U.S. MILITARY H
THOUGHT FILTER: Throw away the notion that you must clear your mind during meditation and instead let your mind go.
Course of action. Set up your routine, one which is specifically tailored to you. While there are many guidelines to how you should be doing something, each person is different in their schedules, motivations, and capabilities. For example, using the SMART metric, you can set up realistic goals that will keep you focused and accountable. SMART goal setting means setting goals that are Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Realistic, and Timely.
Magic hour. The ancient practice of Ayurveda was created close to the time that yoga came into practice. Its focus was mainly on diet, but also included insightful information about different body types, their sleep cycles and the best hours of the day to create. An example of this is my own body type or constitution of Kappa, which requires 6 to 8 hours of sleep. My magic hour for waking up is 5:00 am. If I wake up at 4:45 am, I feel groggy all day. If I sleep until 6:00 am, then I feel rushed all day. Hitting the magic hour is the first thing that can make or break your day.
MEDITATION AND MINDSET:
Meditation and mindset work hand in hand. Throw away the notion that you must clear your mind during meditation and instead let your mind go where it needs to go. With your eyes open the optic nerve only allows for one thing to be processed at time, closing your eyes during meditation allows you to have access to more thoughts. By not forcing the "clear your head concept" you can filter through and have access to more information that may be beneficial to you. At some point you do need to take the wheel when negative thoughts come. Using methods in cognitive behavior therapy you can change those negatives to positives; Trauma may rewire your brain, but you can rewire it back (Galotti, 2014). Just like you can create new neural circuits to play an instrument you can create new circuits of positive thought. The zero-level theorem describes how thoughts have mass, which means that gravity can act upon them. That means they can be controlled (Ralph Lewis, 2021). It only takes
17 seconds for a new thought to attach itself and 68 seconds to create an entire new circuit. Meditation and positive mindset allow for two things to happen, access to more thoughts and the ability to hold onto a positive thought long enough so it can create an entire new neural circuit (Fannin, 2020),
Yoga and Pranyama:
Yoga is a moving meditation. Combined with pranayama/ breathing certain yoga poses can access parts of your nervous system that get damaged in combat. These poses focus on your hip area, where tension and emotion build up, much like they do in your shoulder areas. Breathing with the poses triggers the vagus nerve that increases neurotransmitter activity, which tells your brain to calm down. Trauma also can alter your memory processing and cause more emotion to be attached to memories, often why memories of combat can be overwhelming. Using correct breathing techniques, you change your memory back to its correct operating system. Adding one last ingredient of sound can speed the process of healing. The sound of Om resonates at the same frequency as nature and the mudra or hand gesture used in meditation the thumb to the index finger sends a signal to your brain to relax (Saunders). Often why you will see actors drawing or knitting in between sets. Focus on the fundamentals of both and you will in time make the brain body connection. Both will come naturally to you and you will start to feel the benefits (Yogafit, 2020).
Holistic practices like yoga and meditation are things you as veterans have already been doing since bootcamp. Approximately 80 % of the dynamic and static exercises in military physical training are yoga poses, and techniques like box breathing and mindset are taught in most branches (US Navy, 2020). Throw away your westernized perception of yoga and look at it for what it really is, another tool that will increase your mental edge, help with injuries acquired during service and make you into an elite warrior.