There are a few populations I have yet to reach in my conquest to be skilled in teaching yoga to everyone. I am finally poised to reach a new slew of yogis, a group that remains unseen in our society, and who may benefit from the freedoms yoga offers more than most.
My mom might have a heart attack, but I am going to start teaching yoga in jail. This weekend I completed a training with The Prison Yoga Project, PYP, and am so ready to get started.
Seva, selfless service, is the root of my practice and the way I try to live my life. This opportunity to volunteer again is another door opening. Lucky for me, I am armed with practices that are proven to make life better.
James Fox, who began PYP 15 years ago, has a wait list for his prison class that's over a year long. He showed us clips of former prisoners who are now free and still practice yoga. He showed us practices that are designed to do within the confines of a jail cell. He gave us tools to be prepared for the impact yoga will have on these students.
Sometimes I find it discouraging, all that's wrong in our world. So I try to do something about it every day. It may not be the right thing, but it feels like it. So I'm not gonna stop.
Huge shout out to Hands to Heart Center for bringing this training to Boston and for pioneering this work on a mass scale in our state!
Image by Robert Sturman
