1. Yoga Education in Prisons Trust
Charitable trust founded in 2009
25-30 affiliated teachers working in most NZ prisons, including 4 DTUs and other specialist units
Teaching trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness practices
Correspondence course
Peer instructor course

2. Prison: where mental distress collides with social harm and toxic shame
Nearly all (91%) prisoners had a lifetime diagnosis of a mental health or substance use disorder and 62% had this diagnosis in the past 12-months.
Female prisoners were significantly more likely to have a 12-month diagnosis of any mental disorder than male prisoners (75% compared to 61%).
52 percent of female prisoners, and 22 percent of male prisoners have a lifetime diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
The lifetime prevalence of generalised anxiety disorder was just over 1% in the prisoner mental health study which had increased to nearly 9% in 2015
Source: Comorbid substance use disorders and mental health disorders among New Zealand prisoners (Indig, Gear and Wilhelm, June 2016)

3. Why yoga in prison?
Physical, emotional and spiritual benefits (sleep, calming anxiety, building positive affect, reducing pain)
A potential role in healing trauma (Bessel Van Der Kolk, The Body Keeps Score)
Can counter the toxic institutional environment and create a safe, sacred space (the class) in which participants re-establish a friendly relationship with the body (making it a safe sacred space)
Natural, non-verbal, way of teaching skills of self-calming
“Hurt people hurt people; healed people heal people”

4. Yoga in four easy steps Find the shape with your body
Engage specific muscles (and disengage others) to stabilise the joints and the spine
Breathe steadily (through the nostrils)
Stay and play, and play with staying