KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — At the end of a busy Monday at the Knoxville Police Training Academy, recruit Christian Cook took his shoes off, grabbed a yoga mat and lined up alongside his nine other classmates.
"I process my stress physically, so I build up a lot of tension in my body," he said. "Doing something that relieves the stress for my body, relieves my stress mentally."
While reaching their arms over their heads, stretching to touch their toes and regulating their breath, the recruits are taking part in a new program from the police department called "Yoga for First Responders."
It aims to reduce stress, build resilience and enhance performance, said Training Staff Officer John Sutton.
"Officer wellness has become a very big deal throughout the country now, focusing on the needs of first responders," he said. "This is where it starts, if we can ingrain it here, get them started early, it’ll give them a long healthy career."
On Mondays and Thursdays, KPD hosts yoga sessions for officers and other employees at its downtown headquarters. The recruit program hopes to train new officers with techniques to help them de-stress when they hit the streets.
"It gives that decompression, it gives a way to alleviate and process the stress that they are under," Sutton said. "You may have seven or eight stressful situations in a shift, so being able to have that to fall back on is very useful."
The physical yoga helps build strength while the breathing exercises can calm the nervous system in between stressful calls, he said.
Cook agreed — and said he looked forward to putting the new yoga training to work once he graduates the academy.
"After a stressful evening or day, I can come home and before I get in bed do a quick 10 or 15 minute yoga routine to go to bed fresh and wake up fresh," he said.