CHAPTER 23

I'm beyond grateful for having this opportunity to go facilitate yoga on jail or any other place where we can make a change, serve and bring healing, for me this has become a calling and I feel it on my gut that I needed to be a part of this, to help heal my own trauma and to gather more tools help others.

Q. The United States has awoken to a heightened awareness of race. What comes next for you?

For me this work is very important cuz the discrimination in this country and the world is escalating at the fastest pace we have ever seen in history, and doing this training has help me to come to peace with this volatile reality we are living in and having the opportunity to help others heal like I am doing is the solution, I love being part of the solution and bring it to as many people that I can, want to open a support group for jewish victims of antisemitism and help them to cope with the atrocities that we are dealing in a daily basis, we are examples of resilience and this is what gives me the bridge of comprehension to help other minorities like mine to have a chance and live good lives no matter what shadow of untreated trauma is out there in the world we can meet it with compassion.

I feel excitement and anticipation about embarking on my journey as a facilitator of yoga in the incarceral system. I also feel dread and heaviness of the state of our country at this time in 2025. 

Q. The United States has awoken to a heightened awareness of race. What comes next for you?

For me, I will continue on the perpetual path of addressing my implicit biases and learning more and more about the world and people that are different from me. I will speak out against injustices that I see and educate those that are closest to me. 

hope is a calmness at the center.  It is freedom in the mind, the neck, and through the joints.  It is internal resolve and confidence.  It is strength.

Q. The United States has awoken to a heightened awareness of race. What comes next for you?

I couldn’t help but think about the shifting climate in the US from the time this book was written until the news coming out each day here in 2025.  I sometimes feel powerless to be able to change things - but I work through quite acts of rebellion to bring change in my work, in my yoga and in my family.

I can feel hope in my body in my eyes, my stomach, and my heart space. When i feel hopefulness i become more creative and giving.

Q. The United States has awoken to a heightened awareness of race. What comes next for you?

I will continue to learn and maintain awareness of my own implicit biases, and i will continue to teach and move the population to do so. I will raise my children to have this same awareness so that can shape the upcoming generations. 

Q. Complete the body practice beginning on pg. 290, at the end of Chapter 23.

Q. The United States has awoken to a heightened awareness of race. What comes next for you?

Since I do not live in the United States, what I can recognize is how far we are in Mexico from heightened awareness of race. In that sense, I think there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to creating opportunities and systems in a more fair and diverse way that does not exclude and marginalize someone solely because of the color of their skin or because they come from an indigenous community.

The United States has awoken to a heightened awareness of race. What comes next for you?

I will continue to do the work I have been doing. Working on my implicit biases. Learning from my partner and close Black friends. Encouraging myself to call out other white people when they say or do something inappropriate. I consider this a lifelong practice and I pledge to myself not to stop trying and learning or ever become complacent and think my work is done.

Q. The United States has awoken to a heightened awareness of race. What comes next for you?

Once I woke up to how things were being run at my old company, I began to think about what I wanted to do with my life to serve my dharma: serving others, cultivating empathy and compassion through that service, and being present. I could only think of one path: yoga. I know my next is this prison yoga project, I know my next is to reach out to communities around me, now in order to facilitate the change before we get to prison. To support and be present for those who are currently suffering, running the streets, and finding ways to numb. I continue to practice and guide myself, follow the guidance of my trusted teachers, and take it one day at a time. 

I show up.  I continue to walk the path that I am on, awake to the pain and joy, and I don't turn away. To me, that means that I love whomever is right in front of me, even when it's hard.  It means to take everything I have ever learned, including from this book, and be a guiding light, because when you know better, you do better. 

I took this training, not because I work in prisons, but because I already teach yoga/meditation/breathwork/therapeutic art to youth in probation and on pretrial. I will continue to give these kids tools to support their own healing. I will continue to empower them to be free beings, free in their minds/bodies/souls, even when the world hasn't told them that's a possibility. I will continue to remind them of their goodness and power.