Yoga Helps Military De-Stress Before Combat

Reports circulated worldwide about a U.S. airbase in Yuba, small town in California where the U.S. military incorporated yoga into its regime. NPR covered the photos taken by Fit Yoga, of naval aviators in a yoga pose practicing yoga on deck.

Government sources said the phenomenon was due in part to Yuba's enormous Indian population, and secondly because of yoga's enormous, undeniable health benefits.

Soldiers were committed to improving their "flexibility, stamina and mental focus through yoga." Some even worked on recovering from past injuries.

Yoga is a 5000-year-old scientific technique for spiritual development which involves a combinaition of physical and mental exercises. Poses are performed to make the body supple and to promote blood flow to all the organs. Yoga uses breathing techniques knowns as "pranayama" and meditation known as "dyana" to discipline the mind. Yoga is used to alleviate high blood pressure, high cholesterol, migraine headaches, asthma, backaches, constipation, diabetes, varicose veins, and other chronic illnesses.

And of course, as the U.S. military knows, it reduces stress.