FORT SILL, Okla. (May 9, 2013) -- Mind, body and spirit are the three foundations for complete well-being the Soldiers working at the Graham Resiliency Training Center (RTC) here strive to obtain with their clients.

Last month, the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade unit ministry team headed by Chaplain (Maj.) Robert Thomas, brigade chaplain, hosted a family wellness seminar at the RTC.

The seminar focused on highlighting the potential stressors in many Soldiers' and spouses' lives, and offered various ways to deal with them. The classes offered ranged from physical fitness, financial well-being and cooking on a budget, to causes and reduction of stress. The seminar started at 8 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m. with the audience moving between classes in a round-robin type scenario.

"Fitness has a huge effect over everything; how you view life and how it betters your life from a physical aspect. Physical fitness can affect your mental state of mind as well," said Pvt. Matthew Smith, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 2nd ADA. The instructors offered a block of instruction followed by questions and answers from the audience. The instructors assured the Soldiers and their families they are here to support them in whatever way they can.

Thomas put this training together primarily to demonstrate the connection between mind, body and spirit.

"The goal was to show how spiritual well-being drives everything we do on a daily basis," said Thomas. "I learned new things throughout the seminar, like building resiliency in children, parenting skills to build upon resiliency in family life and even the cooking on a budget class taught me a thing or two. Overall, this seminar was a huge success, we had over 80 attendees."

Capt. Andy Buissereth, Headquarters Support Battery, 3-2nd ADA commander, said the fitness portion really struck a chord with him, because physical fitness is a huge part of what Soldiers do.

"A speaker in the body seminar talked about working your core which encompasses many different body parts also about working your hip-flexors and doing squats. I wish there was more time for the classes, but it offered a great overview," said Buissereth. "I hope the Soldiers got the whole mind, body and spirit aspect from the training. I hope they learn that they can balance these three foundations into their lifestyle and live a healthier and happier life."