This Yoga is for Life

Adults in custody become certified yoga teachers for their community on the inside.

At the Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC), we train adults in custody to become certified yoga teachers. They teach to their peers living with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries. With the practice of yoga, they are able to find stillness and quietness in an otherwise chaotic environment. Yoga helps them to practice non-violence and compassion on the inside.

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Beginning in the Spring of 2015, we celebrated in March of 2016 as we graduated our first cohort of students at Oregon State Correctional Institution (OSCI). Our program was the first in the nation to successfully complete a Yoga-Alliance yoga teacher training in a prison. The 12 teachers on the inside are currently leading classes within the prison for which we offer ongoing support. Weekly, our volunteers on the outside offer feedback and support to our OSCI teachers.

​In 2019, we began the 200-hr training at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, Oregon's women's prison. Our trainees, women in custody with commitments to yoga and service, will become yoga teachers for their inside community in the Behavioral Health Units.

Here from others like Jake

OSCI began hosting their second round of Yoga Teacher Training in 2019 where our certified resident teachers at the prison are assisting us in training the new cohort of trainees.  

During the pandemic, we continued teaching yoga teacher training for Coffee Creek Correctional Facility by providing a Yoga Dharma TV Stations for the facility. One component of that is our Prison Yoga Dharma Library: The Yamas and The Niyamas.

Learn about the Prison Yoga Dharma Library

These Certified Yoga Teachers are long term Adults in Custody:

“THE PROGRAM HAS GIVEN ME MORE PERSPECTIVE OF THE BRAIN AND NEUROSCIENCE STUFF. IT’S BEEN COOL LOOKING AT THE BRAIN DEVELOPMENTALLY, LOOKING AT HOW PEOPLE ARE FUNCTIONING.
THAT’S TAUGHT ME A LITTLE MORE COMPASSION, A LITTLE MORE PATIENCE.”
​– SHAWN, OSCI YOGA TEACHER IN RESIDENCE

​“I’VE BEEN SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS PROGRAM FROM THE BEGINNING.
WHEN THE VOLUNTEER TEACHERS STARTED COMING IN, I FELT THE SENSE OF COMMUNITY IN HERE GROWING IN A WAY THAT I JUST NEVER SAW POSSIBLE BEFORE. I DREAMED OF STUFF LIKE THIS. I’M LIKE, “YEAH, THIS WOULD FEEL GREAT.”
​THE REALITY IS BEYOND THAT EXPECTATION.”
​– KEVIN, OSCI YOGA TEACHER IN RESIDENCE

SUPPORT PRISON YOGA TEACHER TRAININGS