Art of healing: How yoga is helping Ukraine’s soldiers battle the odds

The Ukrainian term volya is difficult to describe. But ask any Ukrainian and he will tell you that it’s key to Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Volya , somewhat imperfectly, can be translated as the inner will to overcome obstacles and strive for freedom. But it turns out there’s another secret sauce with an Indian connect that’s been powering Ukrainians through their tribulations: yoga. As they grapple with the full-scale war that’s now in its fourth year, meditation and spiritual healing have been aiding Ukrainians from the frontlines in Donbas to recovery centres in Lviv, enhancing their volya in the conflict against Russia.

Natalia Tolstova, a military psychologist and head of Charitable Projects, Art of Living, has been working with Ukrainian soldiers since the full-scale conflict began in 2022. “At the beginning, I was filled with anger. But anger doesn’t help. It was my Art of Living training that helped me regain composure. I found my hatred melt away, allowing me to get down to helping our heroes on the frontline,” she said.

“I didn’t have any experience with Art of Living’s spiritual or yogic practices until I met Natalia in 2022,” says Lt Col Vitalii Derevyanko, commander of the 1st Separate Assault Regiment from the frontlines in Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub in the Donetsk region that Russian forces have been trying to take. “But after taking part in Art of Living’s silence programme and meditation, I was able to find a sense of peace amid the chaos of war, I found my consciousness becoming clearer.” Vadym Sydorov, commander of the Assault Infantry Company in the same regiment, said Art of Living practices have ensured that “even in dreadful situations, I react differently, with acceptance”.

Both Vitalii and Vadym have introduced fellow soldiers to breathing exercises, integrating the practice into their daily routine. They are now looking to share their experiences at the brigade level. “Meditation and breathing exercises really work, helping those without prior combat experience to adapt more quickly and sleep better,” they said, referring to the reservists — from kindergarten teachers to IT professionals and musicians — who have answered the call to fight for Ukraine.

“A soldier was in a difficult combat situation where he was trapped surrounded by poisonous gas,” recalls Natalia. “He later told me that he put on his mask and started doing Ujjayi pranayama . He was the only member of his unit that survived that day.”

The other major area where yoga and meditation are helping Ukrainians is trauma and recovery. Multiple charities such as the UK-registered Fierce Calm are providing mental health support and trauma recovery aids at rehabilitation centres, veterans’ and children’s hospitals and refugee centres. Many yoga instructors report amazing results with yoga nidra and pranayama helping war veterans deal with PTSD, sleep disorders and even amputationrelated challenges.

Others like Valeria Samborska are promoting trauma-sensitive yoga by training Ukrainian yoga instructors. Her project, Yoga for Healing the Wounds of War, which was partially crowdfunded, brought together 20 Ukrainian yoga teachers last year at aretreat in Corfu, Greece, to be trained in trauma-sensitive yoga techniques by masters who have worked in conflict zones like Rwanda and Cambodia. After returning to their communities, the participants reported that yoga techniques were helping their students deal with trauma, anxiety and sleep.

The scale of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine means there is a need to massively scale up psychosocial support. Ukrainian children, in particular, have been deeply affected by the trauma of war: many have either lost parents or their homes, live in shelters or have been victims of war crimes. Yoga is increasingly seen as a critical tool in the rehabilitation of Ukrainian children. Projects like ‘Peace of Mind & Strength of Heart’ — which is run by International Association for Universal Human Values (IAHV) and co-funded by the European Union — aim to enhance the psychosocial well-being of refugees,particularly those from Ukraine.

Jurate Ramanauskaite is an IAHV instructor in Lithuania who has been working with Ukrainian children displaced by war, including those who were captured by Russian forces but were finally rescued even as several thousand Ukrainian children still remain in Russian captivity.
“The Ukrainian children I work with have a completely different mindset to other kids. They are so focused when I teach them yogic exercises or meditation, they want to give more than their 100%. That said, the kids who were kidnapped have a deeper sense of trauma. They have a deeper sadness on their faces,” Jurate says.

Given this growing recognition of trauma-sensitive yoga for rehabilitation therapy, there is a great demand for authentic Indian yoga instructors.

Answering that call is the 106-yearold The Yoga Institute. Headquartered in Mumbai, the institute collaborated with the Ukrainian Embassy in New Delhi and humanitarian service providers on the ground in Ukraine to create a specially designed 10-day yoga programme for Ukrainians suffering from the traumas of war. “Yoga is India’s biggest soft power and is growing in global recognition, thanks to the efforts of PM Narendra Modi. We’ve curated a special programme for Ukraine, conceived after widespread consultation with Ukrainians and experts in India such as psychiatrists and even homeopathy doctors,” said Hrishi Yogendra, the assistant director of the institute. Around International Yoga Day in June this year, the institute sent yoga teacher Samir Dilip Vyas to the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, which was overrun by Russian forces in the first weeks of the war but later liberated, as part of the rehabilitationbased programme.

“In Mykolaiv, I visited war veterans’ hospitals, child-care centres and worked with special groups such as women whose husbands and children are missing in action. There are war veterans with PTSD and serious physical injuries, ordinary Ukrainians with psychological issues; all cases that could seriously benefit from yoga. Our 10-day yoga programme was really well-received by Ukrainians. They were truly grateful that someone from India had come to share with them the boon of classical Ashtanga yoga,” shares Vyas.
Yoga, it seems, is well on its way to becoming an indispensable succour for body and mind in war-afflicted Ukraine.
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