Teaching Yoga In Jail

Our friend Kelly Blaser of Yoga With Kelly in Santa Cruz, California isn't one to shy away from a challenge. For the last three years she has found time in her busy shcedule, and the compassion in her heart, to teach women yoga at a local rehab center. But before that, she would actually go into the county jail to teach yoga to the women inmates there! We interviewed Kelly about her work helping those who are at a disadvantage to benefit from yoga.

Siamese-Dream.Com (SD): What first got you interested or inspired in going into a prison to teach yoga to the inmates?

Kelly Blasser (KB): I was inspired by a friend of mine who was also teaching in jail, but I think that the reason it piqued my interest was that I’d seen a film, years ago, at the University, about the Prison Industrial Complex, and was appalled at what big business it’s become, to put people in jail.

I was similarly disturbed by how deeply racism determines who becomes a criminal-

astronomical proportion of inmates are African-American or Hispanic. I felt it important to do something to address my frustration, rather than just to wallow in resentment or upset, or to hold a grudge against the amorphous ‘system’.

SD: But weren't you scared the first time you went into a prison to teach?

KB: I was simply curious.

I haven’t ever been scared, though I’ve occasionally been frustrated by the way the system works; sometimes after my class was over I’d have to stay locked in the room with the inmates for 40 minutes to an hour before a guard would come and let me out so I could go home.

They’d get busy with other things and not respond to the alert button that I’d pressed.

SD: What was the reaction of the students? Was it hard to find participants?

KB: Many were absolutely overjoyed to get to do yoga in jail, and many women said to me: “Wow! I actually forgot that I was in jail.”

That was particularly meaningful to me, because yoga addresses how we all imprison ourselves, trapping ourselves in our own conditioning, and teaches us to comprehend our samsaras to the point that we can be free of them.

SD: What things impressed you the most about the inmates or your experience teaching there?

KB: Their sweetness and receptivity, and the gratitude they expressed to me. It was a tremendously rewarding experience, and I’m sure I got more out of it than they did.

SD: What things disappointed you the most about your experience teaching there?

KB: I was concerned about the pain they carried in their bodies, and how being in prison was impacting them. Many of them had tremendous injuries and afflictions, and the prison was constantly cold and damp and drafty, and they were not issued sweaters. I was also concerned about some that were pregnant, or had just had babies, and of course, I was concerned about the

ones who were still addicted to drugs, and either trying to kick while in prison, or just waiting to get high again.

Some said that drugs were easier to come by in prison than out, though others disagreed.

Some had no intention of trying to quit, or change their lives at all - especially a few young women, some of whom had a devil may care sort of attitude. But many of the older women had gotten a grip - could see that being in and out of jail in their 40’s was not a particularly desirable lifestyle.

SD: What would a typical session be like compared to a regular class at your studio?

KB: I generally taught much easier classes than I would in my regular classes - for many had never done yoga before, and some were in a lot of pain or had various injuries.

Also, I taught a fair amount of chair yoga, which I think was valuable, or at least viable, for some of the more limited bodies.

I often realized that my students in jail did not want to be touched, and so I did a lot less adjusting and more demonstrating.

SD: If you could "tell the world" anything about the women who were incarcerated, what would it be?

KB: That karma took them into the lives they were living, and karma alone could take them out, as is the case with all of us.

We are born of karma, we are heir to karma, and we contribute to karma. The only way to create change is to become aware of karma, and in so doing, create a clarity in which the karma can shift.

SD: You had mentioned earlier to us that the warden eventually decided to only have academic classes, and wouldn;t let you teach yoga there anymore. How did your students take this news?

KB: I was never allowed back in after that decision was made, so I have no idea how they took it. Some of them are now at the rehab center where I teach, and it is clear that the classes they took at jail had a big impact on their experience there.

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Yoga In Jail: One Teacher's Story