YOGA SCHOOL OF KAILUA,INC.
Healing theworld through peaceful communication, cooperation and well-being
[A501c(3) Federal non-profit corporation]
Louisa (Lu) DiGrazia,Director (CEO)
Our Work
Our Vision
1993 - 2002
Yoga Programs "Inside"
Adult Correctional Facilities
Oahu, Hawai'i
Yoga School ofKailua, Inc.
[A 501 c (3), non-profit organization]
¥ Outline for a Report of YogaPrison Work Hawaii 2002 ¥
I. History of YogaCorrectional Work 1993 - 2002, by director Louisa DiGrazia
II. Introduction: Whatthe Yoga Program at Halawa and the Women's Facility in Kailua (WCCC)is all about.
Inmates' needs call forsensitivity and adaptability by the yoga instructors. Yoga asana (postures), meditation, and breathing exercisesare essential to help inmates cope with their circumstances, assisting them toheal addictions, mental and physical, and to deal with the routine discomfortsof incarceration. Stilling the mindthrough meditation aids inmates in understanding the steps to their personalresponse for restitution. Yogapractice helps inmates identify mental conflicts, personal disharmony, andexpands the conscious awareness of thought patterns. When someone identifies something that needs transforming,* he/she can change. Inmates become aware of inappropriatereactions to life circumstances, and expand their level of attention andmindfulness which naturally guides them to be more compassionate and aware. Reducing violent behavior "inside" (inside the correctional facility) is one of ourprimary objectives.
III. Yoga classes at Halawa and WCCC consist of thefollowing:
1.) Introduce yoga history and philosophy. Helpinmates feel comfortable with the ancient techniques of yoga training, which continuesto be practiced today. Teambuilding and trust are key to yoga practice inside. Weencourage inmates to share the information they have learned with each other inorder to enhance their knowledge base, and give them voice to the teaching,encouraging peer-mentorship.
In spite of the fact that it is a very old discipline, yoga has gonemainstream; it has, in fact, been on the cover of Time Magazine in April 2001; and is used extensively throughout the U.S. in majorcorporations for stress relief and team-building. Yoga study continues to grow rapidly throughout the world asa non-religious, physical, intellectual, and spiritual discipline, practicedcontinuously on Earth for over a thousand years. We continue to explore the knowledge base of the olddiscipline, and encourage creativemovement, mind and body in the moment of personal discovery.
2.) Discussion of meaning and utility ofmeditation. Meditation enhances the wellness of body, mind andspirit. It teaches rightcommunication and right relationship. It is key to cognitive change, deep relaxation, and a fundamentalawareness of self. Meditationbuilds a peaceful person with positive role-modeling and leadership bydissipating aggression andcompetition, therefore, an antidote to feelings of rage and violence.
3.) Discussion of safety in the classroom;nurturing wisdom of inner master; discipline becomes an internal journey ofself-awareness. Guiding students to trust themselves while applying safetyabove "showing off" or trying to impress is essential. Guiding the injured body, psyche, andsoul toward harmony is the journey of yoga.
4.) A discussion on health and well-being,and yoga's role as a vehicle on this path. When yoga postures andbreath consciousness are performed, the systems of the body become detoxifiedand strengthened, and brought to keen levels of awareness, and inner as well asouter harmony. It is this internaltransformation that allows cognitive change, thus, furthering the ability ofthe meditative mind to operate, and facilitate management of psychologicaldis-ease, such as anger, violence, hurt, thoughts of vengeance, and otheremotional stressors---as well as bringing about complete physical health andwell-being, putting less strain and tension on correctional facility medicaland other resources.
*Transform:to change the form, appearance; a thorough, radical, positive change in thenature, disposition, and mind-heart of an individual.
5.) Discussions on peace and well-being of the body, mind,and spirit and how these are forever interacting. Inmateslearn the body-mind is a vehicle for a peaceful, mindful life, as well asdealing appropriately (and peacefully) with where they are, in their mind-bodyand in time---coping and handling personal experiences and challenges withother people, calmly and effectively, including those challenges betweeninmates and administrative personnel, ACO's, and other inmates. These elements, body, mind and spirit,are thus interacting all of the time within oneself and in relationship. The people involved in the system andtheir complex web of thought are held in a peaceful place, potentially free ofviolence, putting less strain on the facility systems and personnel.
6.) Addressing problems of addiction,substance abuse. Yoga class nurtures a foundation foraddressing these serious personal and societal issues at the root level. Yoga helps inmates to discover theirtrue nature, free of addictive substances. Numbing of the pain regarding dysfunctional, primaryrelationships is realized first hand, so that yoga can be a fundamental toolfor an inmate's recovery of basic inner conflicts, and deep personal pain. Yoga is the tool which helps to leadthe individual to a deeper understanding of his/her fundamental self.
