CAUDIA, PRISON AND YOGA continued from page 4
NWACCC houses about 100 women with sentences up to 2 years, no violent or sexual crimes. A large number of the women have been victims more than they have been perpetrators. Community Corrections Centers have a strong focus on rehabilitation, and I have a lot of administrative support here. There are many dedicated volunteers and a wide variety of programs and counseling available. I didn’t decide it was a place I wanted to teach. A few years ago, a student of mine offered that, should I be interested in a volunteer opportunity, there was a strong need for a movement class here.
Teaching in prison, for me, is unlike teaching anywhere outside bars. I also think that teaching in prisons varies enormously depending on many factors. For example, the length of the sentences, the type of crimes represented, men vs. women, the size of the population, and the type of facility. I started out with an idea of what I would offer based on information I got from an excellent Prison Yoga Project training I attended and from reading about yoga in prisons. Learning about trauma-informed yoga was invaluable. Understanding sequences that worked in other prisons was helpful. Once mats were donated and funds contributed for blankets and eye pillows, I started teaching a practice centered on what I had learned. Following the practice of others and trying to implement their sequences wasn’t working, however. Ultimately, through a lot of trial and error, the content of the class evolved. Possibly not to the ideal, but it’s what I have to offer, what I feel I can best deliver, what I have found works with this particular population in this setting. I lead a practice of Foundation Training (as there are frequent complaints of back pain), followed by gentle mobility work, and concluding with about 20 minutes of Yoga Nidra.
Despite the limitations of the space, walking into it is to enter a different world, noisy but without outside distractions - no windows; only me with them in this space at this time. What is most important is that I show up and I see them, I make a genuine connection. It has not been easy, but not because of the prisoners, because of me. There is no room in this place for privilege, entitlement, disingen-uousness, talk about anything past or future, the minutiae of life, motivational phrases you might hear in a studio yoga class, or me as expert. I am always challenged to keep it real. The end of the class is not always uplifting; it’s a return to reality for them. I can see a change in them if I forget that, when I’m off base - eyes diverted, less communication, a subtle dismissal but a significant one.
They might not come to class for the reasons I’d prefer, but they come. They are curious, bored, restless, inattentive, experienced, drained, energetic, intrigued,