Snow, soldiers — this might not look like your typical yoga class here in Indian-administered Kashmir. Find out why these Indian soldiers are doing the cobra and downward dog.
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00:00Yoga gives me mental stability, it gives me alertness, focus.
00:12It helps me stabilize my mind while doing extreme duty and it also gives me confidence
00:18to do my duties.
00:45Yoga gives me relaxation after a stressful work and it also gives me physical and mental
00:52relaxation.
00:53My favorite pose is cobra pose as it gives relaxation in back as backbone is very important
01:00for soldier.
01:12Mostly I struggle here about this cold temperature as it's high altitude and then there are less
01:20oxygen.
01:21But yoga, it helps our body to maintain and then adapt to this new environment.
01:31And then it helps during this extreme weather as that because it helps in blood circulation.
02:01Yoga gives me a lot of energy and it helps me to control myself and focus on my duty.
02:13Yoga gives me mental stability and it helps me to control myself and focus on my duty.
02:35Yoga
03:01brings stability.
03:03The stability is not only physical but mental stability also.
03:33So if you want to save your backbone, then we take yoga as support.
03:57We used to do yoga from the beginning.
04:04But in 2015, from 21st June 2015, when yoga international day happened due to the government,
04:17we started to do yoga.
04:34When we talk about the mental health condition of soldiers, generally they have trauma, they
04:39are more anxious, there may be depression because they are away from their families
04:44and then they are always on that thinking something may happen, they are anticipating
04:48something wrong may happen.
04:49So it leads to often a lot of anxiety disorders and depressive disorders.
04:53So due to this they get into a lot of problems.
04:56Yoga can only help them to feel calm at the moment.
05:04If they are having any mental health condition, it cannot help them long term.
05:08It can only help those people in long term who do not have any mental health condition.
05:13So if they practice daily yoga, it makes them feel better, more in control, more at peace.
05:18But it cannot be a substitute to treatment.