The Santa Fe Community Yoga Center is now offering trauma-sensitive yoga in prisons through our new Yoga in Prisons Project.
The project is a contractual agreement with the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD). Its goal is to offer yoga, mindfulness, and meditation to female inmates at the greatest risk of recidivism in order to prevent and/or decrease this population’s rate of return to prison.
The trauma-sensitive yoga classes will take place three times per week on an eight-week cycle at a medium-security facility in Springer, New Mexico.
The numbers show Yoga in Prisons is needed
According to prisonpolicy.org, New Mexico’s incarceration rate is 733 per 100,000 people. More than 7,000 prisoners are held in state prisons. The rate of recidivism is over 49%.
Research shows people in prison have extremely high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and complex trauma. In the U.S., close to one-fifth of people in prison spent time in the foster care system before turning 18.
Trauma can cause the prefrontal cortex (the decision-making and long-term-planning part of the brain) to shut down. This means people in prison continue to live life in survival mode.
Trauma-sensitive yoga can rewire the brain
Harvard researchers say, “When you do yoga, your brain cells develop new connections, and changes occur in brain structure as well as function, resulting in improved cognitive skills, such as learning and memory. Yoga strengthens parts of the brain that play a key role in memory, attention, awareness, thought, and language.”
Our hope is through teaching trauma-sensitive yoga to incarcerated people, they’ll be able to utilize mindfulness techniques to cope with life outside prison and reduce their risk of return.
Support Trauma-sensitive yoga in prisons now
The Yoga in Prisons Project is scheduled to run for two years. SFCYC hopes to secure funding to expand the project statewide, serving all correctional facilities, and to reach those who are newly out of prison.
You can help make that happen. *Click here to become a regular, monthly donor or here to give one time, and be part of providing yoga to a population who truly needs it and making our state a safer and more peaceful place for everyone.
*This solicitation is by a professional fundraiser on behalf of SFCYC and is directed to NM residents only.