I Teach Yoga in a Small, Gated Community I am a Prison Yoga Teacher

            On my last visit to the prison an inmate said, “This is a small, gated community.” She was, of course, making light of the situation in which she is living. The resilience of these women, and their ability to see the silver lining, always warms my heart.

            The classroom where I teach yoga holds a maximum of 18 students. When my student and I arrived to teach, there were just two inmate students waiting for me. I asked the assistants, also inmates, where everyone was. They left to make an announcement and then returned to join the class. In the end, I had five students for the class and I’m still not sure what happened to the rest of my usual students.

            With so few students I decided we might as well practice inversions. Inversions are not the strongest part of my practice yet my students are so strong and flexible I figured we would give it a shot. With lots of laughter we began to work on inversions. At one point I heard a knock on the outer door and left the classroom. When I returned to the classroom, the inmate students had begun instructing my student how to do a challenging arm balance! As a group we continued to laugh and play with some challenging shapes for a few minutes more.

            As the class drew to a close we spent a few moments in silent meditation, followed by a rest. To close the class I spoke these simple words:

In this room we practice yoga.

In this room we are all teachers, and we are all students.

In this room our life stories are still being written. The current experience is merely part of the story.

I began the class a bit disappointed that all my students were not in the classroom. We ended the class feeling the power of the practice of yoga.

            The word yoga means to yoke, to bring together, and to create a union. In this class, we did exactly this. We were not inmates and teachers we were yoga practitioners. Each of us learned from others. And we continued to write our life stories through the lens of yoga. 

Originally published on LinkedIn April 17, 2022