Namita Nayyar:
According to you “life-changing assignment came from the Army Physical Fitness Research Institute” Please share how your area of work changed over the years. As a Master Resilience Trainer what was your area of focus and how did it help you serve?
Sonya Quijada:
My assignment with APFRI was significant because it came after 20 years of service, and enveloped me in the concepts of whole health and the holistic approach to making choices for one’s own wellness. I was introduced to Dean Ornish, with his nutrition for heart health and longevity. It was my first tour of duty working as a yoga teacher on a military installation, and I realized the importance of bringing mindfulness and stress reduction to veterans, especially as the overseas combat surge was affecting so many of us. I fell in love with the immediate impact of the practices on the service members (and to their families) and saw first-hand the benefits to their wellbeing.
That was about the time I learned of the Department of the Army’s Master Resilience Trainer program in conjunction with the famous University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology School. I knew that was what I wanted to do. I volunteered to serve with the Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Program as an additional duty, teaching their resilience curriculum to the staff and Soldiers of the U.S. Army Forces Command Headquarters.
Namita Nayyar:
With a foundation of biology and neuroscience studies, plus 20 years of yoga and mindfulness practices you went on to open your first yoga studio in Leavenworth, KS. What attracted you to yoga practice and motivated you to open up your studio?
Sonya Quijada:
I began my personal yoga practice in the early 1990s, upon the recommendation of my physical therapists after my first significant Army injury. Their advice was that I could use yoga to move my body every day to help the scar tissue and the pain. I learned my first asana sequences from Rodney Yee – remember AM/PM Yoga on VHS cassette tapes?! He was my first teacher, and he never met me. But I took the practice with me on my deployment to Haiti, which really helped me in that stressful environment. Then, in 2004, I discovered the Anusara style and fell in love with that approach to the asana. It wasn’t until 2006 that I decided to begin the svadyaya of yoga teacher training. I have been studying with incredible teachers everywhere I go since then.
After my assignment with APFRI in 2008, I went to Fort Leavenworth, and began working after hours, on my own time, as a yoga teacher specifically within the military community. That was when I realized I could serve more folks by opening my own yoga studio. It’s still in operation today; one of the first yoga teachers I hired, an Army wife, now owns and operates the studio for the community in Leavenworth, Kansas. Meanwhile, I decided to transition into the ethernet, and opened Q Wellness Online Yoga Studio, to reach the population who would not, or could not, attend a group yoga class in person.
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The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
