Ukrainian soldiers, far from green gardens that host yoga sessions, are unrolling their mats for the same exercise on the frontlines of Ukraine’s war. At the command post of 225th Separate Assault Brigade is a commander aged 37 years whose life was changed by yoga. “I had been conscripted to serve as an infantryman before we started full scale war in 2014 and I sustained spinal injury. I have been doing Yoga since 2016. Then all my health problems disappeared,” added the young leader. This way he benefits from yoga in his line of duty during the war. “I always try to do asanas like nauli and pranayama, read Hare Krishna Mahamantra- it helps me plan things better for work and control emotions too.”
In a country torn apart by fighting such as Ukraine, yoga is increasingly being see as an effective method of improving one’s overall state of mind. A number of projects have bee designed to aid local Ukrainian yoga instructors in dealing with traumatic experiences like PTSD cases. Some units in Ukrainian army special services, such as Falcon Force unit for example include yoga among their training.
Yoga received a real boost from ‘Healthy Ukraine’ program initiated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2021. As part of this program Active Parks transformed most beautiful parks into weekend fitness clubs with free lessons given by trainers. “The response for yoga was overwhelming,” says Elena Siderska who developed this project’s implementation strategy for Yoga studios and clubs working with Trauma/PTSD/recovery soldiers.” It now supports trauma studios and clubs,” adding that Active Parks has partnered with clubs involved in trauma recovery and rehabilitation for soldiers.
Her father Andrii Siderskyi is consider the patriarch of Ukrainian Yoga who states that it has much earlier roots than Indic practice suggests. “Actually, people acquainted themselves with this practice already back in the 19th century. But after the revolution of 1917 and Ukrainian Republic it was a bit lost. However, from the end of World War II Kyiv, Odessa and Kharkiv were among the main centers of yoga in Soviet times,” Siderskyi says. Moreover, this system has a special name, which is “Siderskyi’s Yoga.” “We meshed up specific pranayama sequences with asana sequences which we found effective enough for our environments. I think this saved thousands of lives and enabled fast recovery during Covid,” Siderskyi insists.
Today yoga has travelled all around the globe and come back to Ukraine. Yuliia Denisova, who works with the charity Fierce Calm as well as four rehabilitation centers, has been using it for helping soldiers injured in Ukraine. “Nidra and pranayama have been of great help to war veterans with sleep disorder, PTSD and amputation-related issues,” affirms Denisova. She gives a passionate narration of a case involving a double amputee soldier who was help through yoga exercises. “At first Nazar didn’t think he could do Yoga. He said I only came here to watch. But after session upon session he started getting into it Then, after one session of yoga nidra, he fell asleep deeply Afterwards when he woke up, he said that this sleep was the best.”
Valeria Samborskaya, who is running a crowdfunded project on trauma-sensitive yoga for Ukraine, nods her agreement. “We’ve seen cases where affected soldiers don’t even want to go near parks because they were wounded in forests along the front line.” However, she notes that few sessions in yoga can really free their minds. “With this third year of war approaching us”, says Valeria Samborskaya, ”we need more and more of it.” “The first year of war we needed physical things-food-housing etc., but after two years now we need to deal with mental consequences from this war and how it affects our society now Yogi exercises in particular pranayama are big help for us at the moment.’
Denisova adds: “I being an Ukrainian could never be enough grateful to India for sharing with the world and preserving such precious ancient wisdom.”
