Yoga Mind-body exercise Goal is to get the mind and the body work as a solid unit Physical harmony & health Mental balance & peace Yoga as alternative therapy for eating disorder treatment Peacekeepers Motives of Finnish men to become peacekeepers Data: Three stories made by Finnish soldiers who have participated in peacekeeping missions Our Own Previous Studies

Linda Nurkkala Mirka Vornanen University of Jyväskylä

Research question Purpose for our study Hypotheses Literature Video Discussion

How could therapeutic social work help homecoming soldiers?

Quotes from the peacekeeper-data: ”When I came back home, I felt empty. I didn’t want to return to normal everyday life.... It was cultural shock. ” ”After coming back to Finland I started feeling bad, especially when I was thinking about my future. I still loved things which were important to me like my family, but my thoughts were still in Kosovo. ”

It’s hard for soldiers to get back into society, when they’re coming home. Social workers should have a role to help integrate soldiers with the community. Soldiers might need all kinds of help for instance practical issues and also with coping with their experiences Normal “talk therapy” isn’t always enough so complimentary treatments like yoga could help dealing with possible traumas

Severe anxiety disorder Brain functions around the experience of trauma in a way that it is often difficult or impossible for a traumatized person to share emotions through language. Studies have shown that the language center of the brain actually shuts down when trauma is triggered. Body could be a potential gateway to treating emotional pain and trauma when it cannot be accessed through dialogue Yoga offers a non-verbal, experiential adjunct to talking therapy

Bennett-Pasquale, Teresa: Yoga: A healing art in a psycotherapy context nal_Development_%26_Advancement/Yoga%3A_A_Healing_Art _in_a_Psychotheapy_Context/ Shachtman, Noah: Army’s New PTSD Treatments: Yoga, Reiki, ‘Bioenergy’ “ The Army just unveiled a $4 million program to investigate everything from "spiritual ministry, transcendental meditation, [and] yoga"

Video clip:

Feel free to tell your opinnios: Do you believe in power of yoga? Could it really help homecoming soldiers? Do you think ”army yoga” as a silly nonsense or an useful invention? Do you have any questions?

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