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Adventures in Teaching Yoga – Rikers (Liberation Prison Yoga)
BACKSTORY I used to live my life selfishly. The intent behind the selfishness wasn’t malicious, but selfish nonetheless. My yoga practice has been a gift. It’s my responsibility to give it away....
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Adventures in Teaching Yoga – Riker’s Island (Liberation Prison Yoga)
The typical Metro NYC summer has finally arrived. Swampy heat. It’s like wearing a wet sweatshirt. I leave much earlier than I need to so I don’t have to be on the trains at full rush hour...
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Adventures in Teaching Yoga- Riker’s Island (Liberation Prison Yoga)
“True concentration is an unbroken thread of awareness.” ― B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Life The walk to the 800 bed dorm is now familiar and I begin to recognize guards, bus drivers and inmates who...
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Adventures in Teaching Yoga- Prison Yoga (Liberation Prison Yoga)
This is a teaching on a Tibetan word: shenpa. The usual translation of the word shenpa is attachment. If you were to look it up in a Tibetan dictionary, you would find that the definition was...
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Adventures in Teaching Yoga- Riker’s Island (Liberation Prison Yoga
8:20 am (On the Q100 to Riker’s) I was hesitant to write a post last week. It’s not because anything dramatic happened, just the opposite in fact. It was hot last and despite the air conditioning...
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Adventures in Yoga Teaching – Riker’s Island (Liberation Prison Yoga)
I really like Tuesdays. However, this week I was cautiously optimistic about what would take place in 3 South A, the sentenced women’s dorm. Last week had a shaky start but seemed to end on a high...
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Adventures in Teaching Yoga – Riker’s Island (Liberation Prison Yoga)
In 30 years, the number of women in jail has increased by over 800% [Source: Institute on Women & Criminal Justice]. Most of these women are imprisoned as a result of drug-related charges; however...
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Riker’s Island – Three Tuesdays, One Lesson
Writing posts about Riker’s for the past three weeks has been tough… I claimed writer’s block. But in the black recesses of my mind I knew it wasn’t. Until today, the past two Tuesdays at Riker’s...
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Rikers Island Yoga (Teaching in Prison)
We are all prisoners, undergoing a life sentence, imprisoned by our own minds. We are all seeking parole, being hostages of our own anger, fear, desire… it is a thin line that separates us from these...
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Rikers Yoga – Less Sex, More Reflect
When I’m teaching at jail I’m with lots of women who have varied sexual histories ranging from abuse, violence and miseducation. With all the joking that happens (because listen it’s jail and you have...
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Rikers Island Yoga – Stop, Drop and Jump Back
It’s only in the last ten to fifteen years that there have been serious studies about the effects of yoga and meditation, let alone how yoga and meditation may affect the prison population. But two...
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Rikers Yoga – Trust Is A Process
Photo NYT I went to Rikers today instead of my normal Tuesday. My regular class in the max area was thrilled. No one got the message that I would be coming today. I got a hug followed by a we missed...
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Rikers Yoga – Trust Is a Process Part II
I wandered into the new class in one of the sentenced women’s dorm a little earlier than usual. Most of the students from last week were at work or at a program. However, with most of the dorm asleep-...
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Rikers Island Yoga
I had to practically beg the CO on post at building 7 to let me in. He kept asking if I was sure I was in the right place. Seriously. He asked four times if I was sure that I was there to teach yoga....
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Yoga as a Radical Act
Friday night I heard Michelle Alexander talk about mass incarceration. It was powerful and shook me to the core. What was soul shaking though was hearing Eddie Conway, former Black Panther and...
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Rikers Yoga – Three Floors. Three Narratives.
“There’s no secret to balance, you just have to ride the waves” Three dorms. Three narratives Today was all about finding a way to honor all my students and meet them where they are. I’ll start from...
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Rikers Yoga
Through my love for you, I want to express my love for the whole cosmos, the whole of humanity, and all beings. By living with you, I want to learn to love everyone and all species. If I succeed in...
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Liberation Prison Yoga – Indiegogo Campaign
I know that many of you know that every Tuesday I teach yoga to women at Rikers Island. We breathe, move, laugh, get serious, get frustrated and most of all are real. I walk the corridors and get...
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Rikers Yoga
Photo NYT Today at Rikers: Building 7 was still except for Marissa(not her name) having a debate with the officer on post. It was clear Marissa wasn’t happy with how the conversation was going. There...
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Rikers Yoga
At Rikers there are lots of ‘squeaky wheels’. It gets the grease and whatnot. But lately, there’s one student who has really been getting into yoga. She’s been taking classes with me for almost...
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