We're So Dead!

Yoga trend catching on with soldiers

Associated Press
PENSACOLA, Fla. - When Marine Lt. Alan Zarracina finally did the splits after months of struggling with the difficult pose in yoga class, the limber women around him applauded.

Zarracina, a 24-year-old Naval Academy graduate and flight student, admits he would have a hard time explaining the scene to other Marines.

Each class ends with a chant for peace. Then, instructor Nancy La Nasa hands students incense sticks as a gift for their 90 minutes of back bends, shoulder stands and other challenging positions.

Zarracina has tried to drag some of his military friends to class, but they make fun of him. "It's not necessarily considered masculine," he said.

Still, the popular classes, based on ancient Hindu practices of meditation through controlled breathing, balancing and stretching, are catching on in military circles as a way to improve flexibility, balance and concentration. A former Navy SEAL told Zarracina about the class.

The August edition of Fit Yoga, the nation's second-largest yoga magazine with a circulation of 100,000, features a photo of two Naval aviators doing yoga poses in full combat gear aboard an aircraft carrier.