Welcome & Introductions!

     Hello, my name is Karen Clark and I use she/her pronouns.  I am in Colorado Springs, CO.  I am very excited about this training and look forward to meeting each of you who are both facilitators and participants.

     I have been practicing yoga since 1992.  I began practice at the gym and fell in love with the peace, centering, and physical wellness it brought to my life.  I come from a trauma influenced childhood which left me with emotional scars and self-worth issues.  Through it all yoga has been a respite from my trauma.  I am presently in therapy to deal directly with those traumas and am growing into the full potential for which I was created.

     I was incarcerated in November 2013 and released January 2023.  Fortunately, PYP facilitators were available at Denver Women's Correctional Facility.  Those women and men helped me keep my sanity and health by maintaining my practice.  As a trusted inmate in the Incentive Unit, I voluntarily taught yoga to Closed Custody women for several months as PYP facilitators were not available to them.  It was extremely rewarding to see those women learn new ways to deal with their anger and anxiety through breath and movement.  One of the PYP facilitators, Carol, encouraged me to pursue this training upon release.  I am thankful she did because it will allow me to give back to society and assist others on their path to peace, centering, and wellness.

     I am also a disabled veteran and look forward to working with veterans as well as other trauma affected groups.  If there are others in the Colorado Springs area who would like to partner with me on this quest, please feel free to contact me.

May God bless each one of us on this journey so that we are able to bless others.

Love always (because love is all that matters),

Karen

Hello, all! I am very excited to begin this journey. My name is Jill and I use she/her pronouns. I am based in the Chicago area.

My journey with yoga began a few years ago as a form of fitness, but I've found so much more value in the practice. I've learned to use breath to remain calm, self-reflection to learn and grow, and the benefits of being present. 

I had childhood trauma that I've only begun to realize has had an affect on who I am as a middle-aged adult, and I'm working through that in therapy. I'm grateful that yoga has made me open to feeling the feelings to process.

I look forward to learning from this program and from others in my cohort to hopefully be able to share the benefits of yoga with others in the future.

Love and light,

Jill

My name is Sarah and writing from rural eastern Oregon. I started practicing yoga in 2013 after recovering from breast cancer; I felt Yoga has saved me since!  I have been working as a licensed clinical social worker over the past 25 years.  I have been working at a male prison facility for about six years and feel many adults in custody are genuinely interested in making changes if the environment is providing matching and helpful resources.  I am grateful being part of PYP teacher training program this year! I hope to integrate and apply skills learn from this program into my space, workplace, and my community, so that more people can benefit from different aspects of yoga teaching. 

Hello All,

My name is Christina and I live on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Huron Wendat Peoples, also known as Kingston, Ontario, Canada. I have been practicing yoga for a few years and am excited to learn more and create a regular practice. I have lived experience with incarceration, substance abuse, mental illness and significant trauma. Over the past 7 years I have been on a spiritual journey which has brought me to my current profession an an Addictions Counsellor at a street health centre. I'm beyond grateful for this opportunity and look forward to connecting with other folks who are on this journey!

Hello Everyone!  My name is Victoria, and I use she/they pronouns.  I am excited about the social justice platform of this yoga practice and to learn how to bring this healing practice to others to support empowerment.  I am joining from the Los Angeles area.

I have experienced abuse and trauma in my childhood, and I have felt the calling to help others in their healing.  I have always had an interest in diversity and in supporting social justice. I have been hurt to see how society is often quick to throw away individuals impacted by the effects of low social and economic status.  In my adult life, I am now also understanding myself as a neurodiverse person and how this experience has opened me to understand other experiences of discrimination and the concept of intersectionality.  I am also entering an MS Clinical Psychology program in the fall with an interest in trauma and neurodiversity, and I am grateful for this opportunity to connect with you all and to learn how to apply yoga in a trauma-informed way.

Hello, my name is Andre and I am greeting you from the warm and humid Monrovia in West Africa.

I work here in the Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Programme (THRP) of the Lutheran Church of Liberia. We focus on drug users, prison inmates and returning migrants.

Liberia has gone through a terrible civil war. Children as soldiers and sex slaves, massacres of civilians with guns and machetes. This trauma is clearly visible in society and in individuals. But we, the Team of THRP are here, in the commitment to human rights and psycho-social engagement and work.

I have been working as a contemporary dancer and director in Germany for over 25 years. At the same time I have developed a work with children and young people with "behavioural problems" to positively strengthen their social and emotional feelings through movement and music.

I would describe myself as a "mover" with almost 25 years in research of somatic experience. After my study of Contemporary Dance in Germany I have studied Alexander Technique, Biomechanics, Release Technique and experimented extensively in the arts. I know the Yoga Asanas from my daily dance training, but would not call myself a Yoga Teacher.

I start meditating one year ago to counteract my loneliness and associated feelings of anxiety. I know that I have experienced traumatic events that make me restless and often close to others.

I am looking forward to this course and to the people who will be in it, and I and my team here in Liberia are very excited about it.

