“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say it saved me because I was on a destructive path at different times in my life and it kept me from going in the wrong direction. Then it allowed me to grow beyond that and it’s become a way of life for me.” 

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In 2003, Anthony Scaletta was a transitioning 24-year-old United States Navy veteran (having just completed two tours in Iraq during Operation Enduring Freedom) when he realized something was very, very wrong. His back, which had taken a beating for years as a member of Naval Special Warfare units and Special Boat Teams ferrying SEAL platoons in and out of dangerous environments, was the source of an immense amount of pain.

“The boats were a little over 30 feet in length and they have a racing haul on them and they launch every time they hit a wave, which is every couple of seconds. Every time you slam the shock would transfer up through your heels and up your spine.”

“Pretty much most guys who did that are pretty broken, especially with their spines.”

Scaletta was no exception.

“I would be laid up in bed in so much pain, not knowing what to do, and that’s how yoga found me.”

As soon as he began practicing the ancient body movements, he found relief, particularly in how it incorporated stretching.

“It moved beyond just being on the floor and right away I noticed if I stretched and opened my body I felt better and it helped manage the pain. It then became a self-study of yoga and it became a balm to sooth my nerves.”

It also helped him through yet another physical setback, again with his back, which came in 2007: spinal fusion surgery.

“When the surgeon opened [me] up and looked at my spine he said my spine looked like that of someone in their 70s or 80s. It had been that worn down. I had put my body through a lifetime’s worth of shock within a few years.”

After the operation, the Navy vet delved even deeper into yoga, and in 2014 he enrolled as a student at Asheville Yoga Center in North Carolina. The goal? Complete 230 hours of instruction for a certification to teach, which he accomplished in under a month’s time.

These days, Scaletta leads four or five classes weekly at a studio in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. His focus lies in flow yoga, restorative yoga and yoga tonic.

He’s even paired it with his military past, now a willing and open conduit of the healing regimen for his fellow vets.

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In 2015, Scaletta completed certification in Mindful Yoga Therapy, an arm of the Give Back Yoga Foundation, that brings the tools of yoga to veterans.

“This is yoga for veterans but specifically yoga for PTSD; it’s trauma-informed yoga for PTSD,” he said. “I also volunteer with them as the outreach coordinator for veterans and I travel around to teach other yoga teachers the introduction to the Mindful Yoga Therapy program.”

Scaletta is hoping to start Mindful Yoga Therapy classes in the area where participants would meet for a 12-week period a couple times a week.

“I’m one of only 70 Mindful Yoga Therapy certified instructors in the world and I happen to be here,” he said. “I’d love to be sharing the program and it’s adaptable to anyone with sensitive needs.”

Scaletta said he plans to continue his study of yoga because there is no end point in the learning.

“I’ll never get to any point and say, ‘I’m done,’ ” he said. “I don’t consider myself a teacher. I’m a very serious student who’s committed to the practice, and in my studentship I have the privilege of stepping into the seat of the teacher and sharing these practices with others.”

Interested in taking classes with Scaletta? Contact him through the following email: anthony@mindfulyogatherapy.org.