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Being a military veteran himself, Marty Yura has a special affinity to the military members he teaches through the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program. Creating a safe, welcoming, and interesting environment in the studio, Mr. Yura brings all of his life experiences to how he teaches yoga and how he creates an important connection with his students.

Though everybody is dealing with their own mind and body during a yoga class, there is something powerful about practicing in a group. When teaching veterans with PTSD in the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program, Mr. Yura brings a holistic approach to his teaching. Focusing less on traditional poses and more on somatics — a way of re-educating the way our brain senses and moves the muscles — he helps the group develop a series of movements from which they can readily feel the benefits and use post-program to contribute to their own well-being.

Since it's inception, yoga has been an integral part of the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program. During the intensive two-week program, veterans take one hour of yoga three times a week where they learn to release physical and emotional pain. Mr. Yura says that although some students are more engaged than others, it is rewarding for him to see the extent of people's responses to the practice, including embracing what they have learned to use post-program like specific movements for lower back release, breathing techniques, and strategies for calming the nervous system during a reactive situation.

The son of Holocaust survivors, Marty Yura believes deeply that trauma lingers, that it resides in the body ... in our cells, and that though it diminishes with time, the impact of that trauma is transferred generationally. His experience in the military as well as the fact of being the son of Holocaust survivors informs the way he teaches yoga to veterans.

I keep hearing that I need cognitive behavioral therapy—talk therapy— to treat my symptoms of PTSD like hyper-arousal, depression, avoiding life, and being irritable all the time with my friends and family. Frankly, I don’t want to talk to someone for weeks and months. My wife keeps pressuring me, but the thought of therapy makes me feel weaker than I already am. Why do I feel this way? I’m not sure what to do. Dr. Klassen answers your questions about mental health treatment.

Do yoga and meditation really help people with PTSD? I’ve tried each a few times and I cannot focus or keep my thoughts clear. How can these possibly help? And how do I know if I am doing these practices right? Dr. Klassen answers your questions about mental health treatment.

My friends deployed to the same places I did and are all fine while I am struggling with PTSD. What is wrong with me? Dr. Klassen answers your questions about mental health treatment.

The weight of my experiences from what I saw and did in Afghanistan is sometimes too much to bear. People keep telling me to talk or journal about it. But what if I start sharing—even on paper—and it gets worse? The thought terrifies me. I know I need to deal with my PTSD but don’t know how. What do you suggest? Dr. Klassen answers your questions about mental health treatment.

One of the most powerful aspects of the two-week immersive Road Home program is group therapy for veterans and service members. Along with the help of clinicians like Dr. Klassen these sessions, vets and service members in these sessions can share their experiences, questions, and perspectives in a safe space. Powerful transformations and healing can occur when one veteran, for example, can shed light on the experience of another, helping that individual better understand a trauma and change the narrative.

Cognitive processing therapy helps veterans and service members understand how their experience of a traumatic event may have changed how they see themselves, others, and the world. CPT, in particular, targets beliefs around "what ifs" or "should haves," which are inherently toxic and can result in feelings of guilt and shame that often keep a person stuck in the symptoms of PTSD. CPT can't change what happened, but it can help that person construct a new narrative that helps change how that person feels about the trauma.

Midway through the two-week immersive Road Home Program when veterans and service members have told their stories of their traumas several times and more details and context emerge with each telling, sometimes the "hot spots" surface. These hot spots are the parts of the trauma that are particularly provocative and upsetting, the memories and emotions that are keeping the person stuck. By focusing on those hot spots, clinicians can help accelerate the therapy and move the person toward healing.

It is a paradox that the harder we try not to think about something, the more we think about it. Memories and emotions related to trauma can only be suppressed for so long. It's like holding a beach ball under water. It's hard. You can do it until you can no longer do it. Trauma therapy, as offered during the Road Home Program, helps veterans and service members with PTSD bring their stories of trauma to the surface in a safe and controlled way and from there move toward healing.