Earlier in my teaching career, I taught a weekly yoga class for men incarcerated at Folsom Prison. The program was offered through the Yoga Seed Collective in Sacramento, in partnership with the Prison Yoga Project. Week after week, the men chose a cold cement gym over yard time in the sun. Over time, some told me they were practicing in their cells between classes.
At the end of each class, we sat in a circle and everyone had a chance to name how they were feeling. Spacious. Peaceful. Calm. Hearing those words in a Level IV prison has stayed with me. The practice offered a way to soften, settle, and reconnect within circumstances that offered very little room or choice. It showed me what even an hour of practice could make possible: less vigilance, more room to breathe, and a more grounded relationship with themselves.
