By Shannon McQuaide
“Firefighters are some of the most sensitive people you will meet.”
This rather startling statement is a quote from Roseville (CA) Fire Department Division Chief and fellow yoga instructor Dave Dolson, who answered questions during FireFlex Yoga’s Second Annual Teacher Training. Yoga teachers from California, Oregon, Colorado, and Nevada came together in Sacramento, California, to learn about the fire and police culture and how to bridge these cultures with yoga.
At first glance, it may appear that yoga and firefighting have little in common, but as Chief Dolson explained, firefighters wear a lot of masks and layers of protection, and behind those defenses are some very compassionate people. Yoga teachers are also motivated by compassion and the desire to help others transform mental and physical limitations.
Chief Dolson went onto explain that yoga educates firefighters about recognizing and honoring their physical and mental boundaries. “It becomes habit to respond to everything in our life as if it is an emergency,” Chief Dolson explained. Firefighters can get stuck in high speed. But living our life in high speed is not sustainable. Being under chronic stress creates a kind of toxicity in the body that can lead to a host of complicated health issues.
The yoga mat is a controlled environment where firefighters have permission to speed up or slow down the practice depending on how they feel on any given day. It’s important to learn how to listen to your body and give it what it needs because, as Chief Dolson explained, “You can only give to others what you have to offer.” If your biological tank is empty, then you have nothing to offer yourself, your department, and your family. Yoga can help. Every posture can be used to refuel your tank. Even a downward facing dog posture can be a resting pose if you need it to be.
Learning to listen to the body is turning out to be a key capability not only for performance but also for behavioral health. The ability to feel sensation, called “interoception,” is one of our senses, similar to our sense of smell or taste. However, interoception is diminished through exposure to traumatic stress. So for firefighters, developing an understanding of interoception can help manage on-the-job stress.
You can learn more about how Interoceptive yoga reduces the impact of chronic and traumatic stress by listening to a webinar I did on June 27. This webinar was hosted by the Risk Management Firm Bickmore and can be accessed through the Web site http://riskcontrol.bickmore.net. Please locate the webinar “Yoga for First Responders Mind and Body” from the homepage/slider section.
