RegainingBalance for Women Veterans

Founded in 1996 to offer ongoing and concentrated meditation practice within the Rinzai Buddhist tradition, because the breath meditation we practice is nonsectarian and can be deeply grounding, we also teach it in our free, nonsectarian Regaining Balance Retreats for Women Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress and to women who are wives or female partners of veterans with PTSD.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that more than one in 10 veterans of the war in Afghanistan suffers from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. For veterans of the Iraq War, it’s two in 10. Too many of these returning veterans find it impossible to cope and take their lives.

While most combat veterans are men, female veterans also experience PTSD and the wives and female partners of returning soldiers, sailors and airmen also suffer from a partner’s lingering trauma.

Regaining Balance is a free, nonsectarian outreach program of Mountain Gate Sanmonji, established for the purpose of teaching women veterans diagnosed with PTSD and women who are wives or partners of veterans diagnosed with PTSD practices that may help them reduce stress and find greater balance in their lives.

Several times each year, we gather for several days at our retreat center in the village of Ojo Sarco and begin to heal. For participants, part of that healing is simply being in this deeply peaceful setting and among others who understand their experiences, honored and respected for themselves and for what they have offered to our country.

Our staff, trained in meditation, social work, psychotherapy and women’s health, lead participants in special calming breath practices, journaling and art therapy, poetry writing, and quiet walks in our adjacent National Forest.

With a more than 40-year history of intensive meditation training and practice as well as experience teaching meditation for more than 20 years I know that meditative breathing can reduce stress and anxiety, and numerous studies back this up.

And as avid hikers, we also understand the power of movement to remove stress.  Studies have shown as well that being among trees is calming and reduces stress.  

Veterans and their partners who are struggling with the pain, anxiety and isolation of PTSD have found a measure of peace, relaxation, and camaraderie during these retreats. And when they leave, they take new tools and practices with them to help them face their challenges more calmly, more centered, more engaged and more alive.

This is what Karissa T.—who had lived on the streets for eight months after returning from deployment—wrote after attending a Regaining Balance retreat: “My hope is that many other women veterans will be able to experience the Regaining Balance retreat. I went there with no expectations, and came out with a new focus and feeling more grounded. I know that others can feel this as well, but only if this amazing place continues its work with women veterans.”

Our (all-female) staff volunteer to be part of this program because we believe deeply in the sacrifices our veterans and their partners have made and want to do whatever is possible to relieve the suffering that has come as a result of that. With a grandson serving in the Navy as well as my father and uncles serving in WWII, I feel a personal, deep connection with those serving in the military. 

Regaining Balance retreats are free to participants. The Regaining Balance program is supported entirely by donations. At this time, we are limited by space constraints to four to six participants in each retreat period.  WHEN WE ARE ABLE TO COMPLETE THIS BUILDING ADDITION WE WILL BE ABLE TO ACCEPT TWICE THAT MANY WOMEN TO THESE VITAL RETREATS.

Regaining Balance operates on a shoestring. We are all giving in whatever way we can because we care.

If you would like to learn more about Regaining Balance, I invite you to visit us at www.RegainingBalance.org.