My name is Leah, I live in Encinitas, California (San Diego) on Luiseño native lands. I have an adopted son from another country, it was through his life experiences I began to learn about trauma and ACE. Which then made it a natural segue to begin an exploration of my own family history and traumas. I have practiced yoga for nearly 30 years and added meditation to my practice for the last three years. I am a graphic designer by profession. As that part of my life and career path shifts and winds down, I find myself wanting to be of more service to others. I have never been a teacher although I've subbed a few yoga classes. Part of me thinks I'm too old and don't have much to offer but that's the part of me I can override and decide to do something else that feels a little scary to me. I look forward to being on this path with PYP and my fellow students. A dear friend who I've practiced with for around 25 years did the program during the pandemic and now teaches yoga at Donovan State Prison here in San Diego. I see how it's enriched and deepened her life and practice and how much joy it gives her to be of service. I am really looking forward to this training, thank you!

My name is Marina and I live in Pasadena, Ca.  I love the practice of yoga and meditation and all that i have learned and how it has helped me in my personal life.  I dont know where this is going to lead me and how my service will look like in community but iam excited to embark in this new chapter of my life. 

Hello fellow students, my name is Lisa Coulombe, a loving mother of 2 and a Nationally Certified Massage Therapist since 2009.  I have a certain set of morals and values that I live by and am a healer at heart.  Through my journey of life, I hit a rocky patch in my path.  I was able to learn compassion for others and a basic humility through processing the effects of substance use disorder, co-occurring disorders, and domestic violence.  I am currently in recovery and incarcerated in Community Corrections at Shea Farm in Concord, New Hampshire.

During my stay in prison, I was kindly welcomed with compassion and grace by a warm-hearted Yoga instructor name Jen.  She has shared with me her practice and was there to help create positive changes in my life to reveal a tremendous transformation in me from 2021 until now.  I am grateful and appreciate her dedication to her practice and volunteering her time, rain or shine, to help me heal and for the restoration of my mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. 

I recently transitioned to the half-way-house just in time to be a part of this amazing training, and Prison Yoga Project Community.  I have noticed positive changes in my life since starting my personal Yoga practice.  I look forward to continuing on this new journey of healing.  I intend to extend the knowledge of what a healthy lifestyle looks like to others in my community a as a student teacher.  I will be contributing as a positive member of society upon my release, sharing my Yoga practice with others.  I do not know how this will look like or the steps I am going to travel to get there.  I do know I would like to work with particularly elderly and veteran populations.  I am determined to keep growing in my practice.  It is beneficial to assist in my newly acquired balanced healthy lifestyle, and to help me serve others better with increased knowledge and understanding of a Healing-Centered Yoga training.

I'm excited to grow with all of you in this safe and nurturing learning environment!

Hello Everyone, My Name is Bri and I missed the first week due to being on vacation with my husband, celebrating our birthdays and anniversary. I will see you all this Thursday! 

I am a correctional officer for the Clay County Correctional Facility in Moorhead, MN and am fortunate to have a very supportive administration. They are helping me take this course with the hopes that I be able to provide yoga classes to our incarcerated individuals here, as well as provide trauma informed yoga to our staff and county law enforcement as I am able. 

I discovered about 3 years ago how yoga and meditation benefits my wellbeing and how it impacts my ability to do my job and have compassion for others. 
I am a healer and caretaker at heart. I am by no means practiced with yoga but am the type of person who will put my all into a project and learn along the way so I am looking forward to strengthening my own practice to benefit others. 

Hello, I'm Shyrea (Shh_ree). I am currently a yoga instructor looking to learn from a perspective of an instructor and program that has not been commercialized. I currently teach at a studio that is BIPOC and LGBTIQIA friendly. This was the best decision I have made in a very long time. My goal is to continue the work in my local community. 

Hello! 

My name is Kali (pronounced Kay-Lee). I am currently living in Vallejo, CA. I grew up dancing and eventually pursued my bachelor's degree in dance but due to a back injury I had to find a plan B which included integrating psychology into my studies. When I was young, I was not aware of the profound trauma and impact my dance teachers and dance environment had on me. This only grew more apparent as I pursued dance in college. These environments caused me to leave the field of dance and movement for some time. It was not until I was going through my own struggles and attempting to heal from my own trauma and mental health difficulties that I realized the therapeutic powers movement has. I began using movement as a healing tool, creating movement pieces and performing them as a way of catharsis. It was in these moments that I realized I wanted to bring this to others and decided to pursue my master's degree in counseling in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Antioch University in Keene, NH. 

Upon graduation and receiving my dance/movement therapy credential, I began working as a Dance/Movement Therapist at the Department of State Hospitals-Napa. At my work I am currently working with forensic patients, primarily patients found incompetent to stand trial as well as some patients who were found not guilty by reason of insanity. I am a huge advocate of embodied practices as well as creative arts therapy. I found this program through my work and after completing the Foundational Training I wanted to take the next step. I loved the focus of the materials in the Foundational Training and thought this would be a great addition to my work as an embodied therapist. While I have been inconsistent my yoga practices, I have been practicing on and off for a few years (depending on my own funds). I feel the forensic environments I have found myself working in do not allow much room for expression and trauma processing (while still being impacted by the trauma of incarceration). I aim to provide non-verbal modalities to people in this environment as to provide freedom to express thoughts, express feelings, and begin the initial steps in trauma work.

When not at work, you can find me at home with my four cats, Sampson, Owen, Cosmo, and Louis. I enjoy engaging in different movement practices some of which include hiking, aerial silks, CrossFit, and recently doing Spartan races. I enjoy cooking a new homecooked meal and hanging out with my partner and their children. I look forward to seeing how I can integrate this training into my practice and with my patients who have requested more yoga groups and opportunities. 🙂