Lori Bradford Miles is a nurse and yoga instructor who has a passion for working with veterans who have experienced trauma. The passion of hers was the reason why she was drawn to the Nashville branch of Connected Warriors. Over there, she is involved in a program that provides all levels of free yoga classes and a safe, nonjudgmental space for veterans, other service members and their families. This program is only led by registered yoga teachers who volunteer their time.
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At the moment, Lori divides her time between Davidson and Cheatham counties as she is working with yoga teachers in both areas in order to grow the program further. In fact, she volunteered for the program as she knew what it was like to have love ones serving in the Army. Both her dad as well as her grandfather were veterans in the Army. “I need to try to change the way we look at our soldiers and bring them back to health,” she stated. She added that she was comfortable working with trauma and felt really passionate about it.
She was comfortable with it as she works in a treatment center, where they deal with quite a number of trauma. As she is also a nurse, most of her experience has been in psychiatric and mental health and addiction. Although the type of trauma she works with is different compared to war trauma, she is still working into the aspect of it and becoming more sensitive towards it. She came to an understanding that those suffering from trauma do not like the idea of facing any windows. Hence, she has to tailor the yoga session to their needs. This means that they would be surrounded by walls and in a safe space. At the same time, she does not use any music during the yoga sessions as it can stir up emotions. She also avoids using any hands-on instruction.
Through yoga, she noticed that these veterans were able to get into the deeper layers. The trauma will come up, and it’s a gentle process of allowing those emotions to arise. This is a self-exploration through yoga. She feels that for most of them, it’s just a gentle way of exploring that in a safe environment. To read more on the interview with her, you can do so here.
For those who may be keen in trying out to see what yoga is like, check out OMG Yoga. We provide a variety of yoga classes in Singapore.