Yoga Center of Columbia Teaching Trauma Sensitive Yoga in Prisons

Teaching Trauma Sensitive Yoga in Prisons

FREE to Potential Teacher Volunteers This workshop will be hybrid. Participate in person (for those who are vaccinated) or attend live-stream via Zoom.

Do you want to use your yoga training in new ways? Consider becoming a volunteer teacher in area prisons and jails.

Bringing yoga and mindfulness to incarcerated people is deeply rewarding.

Here's the first step: learn about trauma-sensitive yoga at this workshop.

Many incarcerated people have a history of complex, interpersonal trauma which is at the root of action that leads to harm and self-harm. When we share yoga, mindfulness and breathing practices with people who want to begin or deepen a yoga practice, we are sharing practices that can foster healing, resilience, self-awareness, and self-compassion.

We will explore how yoga poses and practices, guided meditation, breathwork, and myofascial release can be used to help those dealing with trauma to re-establish ownership of their bodies and minds, an essential step for healing.

Trauma affects people on many levels — physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. In this training, we will focus on the impact of trauma on the body and learn how to more effectively tailor yoga and meditation to men and women who are incarcerated in our prisons and jails.

This training will cover:

resilience: what it is, the latest research regarding resilience, and how to cultivate it
how the neuro-myofascial web responds to trauma and how myofascial release techniques can assist in trauma recovery
theoretical aspects of teaching yoga and related practices to those dealing with trauma with a focus on the types of trauma most often present in incarcerated individuals
practical aspects of a prison yoga class: creating a class plan, using props, and paying attention to language and teaching cues
real world stories: what it’s really like to teach in a prison or jail

Lucy Lomax and Kelly Fisher, both International Association of Yoga Therapists Certified Yoga Therapists (C-IAYTs), Yoga Alliance Experienced Registered Yoga Teachers (E-RYT500s), and Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Providers (YACEPs), have decades of teaching experience, plus more than 20 years of study in alignment-based, therapeutically-oriented yoga and meditation. They are knowledgeable about the therapeutic elements of yoga, including biomechanics, kinesiology, fascial awareness, trauma-based yoga, and meditation, and accessible yoga. They teach students of all levels and abilities as well as those who are entering or deepening their teaching practices.

Nancy Kochuk and Catherine Kelly, both RYT 500s, have been teaching in both men's and women's prisons since 2015.

Have questions about prison yoga? Email us: prisonyoga.nancy@gmail.com.

Lucy Lomax

Lucy Lomax, Certified Yoga Therapist C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, RPYT, YACEP, C-WAE, C-iREST®, and Accessible Yoga teacher, began meditating and practicing yoga in the 70's and teaching yoga in 1999. After 33 years as a financial policy analyst (BS Organizational Behavior, Masters in Public Financial Management) Lucy became a full-time yoga teacher. In 2017 she became a certified yoga therapist. Her yoga background includes 22 years study and practice in alignment-based yoga, and since 2011, specialized training in yoga for seniors, the military, and those dealing with back pain, cancer, amputation, stress, trauma, and PTS (post-traumatic stress).

Her teaching is based on anatomy, posture, movement, and integrative body/mind principles and she focuses on trauma-sensitive yoga and meditation, and accessible and adaptive yoga for injuries, illnesses, special conditions, and recovery. Her teaching style is light-hearted and practical — she believes that the yoga you do in class should support everyday life, and that yoga should be modified to meet you where are on life's journey.

Lucy is a yoga teacher trainer for both entry and advanced level yoga teachers (RYT 200 and RYT 500 levels), is co-director of the Yoga Center of Columbia's Yoga Teacher Training 200 level program, and is co-director and master teacher trainer for Y4A Yoga for Amputees. Lucy teaches public classes, workshops, retreats, and private yoga therapy sessions. Learn more about Lucy at www.lucylomax.com.

Kelly Fisher

Kelly Fisher, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, YACEP, is the current steward of the Yoga Center of Columbia. She has been teaching at YCC since 2011. She believes in the physical and spiritual healing power of yoga, and aims to empower her students to strengthen their bodies, hearts and minds through her challenging yet calming instruction. Her style is rooted in her many years of meditation practice and her multidisciplinary study of hatha yoga, tantric philosophy, and ayurveda. She was one of the first in the country to earn her Yoga Therapist certification from the International Association of Yoga Therapists. In 2017 she earned her certifications as a Yoga for Healthy Aging teacher from Baxter Bell and as an Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist from the Himalayan Institute.

Reach her directly at kelly@columbiayoga.com

http://wildfloweryoga.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/Kellyogini
http://www.instagram.com/wildfloweryoga1
http://www.instagram.com/columbiayoga

Have a question?

Please complete the form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.