INTRODUCTION TO PRISON YOGA PROJECT:SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH THE
LENS OF INCARCERATION
This workshop is for anyone who desires to be a catalyst for social
change and wants to tilt the scale towards a more just, equitable, and
compassionate world through yoga as service. Utilizing the lens of
social justice, mass incarceration, and trauma, we will uncover key
themes of a universal human experience. We will discover what
imprisons us as individuals and as a society, and understand how yoga
can support personal and collective transformation.
Each of us has a deep-seated desire to feel whole, at peace, and
free. If someone who is seemingly free can feel imprisoned, yet
someone in prison can feel free, what then are the conditions within
us and around us that promote or inhibit liberation? Our experience
bringing yoga to people in prisons and jails has helped us understand
the complex web of physiological, emotional, mental, and social
factors that influence our behaviors and determine the quality of our
relationship with ourselves, others and our environment.
Over the past decade, Prison Yoga Project has implemented hundreds of
yoga programs and brought yoga to tens of thousands of people in jails
and prisons. In this workshop, we will provide a context for yoga as a
therapeutic practice that ensures maximum benefit and avoids potential
harm. To be of genuine service, people need a clear understanding of
the conditions that lead to, exist within, and result from
incarceration. Our experience in this unique environment has
illuminated the real power and purpose of yoga and informed our
methodology. We have formulated an embodiment approach for addressing
root causes of mental, emotional, and social disturbances and have
committed ourselves to fostering the conditions necessary to empower
others toward their own insight and personal transformation.
Through self-inquiry, honest discussion, evidence, and direct embodied
experience, this workshop will inspire and empower people, in any
field, to become agents for positive social change. It will clarify
the true intent and healing power of yoga, and how we can utilize it
to promote a safer and more connected world.
Participants can expect to learn about:
*
PYP’s methodology via two full-length, trauma-informed yoga
practices, suitable for any level of ability.
*
Fundamental principles of trauma-informed yoga and how it differs from
other styles of yoga, and other trauma-informed approaches
*
The necessity of body-based, mindfulness interventions, like yoga,
alongside cognitive-behavioral therapy, to support holistic
rehabilitation
*
Perceptions and misperceptions of yoga as a philosophical, physical,
and spiritual practice
*
Demographics of incarceration and how they relate to race, privilege,
and power
*
Current and historical trends in mass incarceration, and systems of
justice
*
The unique socio-cultural environment of prisons and jails.
*
The correlation between trauma, mental health, and addiction and
incarceration
*
Understanding how dysregulation of the nervous system leads to
harmful, anti-social behavior and compromised health, and how
increasing self-awareness through yoga promotes empathy, positive
social connection, and well-being.
*
Key principles from Positive Psychology, Humanistic Psychology, and
Polyvagal Theory to understand the conditions necessary to survive and
thrive
*
A context for facilitation that restores power to participants and
creates meaningful connections through equitable relationships
*
The value of radical empathy, personal responsibility, and inclusion
to promote social justice and equity
_This workshop qualifies for Continuing Education Units (CEUs) with
Yoga Alliance for RYTs._
SCHEDULE:
Friday, 6/5 - 6:30 - 9:00 pm
Saturday, 6/6 - 11:00am -- 6:00 pm
Sunday, 6/7 - 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
(Saturday and Sunday include a 1-hour break)
culture
workshop
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08/06/2020 Last update