Finding My WHY Through Yoga For First Responders

Written by Lieutenant Ryan Velazquez

Trainee of YFFR Instructor School Class 037

“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”— Simon Sinek, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Editor’s Note

At Yoga For First Responders®, we often talk about going deeper than the surface — not just teaching yoga, but teaching purpose. Lieutenant Ryan Velazquez of Instructor School Class 037 shares a personal reflection on discovering his why and how YFFR helped him connect his leadership, wellness, and service through a new lens.

Starting With WHY

I recently finished Simon Sinek’s book Start with WHY right before heading into Instructor School, and his concept of The Golden Circle has been stuck in my head ever since. He explains that we all know the WHAT we do — that’s the easy part.

Some of us even know HOW we do it. But the hardest thing to define, and often the most important, is the WHY.

What’s your purpose?

What drives you to get out of bed in the morning?

Why should anyone else care?

Most people and organizations work from the outside in — they focus on WHAT and maybe HOW, but rarely do they get to the WHY. The ones that truly inspire — leaders and organizations alike — do the opposite. They live and work from the inside out, leading with their WHY.

Seeing YFFR Through the Golden Circle

When I think about Yoga For First Responders® through that lens, it’s clear to me that they’re one of those rare organizations that knows their WHY.

It shows in everything — in the leadership, in the protocols, in the way every concept is taught. Every class starts with the WHY before moving into the HOW, and the WHAT — the yoga itself — just flows naturally from there.

And that’s where I started to wonder: What if I’d had this from the beginning of my career?

Looking Back

The honest answer? A lot would have been different.

Early on, I spent most of my time working from the outside in — focused on the WHAT and the HOW.

What am I doing?

How am I supposed to act?

How am I being perceived?

Rarely did I stop to ask myself WHY I was doing it — or whether I was showing up as the best version of myself.

If I’d had YFFR back then, I think I would have understood the value of wellness and self-regulation much earlier. Instead of waiting until stress piled up, or until I was running on empty, I would have had tools to check in with myself daily.

I might have shown up with more patience, more clarity, and a stronger sense of purpose — not just as a leader, but as a husband, father, and friend.

Moving Forward

The truth is, I can’t go back and change how I started. But what I can do is commit — to my practice, and to bringing this work to others in my department.

Because if YFFR can help me reconnect to my WHY at this stage of my career, I can only imagine how powerful it could be for someone just starting theirs.

Keep Training Your WHY — At Work and at Home

Lt. Velazquez found his why through YFFR’s training, and now we’re helping others do the same — on duty and off.

Join the YFFR Family Challenge to bring resilience tools home to your family, or apply for one of our limited Instructor School Scholarships to learn how to teach the YFFR Protocol to others.