This week on Overdrive Radio we track back to the Mid-America Trucking Show and the big news for the trucking community from podcast sponsor Howes. The Howes Hall of Fame added its 12th member when it honored Mother Trucker Yoga proprietor and fitness and wellness coach Hope Zvara at the show.
Regular listeners may remember part of Zvara’s story from when she was featured here on Overdrive Radio in conversation with Long Haul Paul Marhoefer a couple years back. There, asked about the scourge of anxiety, depression and other mental health ailments throughout America, she answered with a simple question of her own -- "What's if it's not a mental health crisis? What if it's a movement crisis?" It's her life's work to, of a fashion, answer those for herself and so many others.
In that prior podcast, and here, she details her step-by-step program for fitness through basic yoga techniques drivers can do in-cab, around the truck, at points throughout a day for an approachable journey toward better physical health. Mental health, too, as suggested. Zvara well knows the connections between the two and isn’t shy of stressing them routinely with those she works with.
[Related: Steer out of the ruts with mindfulness practice]
She’s combated mental stressors of various natures in her own life, using yoga practice toward that end. And she’s now worked with an untold number of individual truck drivers to help them achieve their own goals. I got a little tutorial in her brand of “no mat necessary" yoga at the start of the Trucking Solutions Group’s talk in the East Hall out at MATS on the final day. She led attendees through a series of stretches aimed simply at relieving the neck and upper-body tension so many of us face after a long day at the wheel or, in my case, typing away at the desk.
Today on the podcast, hear the audio of Zvara’s instruction on that mini-routine at the tail end, and otherwise buckle up for her story of helping truckers help themselves in health and wellness. Though Zvara’s program is designed for simplicity and achievability, she's also well aware it’s not exactly a simple matter for any of us. Take a listen to my conversation with Howes President Rob Howes and Zvara, the latest member of the Howes Hall of Fame:
Find Hope Zvara's Mother Trucker Yoga effort to learn more about her program at this link.
