Welcome to the Summer 2022 YTT Cohort!
Please feel free to leave an introduction in this shared space.
Out opening council offered the prompt to share your name, pronouns, and geographical location as well as what brought you to this training and what life is asking of you at this time.
I am so honored you are here and look forward to the time we will share in community over the coming months!!
Hey - great to meet everyone, thought I'd see if this works... If anyone wants to have a look at the work we're doing in the UK there's a series of links to the organisations I'm running 🙂
Loved listening to all your intro's, feel grateful to be a part of this group.
Thanks
Ben
I'm in Vermont....running a small non profit project called Allies Line. My incarcerated son started it by pointing folks inside with him to me for help. It has evolved into a helpline where I offer support with re-entry, mentoring, friendship, housing, family contact, prisoner's rights and sometimes another mom.I'm hoping to source more funding for the project as the need is great and the response from those I'm connected with is full of gratitude. Previous to this project the non profit was working with Bhakti Yoga; offering live kirtan (devotional chanting) events worldwide to underserved populations as well as local communities. That ended with covid but the practice is dear to my heart. Yoga has been in my life since teen years!
Hello everyone! My name is Kim and I live in Southern CA (Los Angeles area). I am super excited to start this journey with you all.
**I missed our first live session due to vacationing in FL where I THOUGHT I was would have easy WiFi access. (OOPs)**
I work in Human Resources and have been practicing yoga for quite some time though I am a forever student/learner. For 7 years (!) I have been looking into a prison yoga training program and finally decided to take the leap. I have done some work with incarcerated individuals in the past and am a sincere believer in rehabilitative programs.
It is my hope to learn, grow, share and serve.
Look forward to meeting you all,
Kim
Hello All,
My name is Vivian Blancarte, I live in Ventura County, Southern California. I started practicing yoga about 5 years ago, but have been a lot more consistent since last year. I see what yoga does for me, my mind and my spirit and the stillness it brings to my hectic life. I recently reconnected with a middle school friend of mine who is currently serving the last year of his sentence. I learned so much of his tragic story, none of which was obvious back then, it brought me to tears. I thought, this is just HIS story, how many more like this are there? How can I help? I thought about this for days until it hit me, I wanted to help them feel the same feelings of stillness and healing that yoga has provided me. That is when I came across The Prison Yoga Project!
I am grateful and excited to share this space with incredible individuals like you and I am looking forward to helping our future students experience the healing and transformative power of yoga.
Namaste
Hi Everyone,
My name is Lisa McLeod and I live in Rhode Island which is often confused with Long Island. 😊 Little Rhody is our smallest state and appears on most maps as a dot between Boston and NeW York.
I am a Human Service Professional and have worked with many groups of people and the common denominator is unresolved trauma. I look forward to learning more to support myself and the communities I work with in terms of trauma.
Lisa
Hello to everyone!
I'm Nikoletta from Athens Greece, I am a Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga facilitator and an Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga Teacher.
I really enjoy the study material and the practice videos that are available! Today I have done practiced with Peggy (full practice with Peggy 49:15,minutes) and I really enjoyd it! 🌻
Nikoletta
Hi everyone,
I'm Megan I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I'm currently working at Department of State Hospital California here in Fresno County. I have been practicing yoga for a little over a year. I currently work as Recreation Therapist here at the hospital to teach coping skills and other holistic ways of healing.
I'm so excited to be here with you all and learn a new way to give back to patients to help them release and begin to rebuild and set up for a new life once they reintegrate into the community.
Hi Everyone!
My name is Frances and I am from the San Francisco Bay Area. I feel so grateful to be part of this amazing group and to be learning about this transformational work. I came to PYP through my passion for transformational justice work, and am early on in yoga journey - I began my regular asana practice this year 🙂 and it has totally changed my life, my emotions, my personality, and has healed me in ways I didn't know were possible.
I studied Human Rights with a concentration in CJ transformational healing programs and worked as a teacher for a while at the York Women's Correctional Institute in CT. I used to provide support for individuals on parole in New Zealand, and have been involved in reentry work on and off for the past four years. I am currently preparing to earn my Master's in Counseling Psychology, which I start in the Fall. I am hoping to focus my studies on somatic healing and bring the work we are learning into my program.
Thank you for being such a kind, safe, and compassionate group - I love seeing you all each week at the online sessions.