Timeless Tellico Foundation and the Tellico Village Parks and Recreation Department recently partnered to offer community veterans and first responders a new group wellness program.
Warriors at Ease is specifically designed to support those who served, and still serve, through yoga and meditation. Open also to military spouses, the class will be instructed by Simon Bradbury, parks and recreation director, and Village resident Susan Kilday.
The inaugural class is scheduled for Dec. 1 at Chota Recreation Center. Subsequent classes will be Fridays through Dec. 29.
“I’m a Navy vet,” Bradbury said. “I’ve been teaching all kinds of different exercise classes and doing mixed martial arts classes. I got into yoga and started teaching it and then got advanced certifications in it. My wife told me about this program called Warriors at Ease and said, ‘I think it’s going to be a great thing for you because it’s designed for veterans’.”
Bradbury became certified as a way to give back. He said he spent seven months training and learning ways yoga helps with post-military situations and stress in general.
“I always wanted to continue serving,” he said. “I got out, I did my time. I went to college and stuff, but I always wanted to serve and now this is an opportunity for me to serve in my own way.”
He said he hopes the class will be a place for veterans to gather and lift each other up.
“There’s no other agenda other than these are folks that have served the country and this is their time to enjoy life and relax, and sometimes they have things that are coming back and making it difficult for them to relax,” Bradbury said.
Kilday earned a master’s degree in yoga therapy and has years of teaching experience. A military dependent for nearly three decades, she said she has a heart for all who have served.
“I’ve been here a year now and I really contemplated on where I can best serve in this community that I’m in now,” Kilday said. “And clearly, in a retirement community, we’re going to have a lot of veterans, and so one of the first things I did was take my dad to a VFW meeting. I got to meet some of the local veterans and was very aware that they’re clear and present here in Tellico Village.
“When I found out about Simon, I emailed him right away and said, ‘Let’s talk about this, I’d be very interested in what you’ve got going on’,” she added. “He’s so passionate about it, and I don’t feel like I’ve done much yet to help him because he’s just such a doer. I’m really looking forward to working with him in this space. I’m looking forward to seeing how the pilot goes in December with hopes that we can continue with a strong presence in January.”
Kilday said her goal is to share evidence-based tools and practices from science and yoga to help participants create a sense of well-being.
“The military community has just given and sacrificed so much themselves,” Kilday said. “And I don’t see them as the typical type of people who might want to try yoga. By using the advantage of their shared culture, and brother and sisterhood, it brings them in a space where they may be more receptive to trying it.”
She said knows some veterans and first responders may shy away from the unorthodox, but she encourages them to give yoga a try.
“My hope is that they will be curious enough to safely explore with other comrades or with other colleagues some tools that might help them just in everyday life,” Kilday said. “I’m not a veteran, and I can’t even pretend to understand the magnitude of what many of these folks have been through and seen, but as a former military spouse, I do see that side of it. ... And I think that’s a great opportunity for relationship building in that community.”
The class was also made possible through a combined effort of Village veterans.
An advisory group of Bill Butera, Kevin Kuklok, Shawn Tallant, Rick Creange and Brad Ward helped Bradbury and Kilday construct the class. Group members are from a variety of military different backgrounds as Navy captains, fighter pilots and in special operations.
Bradbury said initial reaction to the class has been overwhelmingly positive. He said December will be used to see what works and what must be adapted.
Carla Johnson, TTF president, said she wasn’t surprised by the initial boom of support.
“We’re very, very happy to partner with the parks and recreation department to bring this program to the Village,” Johnson said. “When we embark on any initiative in the Village, people just get behind it. And they just have huge hearts in our community. We have generosity in our community, we have volunteerism, which is crazy how much people are willing to lend their time, their talent, their expertise in these kinds of initiatives.”
For more information, email sbradbury@tvpoa.org. To sign up for the class, visit schedulepoa.com.
