Downward Dog, Fireman's Carry: Newark's Bravest Recruits Unwind With Yoga

When Fateen Ziyad, the director of the Newark Fire Department, joined the service decades ago, could he have imagined that one day he and a class of recruits would be bending and contorting into the “warrior pose” and other basic yoga positions?

“No,” a chuckling Ziyad said simply.

But there he was on Friday, along with more than 30 probationary firefighters in the department’s 42nd academy class, stretching on yoga mats laid out in the garage of the fire academy on Orange Street.

The class, led by the founder of the Newark Yoga Movement, Debby Kaminsky, came about as a collaboration between the three-year-old nonprofit program and the department. Yoga is being introduced as part of the agency’s training, city officials said.

When she greets people who are doubtful about the benefits of the ancient Indian practice, Kaminsky said she has a simple pitch: “The way you convert a skeptic is to find something they can’t say no to.”

In the case of firefighters -- who routinely have to rush into burning buildings, rescue entrapped car accident victims and save people from rising floodwaters -- Kaminsky said yoga’s undeniable appeal stems from its ability to help people decompress following a harrowing day.

“This is about getting firefighters to de-stress after a fire,” said Kaminsky, whose group has also worked with thousands of Newark schoolchildren. “Stress is a killer.”

Kaminsky said that the stress of the firefighters’ work can actually alter the chemical balance in the brain, leading to health problems and even death. Yoga, she said, has been scientifically proven to bring the brain back into physiological balance.

Ziyad, who has sporadically practiced yoga previously, agrees.

“Yoga puts you in the moment and it relieves stress. In this job, you can go from zero to 100 in any given moment -- you’re sitting there reading when a call comes in and you have to put on your gear and get out there into a dangerous situation.”

“That’s a major stress factor, and the number one cause of firefighter death is stress-related.”