OMG we love this so much. Tough, courageous, life-risking firefighters of the hard streets of Newark, of all places, are finding a way to stretch, de-stress and breathe with yoga. Good old Jersey.

“Firefighters need to learn how to de-stress,” said yoga instructor Debby Kaminsky. “Working with firefighters is similar to working with military PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder),” she added.

These firefighter recruits only spend 30 minutes “stretching, holding poses and focusing on breathing,” and really guys, socks? but as we know, any little bit helps.

“Yoga is one of the best ways to relieve stress,” said Newark fire director Fateem A. Ziyad who joined the class for the work out.

You guys! This is so adorable and awesome. Yoga is no longer considered some pansy, new age yahoo fringe activity, nor a trendy thing to do solely for the fit and fashionable stretchy pants-wearers. We all knew that all along, but for the noncommital folks, it looks like all these scientific studies and everyone from your 70 year-old next door neighbor to your 5-year-old cousin talking about how much they love yoga are making a real difference. Cheers to the firefighters of Newark, we hope this catches on like metaphorical wildfire.

Currently it’s just the recruits, but plans are in the works for all firefighters, Ziyad said. Wouldn’t you feel better knowing your possible life-saving heroes and heroines are also equipped with the great tool of yoga?

[NJ.com]

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