Campaign Seeks Funds for Trauma-Sensitive Yoga for Israeli Veterans

An Israeli nonprofit is set to launch a fundraising campaign on Monday, November 9, to finance weekly trauma-sensitive yoga sessions for military veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder, the organization said.

Israel Heart2Heart said the campaign, titled "Breathing Again, Living Again," will support regular sessions within a wider program for people affected by trauma during military service, as well as their families.

According to the group's fundraising page, the program is growing from two annual cohorts to four, yet demand continues to outstrip capacity, with each cohort drawing more than 200 applications for just 17 places.

The page describes at least 18 months of support provided free of charge, combining community activities and body-mind practices with personal mentoring, assistance returning to work and studies, and help accessing benefits.

Shmil Atlas of Israel Heart2Heart said the goal is to sustain support after participants return home from retreats, when initial relief can fade under the pressures of daily life. "People think the hard moment is the retreat itself," Atlas said. "The hard moment is two days later, at home, when the group isn't there anymore, and the body is still on high alert."

In an account supplied by the organization, a participant identified only as A., a 31-year-old reservist and father of two, described struggling to sleep and remaining on alert after returning from several tours in the Gaza Strip. "My kids would run to me at the door, and I'd be checking where the exits were," he said. "I'd come back from a tour and realize I hadn't really come back."

A. said a retreat initially helped him sleep through the night, but the improvement did not hold once he was home. He later began attending weekly sessions despite early doubts about yoga. Months afterward, he said, someone knocked over a cart while he was shopping and his heart began to race, but instead of leaving the supermarket he used breathing techniques he had practiced and was able to continue. "It sounds small. For me, it was everything," he said.

The organization presents the weekly practice as a way to build breathing and self-regulation skills that participants can use outside the sessions, and its website describes a regional program of trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness in small, consistent groups close to participants' homes. Yoga is not a substitute for evidence-based PTSD treatment: the US Department of Veterans Affairs' National Center for PTSD says evidence remains insufficient to recommend yoga as a treatment, despite some studies suggesting benefits, and trauma-focused psychotherapies remain the most strongly recommended option. "These tools don't cure PTSD," Atlas said. "They help you live with it."

Atlas said adding more groups would require more funding while preserving the level of support offered to each participant. "We could take in more participants and give each of them less," he said. "We're not willing to compromise on the depth of support."

For A., the regular group provides continuity. "I know that every week, at the same time, there's a room waiting for me with people I don't have to explain anything to," he said. He said he has returned to full-time work and feels more present with his family while continuing to live with PTSD. "My wife says I've only just come home," he said. "For real."