of sixteen thousand employees. In this conversation, we talk about his path from coaching and training to leading wellness at the world’s largest professional network and how he reimagined the wellness program by designing initiatives around the pillars of thoughts, breathing, hydration, nutrition, movement, and rest – aspects that are found among the many qualities of yoga.

Ten tips from Derek to jumpstart your practice and get yourself on the path to becoming a stronger, wiser, and more balanced self before you know it.