Sometimes, we find yoga, and other times yoga finds us, carrying with it the potential for many self-discoveries. Either way, it is often a practice of self-discovery that goes beyond our initial expectations. When yoga found Justin Blazejewski, Marine Corps veteran and founder of VETOGA, he had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan over 40 times during his five years of service in the Marine Corps and 10 years of service as a government contractor. “I was starting to bring the burdens of war home with me,” Blazejewski reflects. “I was very depressed, angry and suicidal.” One day, after returning from a war zone, Blazejewski’s roommate was concerned about his mental health and told Blazejewski that he would be going to yoga with her that evening.
During Blazejewski’s first yoga class, he remembers trying to keep up and being surprised by the challenge of the practice. During savasana, Blazejewski had a realization. “I was lying in a puddle of sweat in corpse pose and felt something I hadn’t felt in almost 10 years before I went into theMarine Corps,” he shares. “I felt my parasympathetic nervous system engage. It was like medicine to me, and I felt the positive effects on my body and mind immediately. It was in that moment that I knew yoga was going to be part of my journey.”
Blazejewski infused yoga into his daily life and trained to become a teacher. He now holds space for others like him to experience the healing power of yoga after founding VETOGA in 2015. VETOGA is a nonprofit and registered yoga school with Yoga Alliance, which provides yoga, meditation and healing arts to veterans, law enforcement and first responders. Blazejewski’s impact is far reaching. He has since trained 150 yoga teachers through the organization’s teacher training program, which launched in 2021. 100% of all their funds go into the program to support teacher trainings and outreach efforts without anyone drawing a salary. Using this model, every dollar matters.
Through the generosity of donors, all veterans can participate in VETOGA’s teacher training program for free. Once training is complete, they are asked to teach one free, monthly yoga class to their communities. Currently, there are three VETOGA teachers in Colorado.
“As a United States Airforce veteran, I was left with post-traumatic stress disorder and military sexual trauma,” shares VETOGA graduate Lori Blackmore. “VETOGA has allowed me to take ownership of my own trauma and, in-turn, support students with trauma and chronic stress.”
VETOGA trainings take on a traditional hatha and rāja yoga approach and operate out of love and compassion for the veteran, as well as shared experience. During trainings, Blazejewski challenges participants by asking them, “Are you ready to do the real yoga — looking at your true self, who you really are?” He continues, “It takes some real courage to look in the mirror. Yoga is a practice that makes you face those fears and face that mirror of looking at your real self. And, the ugly stuff comes out, and the traumas come out, and that’s true bravery. The real yoga is facing that.” VETOGA trainings are set up in a nonclinical way. Blazejewski shares, “I just wanted to be accepted for who I was and not treated like something was wrong with me or I was broken, because I have PTSD or because I am a veteran.” This sentiment became embedded into VETOGA’s philosophy.
VETOGA’s approach is to invite people in and empower participants to be vulnerable through shared experience.
“It’s much easier to take a yoga class when the person teaching it wears a similar uniform,” shares Bernadette Kilcer, VETOGA teacher training graduate.
The connection to common experience combined with yoga principles and philosophy makes for a powerful impact. “VETOGA helped me get my life back after deployment. I felt so lost, alone and constantly angry. With VETOGA, I found a family. People that loved, supported and welcomed me with open arms,” offers teacher training graduate Dr. Erica Adkins.
Kilcer is doing her part to give back. She teaches actively at the Rooted Rose in Fountain, Colorado. Kilcer recently launched SUP yoga retreats in places like Rocky Mountain National Park and Indian Peaks Wilderness. “We recognize that outdoor life is life, so we are teaching beyond the studio,” Kilcer adds. She hopes to bring VETOGA offerings to ski patrols so that more first responders have access to yoga and meditation.
Blazejewski recognizes there are many possibilities for growing VETOGA. The word of mouth, compassion-centered, community-focused organization anticipates offering more teacher trainings in the upcoming years. With more teacher trainings, they anticipate more class offerings designed specifically for veterans and first responders. And, with additional offerings, many more people may find yoga, or perhaps, yoga will find them.
Learn more at vetoga.org.
Photos by Bernadetten Kilcer.
Originally published in Winter + Spring 2022-23 issue.
Toni Viney grew up as a city girl in the Chicagoland area with close country life and farming ties. She spent her summers on a river in southern Wisconsin and learned to drive a boat well before learning to drive a car. As an adult, Toni made her way to the mountains to pursue a master’s degree at Colorado State University and discovered her love for yoga during graduate school. She became a yoga teacher in 2011 and has been teaching group classes, one-on-one private sessions, and workshops ever since. She founded Best Day Ever Yoga in 2021.
