Hi, my name is Kiana (she/her)! I spent the first half of my life in Cape Town South Africa (San and Khoekhoe land), then moved to Palo Alto California (Ohlone land), and spent the last four years completing a degree in Global Studies at UC Santa Barbara (Chumash land).
My journey of delving into the practice of yoga began ten years ago; the practice has deeply shaped and inspired my life. I am drawn to Prison Yoga Project because I believe that the healing that comes from the teachings of yoga should be made accessible to everyone, regardless of the societal identities or socioeconomic conditions. I would like to spend my life guiding individuals and communities toward their inner teacher and healer so that we may live in a more loving and peaceful world.
Hi all, I am so sorry for posting so late, my name is Sage (she/her) and I live on Narragansett land in Providence, RI but was joining the yoga trainings over the last few months from Maryland and North Carolina as well. I have been drawn to this incredible Prison Yoga community by a deep sense of justice and past experience working in Cook County Juvenile detention center and here in RI Correctional facilitates and having some of the best teachers in my poetry and art participants there and missing and feeling moved to revisit this work and communities. I think I was reluctant to post on this forum and introduce myself this summer because I was having a crisis of identity as I have always been a worker or some sort, many times having 2-4 jobs + at a time and yet this summer I was underemployed and besides doing some great outdoor education work with youth of color I didn't have full time employment and wasn't working in a facility and didn't know how best to introduce myself besides being a mother and social justice worker. I have been a poet and performance artist in the past and academic and administrator and I am now finally on my way back into the workforce as a director of learning and engagement at an African American history museum and excited to engage with folks in public history and Black history again. I have learned so much about myself and from each of you in this community over the last few months during one of the most difficult periods of my life where I put on a happy mothering face but was in a dark hard place. Thank you for letting me get back in touch with my body, heart & soul. I appreciate each of you more than you know and hope to be able to engage in real time and space sometime. Please let me know if you ever come to little Rhode Island! 💜✊🏾 In peace, respect & solidarity, Sage