More than just yoga for frontline workers

The region’s frontline workers are being supported with a weekly trauma-informed yoga group in Ocean Grove.

Run by counsellor and yoga teacher Caz Pringle-Bowden, the program is open to existing, ex-serving, retired police, firefighters, paramedics, military, healthcare workers and volunteer emergency service personnel.

Classes are suitable for beginners and people who may be experiencing stress, depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress.

“I’m very passionate about using yoga as an opportunity, an alternative pathway to support a person’s mental and physical health,” Pringle-Bowden said.

In the 45-minute session, participants work on their breathing before heading down to a café where they are able to talk to others who understand their experiences and challenges.

“By doing yoga first and moving the body, focusing on the breath, people are able to talk about themselves and their experiences afterwards,” Pringle-Bowden said.

Frontline yoga has a range of benefits including enhanced regulation, emotional regulation, stress regulation, and increased body awareness.

“Yoga is an excellent pathway to regulate your nervous system and to be able to focus on yourself, to give back to yourself, it’s another opportunity for self care,” Pringle-Bowden said.

“For some people it might be the only thing they do during the day if they’re recovering from something like complex post-traumatic stress.”

The free classes are held at Zero Point Yoga who have offered the space free of charge, and Pringle-Bowden volunteers her time after seeing people talk about their experiences after movement.

“I also do this to give thanks to those who have supported my family through the terminal illnesses of both of my parents, I could teach a million yoga classes and my gratitude would still not be fully expressed,” she said.

“These are the people who are there for you when your back is against the wall, in the hardest times, they are there to catch you and guide you through the dark and light.

“We cannot function as a society without these amazing people.”

Pringle-Bowden has also partnered with retired police officer Mick Cummins, who is trained in peer support, to deliver the program.

“Yoga is a great leveller and it just gives you that hour of where you’re putting your headspace into something else,” Cummins said

Pringle-Bowden said the program had met its capacity by the second session.

“There is a huge need for accessible alternative pathways to mental health supports that sit outside the traditional clinical paradigms of recovery.

“Peer support programs have become increasingly beneficial and recognised in Australia, especially following the recommendations of the mental health royal commission, highlighting the importance of holistic, person-centred care and the value of lived experience in supporting mental health recovery.”

Her goal is to have multiple peer support yoga classes available every week across the Bellarine and is developing a yoga for careers group, following the same format.

Classes run at Zero Point Yoga every Tuesday at 12 noon.

For more information and to book, head to frontlineyoga.com.au