For veterans and their families, town's free yoga classes pose solutions for pain, stress

Tom Dunscomb’s posture at work is a little different these days.

"All of a sudden I’ll just find myself standing on the tips of my toes, rolling my shoulders," said Dunscomb, 58, a train operator for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. "People are looking at me like, ‘What are you doing?’ "

The West Babylon resident and U.S. Navy veteran has been taking yoga classes for only five weeks but he said he’s already experiencing increased flexibility as he incorporates the moves into his everyday life.

The free classes are part of a new partnership among Babylon Town, the American Legion and Veterans Yoga Project, a national nonprofit that promotes yoga for veterans and their families to help with stress and pain.

The idea for the program was sparked when Babylon Village trustee Robyn Silvestri read a book that mentioned veterans in pain who didn’t respond to medication but showed improvement with yoga.

Silvestri found there were no veterans yoga programs locally, so she approached Town Councilman DuWayne Gregory and through the county got in contact with the Veterans Yoga Project. The American Legion in Babylon Village offered its hall, the Babylon K-6 PTA offered yoga mats, and by January a six-week yoga program for veterans and their families was formed. Seven people took part in the free classes.

Those trained to teach veterans must get special certification with methods geared toward those suffering from trauma, said Deb Jeannette, 66, of Bay Shore, who is board president for Veterans Yoga Project. Jeannette, who volunteered to instruct the Babylon classes, said they are the only in-person classes being held by her group on Long Island. She has been teaching yoga at the Northport VA Medical Center for years and has seen the positive impacts.

National data collected by the organization in 2019 showed that of about 1,900 participants, 76% reported a reduction in pain through yoga, while 87% reported a reduction in stress.

Jeannette learned the importance of yoga when her son, a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot, was serving in Afghanistan and she worried constantly about his safety.

"The one thing I could do is my yoga," she said. "It would help me be in the present moment."

Jeannette said she focuses on teaching participants how to be in the moment and tries to "bring people into the sensations of the body and understand what they’re feeling." Most of the participants in Babylon said they had never done yoga.

"It’s helping me with flexibility and balance and generally just being able to move my body," said U.S. Army veteran John Reynolds, 76, of Lindenhurst, who joined the classes with his wife, Diane, 75.

"He’s happy with it and we both get exercise," she said. "I’m working muscles that I should have been working, that were just hanging out there."

Silvestri and Gregory said they are looking for funding to continue the classes.

Michael Hernandez, commander of the American Legion in Babylon, said he will continue to provide the space. As a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, he took yoga classes as part of his treatment.

"If you can spend an hour to get your mind and your body in balance, it’s a positive thing," said Hernandez, 47, of North Babylon.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.