‘Tactical Breathing’, an Effective Yoga Method for Police Personnel
Yoga is one such discipline that welcomes everyone regardless of age, sex, race, fitness level or profession. And the good thing about yoga is the practice can be personalized or modified according to the needs of individuals. Similarly, police officers in the San Francisco Police Departmentu2019s station in California, the USA are being introduced to an effective yoga method to stay grounded and centered amid work and day to day struggles. They wear bulletproof vests while practicing this technique. This method is called u201ctactical breathingu201d, an effective tool designed especially for military personnel as they are constantly involved in high-stress situations. Once a week, officers sit in folding chairs and follow the instructions of a yoga teacher who guides them to focus on their breaths for a short sequence. u201cIt helps you forget about yesterday, which is something that we all need,u201d said Officer Isaias Cubas, according to a report by KCBS Radio.com. u201cItu2019s useful for this job to leave yesterday behind and to start today a new day. Not just for us, but for the public as well too.u201d Stephanie Sydner, founder of Love Story Yoga has tailored her teaching style to help the officers access the benefits of this useful technique. u201cI want to sort of meet them where theyu2019re at and, as much as possible, use language thatu2019s sort of familiar and accessible,u201d explained Snyder. u201cI donu2019t want to alienate anyone either by going woo woo with all of this because itu2019s very straightforward.u201d The class kicked off several months ago after the suggestion of Sgt. Mike Mitchell, who personally found the method helpful. He came across this idea after an officer asked him to apply the classu2019s lessons while encountering combative protesters at a demonstration. u201cYou canu2019t move. Youu2019re there. People like to hurl all kinds of stuff at us,u201d Mitchell said. u201cSo, for a few moments, he was able to concentrate on his breathing and calm himself the best he could during that situation.
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