Warriors Go to the Mat
Army Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk II is no stranger to stress. He has led soldiers in combat for years, from Operation Desert Shield to recent efforts in Iraq and Syria. After his fifth tour, Funk took the helm at Fort Hood, in Killeen, Texas, one of the world’s biggest military bases. He was born there, when his father, Paul Funk Sr., who served in Vietnam and Desert Storm, was commander in chief, and he and his wife, Beth Funk, even got married in the base chapel.
As a legacy soldier, the younger Paul Funk knows it’s not just the people wearing uniforms who serve—the whole family lives in the pressure cooker of military life. That’s what motivated Beth and the rest of the Funks to open the Life Moves Yoga studio, across the street from Fort Hood, in February 2017.
On any given day you might find them all on their mats. Paul Funk II is fluent in sun salutations and onelegged tree poses. His 78-year-old father comes, too, as does Beth’s 82-year-old mother, Betta Yeosock.
Civilians are welcome, but the 1,000-square-foot studio caters to soldiers and veterans and their spouses. As students arrive for classes, teachers greet them by saying “Welcome
home,” with emphasis on the om yoga mantra. The studio’s goal is to help build physical and mental strength even when people are battling wounds, whether seen or unseen.
“Halfway through my husband’s deployment, I realized I had been holding my breath,” says Candace Jackson, who has been a client at Life Moves since it opened. “So just being invited, and encouraged, to breathe on purpose truly helped me endure the rest of the deployment and get through it.”
Life Moves also holds classes specifically for older people and for those in wheelchairs. On Wednesday nights, there’s the “Warriors at Ease” class, which caters to soldiers overcoming physical and mental trauma and is taught by the Funks’ daughter, Amanda Brown. “My parents raised us that you have to give back in some way,” she says.
Until recently, the class was paid for by a grant. When the funding dried up, Life Moves kept the class going on its own dime and has since trained more teachers in this special kind of adaptive yoga. It is clearly a valued investment.
“By the time I got out, I couldn’t do a push-up, because I couldn’t put pressure on certain joints,” says Caity Underwood, 31, who served in the Army for seven years, until medical problems forced her to retire. After just a few months at Life Moves, she can do many. Now, she says, “Wednesday is my favorite day.”