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Monday, November 8, 2010

Battle-Stressed Warriors Try Meditation To Ease Anxiety

At the Warrior Relaxation Response Center, the road to recovery is paved with creature comforts.

Plush couches, soothing green walls and dimmed lights create a welcoming environment. Fountains and top-of-the-line massage chairs further set the conditions for solitary reflection.

In an unconventional approach to the demons of war, the newly established center at 2535 Airport Road encourages combat veterans to confront their battle stress with self-guided meditation and prayer.

“You cannot be relaxed and anxious at the same time,” said Antoine Johnson, summarizing the center’s benefits.

Johnson, a former Fort Carson staff sergeant and public school teacher, opened the center with his wife, Wilma, in October.

They do not pretend to be therapists or physicians, but Johnson said they do draw from an established alternative-medicine program.

Johnson said the center follows the principles of physician Herbert Benson, who began extolling the physical benefits of meditation in his 1975 work “Relaxation Response.” Benson later helped found the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. (MORE)

Source: Colorado Springs Gazette

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