PRISONS
Advanced Yoga Training & Certification
Millions of men and women have a history of personal trauma such as emotional and physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional and physical neglect. Left unresolved, this trauma can be a major contributor to criminal behavior.
Chronic trauma exposure is associated with problems related to impulse regulation (emotions, impulses or urges). Impulse regulation is the ability to manage the gap between stimulus and response. It’s being self-aware and intentionally managing your feelings, reactions and desires.
Regardless of how much time one spends in prison, if the trauma is not addressed, the tendency to re-offend can remain.
Mindfulness, breathing and nonjudgmental attention in the present moment, has been shown to improve impulse regulation. In other words, the practice of yoga can have a positive affect while incarcerated and when integrating back into society.
Yoga Forward is committed to integrating the benefits of yoga into the Utah Department of Corrections. We believe that offering prisoners a support structure for healing and personal growth will help them return to their communities with a greater self-worth, self-awareness and compassion for others.
We call this program Freedom Within.
"Peace is liberty in tranquitly."
—Marcus Tullius Cicero
Rehabilitation Through Yoga
Yoga helps you draw attention inward and away from external events and environments.
With your awareness directed within, the yoga practice becomes a sanctuary for the mind and spirit from which you can take a deeper look at who you are, what you can become, and how you can serve the world.
Yoga can open up new levels of self-exploration and contemplation, allowing your best self to emerge.
Our Yoga Teacher Training curriculum has been approved as a “productive time program” with the Utah Department of Corrections.
This means that an inmate who has finished our 200 Hour course can use that in their petition for the board of pardons, and possibly receive a shorter sentence, or a positive consideration from the board.
Starting immediately, we will be offering yoga in all units of the Utah State Correctional Facility, as well as the Central Utah Facility, as we prepare to implement the 200-Hour teacher training programs throughout the state.
We are also expanding our reach to Youth in Corrections.
9 out of 10 inmates will be released back into our communities. Help us bring restoration and personal transformation by making a donation today.
Thank you for your interest in our work, and your continued support.
What They're Saying About Yoga Forward
Yoga helps some Utah inmates find ‘the beauty and peace’ while behind barsSalt Lake Tribune
How Yoga is Changing the Lives of Inmates
FOX13 Video
Inmates Becoming Yoga Teachers Behind Bars
KSL-TV Video
Yoga Teacher Training is Transforming Inmates
Yoga Journal Video
Four Earn Yoga Instructor Status at Timpanogos