Getting down(ward dog) with the Veterans Yoga Project

It’s a “whole garden of Ashley,” as co-host Jeff Daly says, introducing this week’s episode of The American Legion Tango Alpha Lima podcast.

This week’s guest is Marine Corps veteran Brianna Renner, the new chief executive officer of the Veterans Yoga Project. The interview was recorded at last month’s Student Veterans of America conference. Previous co-host Ashley Gorbulja joins Daly for the interview in the main segment of the episode.

Other topics that new co-host Ashley Gutermuth and Daly riff on include:

• The tragedy of food insecurity, which is a national security issue that challenges some military families.

• A long-overdue recognition for Royce Williams, a longtime Legionnaire and retired Navy pilot.

• Why “Top Gun Maverick” should get the Oscar.

In the interview, six days into her CEO role, Renner talks about the organization, which dates back to 2010.

“Our mission is to support the recovery and resilience of veterans and military families and communities,” she said. “To do this we have five tools of mindful resilience.”

They are: breath work, meditation, mindful movement, gratitude and guided rest.

The founder, Dr. Daniel J. Libby, parlayed these tools into a program that offers support for veterans. Now the nonprofit partners with organizations like SVA and others “to bring yoga into their veteran community,” Renner said.

Learn more about the Veterans Yoga Project by checking out this week’s episode, which is among more than 160 Tango Alpha Lima podcasts available in both audio and video formats here. You can also download episodes on iTunes, Google Play or other major podcast-hosting sites. The video version is available at the Legion’s YouTube channel.