Yoga Mind-body exercise Goal is to get the mind and the body work as a solid unit Physical harmony & health Mental

1. Our Own Previous Studies • 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

2. Therapeutic Social Work and Homecoming Soldiers Linda Nurkkala (linda.nurkkala@jyu.fi) Mirka Vornanen (mirka.vornanen@jyu.fi) University of Jyväskylä 4.5.2011

3. Outline • Research question • Purpose for our study • Hypotheses • Literature • Video • Discussion

4. Research Question How could therapeutic social work help homecoming soldiers?

5. Purpose for Our Study 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 thingswhich were important to me like my family, but my thoughts were still in Kosovo. ”

6. Hypotheses • 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

7. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder • 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 beaccessed through dialogue • Yoga offers a non-verbal, experiential adjunct to talking therapy

8. Possible Literature • Bennett-Pasquale, Teresa: Yoga: A healing art in a psycotherapy context http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Professional_Development_%26_Advancement/Yoga%3A_A_Healing_Art_in_a_Psychotheapy_Context/ • Shachtman, Noah: Army’s New PTSD Treatments: Yoga, Reiki, ‘Bioenergy’ http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/03/army-bioenergy/ “ The Army just unveiled a $4 million program to investigate everything from "spiritual ministry, transcendental meditation, [and] yoga"

9. Yoga Practicing Soldiers Video clip: http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi4128834329/

10. Discussion 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?

11. Thanks for Your Interest! Get more information: linda.nurkkala@jyu.fi mirka.vornanen@jyu.fi

12. Fotos from: • http://www.topnews.in/usa/us-army-incorporates-yoga-training-28169 • http://www.spiritvoyage.com/blog/index.php/miltary-yoga-yoga-in-the-army/ • http://layogamagazine.com/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98&Itemid=37 • www.yogabodynaturals.com/.../ 09/yoga-soldier.jpg • http://wpln.org/wp-content/2011/03/yoga-pose-1.jpg