Inside the Pentagon’s Alt-Medicine Mecca, Where the Generals Meditate

Yoga is now a mainstay at Walter Reed
 and other military hospitals,and even
part of routine training for personnel.

The general is surprisingly good at meditation. It’s not just the impeccable posture — that might be expected of a man long used to standing at attention. It’s his hands, which rest idly on his knees, and his combat boots, which remain planted firmly on the floor. Over the next several minutes, Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Surgeon General of the Army, will keep his eyes closed and his face perfectly relaxed.

The Pentagon is turning to alternative medicine to help alleviate the devastating symptoms of Post-traumatic stress disorder that afflict more than 250,000 military personnel; soothe the brain trauma that’s left thousands more with tremors, speech impediments and memory lapses; and assuage the chronic pain that lingers after grueling, repeat deployments.

The Samueli Institute might be the Pentagon’s best chance at making alt-medicine work. Or, at least, figuring out if it even stands a chance.

Thanks to leadership with years of experience in military circles, not to mention a billionaire benefactor with friends in prominent places, they’ve got no shortage of resources with which to do just that. More than half of the Institute’s $13.5 million in annual funding is provided by congressional funding (or “earmarks”), the Department of Defense and Veteran’s Affairs.

“Wherever you’ve come from, wherever you imagine you’re going, you’re actually only doing it right now, in this moment.” Our meditation guru for the day, Dr. Wayne Jonas, is not only a retired Army medical officer and former director of the holistic branch of the National Institute of Health. Wired

Recently Published Research on Integrative Medicine in the Military