7.) Yoga asana/postures are keys tounderstanding of oneself and others; helpful in dealing with issues of abuse ofself and others. Through postures and breath, inmatesexperience flexibility, strength, balance, harmony, and inner peace as well ascomprehending a universal understanding of our human frailties, as well asstrengths. Doing no harm is one ofthe key principles of yoga discipline.
8.) Correctional facility life is hard andthe effects extreme. The stresses and anxiety levels ofinmates are extreme. Yoga is aperfect vehicle for the inmates to relieve stress of their daily routine, andto help them remain and become healthy, putting less strain on resources. Personal stress in the inmatepopulation can lead to anxiety attacks, putting stress on the whole system,particularly on facility personnel. The calming effects of yoga can be a preventative for overall facilitystress-management.
9.) Teacher must come with no agenda, freeof judgment. Though the atmosphere, location, and external disruptionscan be harsh, trying, loud and difficult on myriad levels, it is important foranyone teaching in the correctional facilities to allow the inmates to be themselves,to discover their true nature in an honest, peaceful, and trustingenvironment. That atmosphere iscritical to the success of the classes.
IV. Conclusion, Our Vision: Future GrowthObjectives for the Yoga School of Kailua,
Inc.Classes Inside Hawai'i's Correctional Facilities.
Yoga School of Kailua, Inc.
Healing the world through peacefulcommunication, cooperation and well-being
<the Yoga School of Kailua, Inc. is a Federal non-profit organization >
Adult FacilityPrison Work 1993 - 2002
by Louisa (Lu) DiGrazia, Hawai'i adult correctionalyoga instructor
I. History: of the yoga adult correctional facility work,1993 - 2002
Louisa(Lu) DiGrazia, started a volunteer program inside (referring to inside the correctional facilities) Halawa StateCorrectional Facility about 1993, while attending the University of Hawai'i,peace-studies program. At the timewe could not use the word "yoga" to describe the work we were topresent. The word yoga was not accepted as mainstream therapy or socially inHawai'i then and people would just have easily disregarded it. We called the program "stressmanagement." We were somewhatlimited, under these circumstances, but did our best to present postures,breathing, and spiritual philosophy without betraying the meaning and substanceof yoga. It was Lu's purpose to help the inmate population to further theirpersonal transformation toward complete health and help them to create a pathto peace and well-being.
Upongraduation from the University of Hawai'i in 1997, with a BA degree in LiberalStudies (with an emphasis on Peace and Well-Being), DiGrazia applied her skillsto the education programming for the adult correctional system here onOahu. What she found in this shorttime, to her surprise, was a very supportive environment for yoga inside. Theeducation director and the Deputy Director of Hawaii State Public Safety wereeager to start a yoga program. Yoga was the cover story of Time Magazine in April, 2001.
Wegot some of the inmates at the Halawa Maximum Security Unit, called the SpecialHolding Unit, to join the yoga class. This was a very successful program until all of the inmates in the classwere transferred to other facilities on the U.S. continent.
Westarted a formal class at the Medium Security at Halawa early the next year,1998. The class has grown tobecome a very popular class with new students joining the yoga program on aregular basis, and many waiting for a chance to join. The women's yoga classes began about four years ago, and wehave experienced similar success at WCCC.
II. Introduction:What Is the Yoga Program atHalawa and WCCC About?
Oneof the premises of yoga is mental and physical adaptability which in a facilitylike Halawa or WCCC (the women's facility in Kailua) is key for the teacher tomodel and teach. One never knowsfrom moment to moment who is going to be there, what their needs are, or whatstate of mind they may be in; so our teaching has to reflect creativespontaneity, and a good sense of humor. The short time we have to teach a class could be fundamental to effectpositive cognitive and physical change necessary for transformation of theinmate-student.
Thissense of urgency and need to be adaptable, may mean directing the energy to thehistory of yoga to explain why we are doing something a certain way. It may mean explaining that yoga is nota religion; it is a practice whichallows one to enhance spirituality, whether religious or not; and what thecontrast is between religious and spiritual. Yoga is a vehicle for complete health, and is essential forimpulse control, and physical and mental awareness. These fundamental principles may need to be taught oremphasized at any time.
Thereare times in a facility yoga class when more than one inmate is suffering froman ankle or shoulder injury. It isequally possible for the inmates to be in a high state of tension, lacking theability to breath properly---thus shutting off adequate oxygen to thebrain. Any and all pressures fromphysical and mental dis-ease insidenaturally directs the yoga instructor to deal with these serious andproblematic issues in the moment, as much as possible. There are yoga postures which will helpto heal specific injuries, poor breathing habits, and mental stress. In the women's facility, in order toserve this population adequately, one has to be aware of feminine issues,pregnancy, recent childbirth, loss of contact with children, and menstrualdysfunction Compassion andunderstanding are key to the work of the yoga instructor anywhere, but inside this quality is crucial. Compassion is also a principle of yoga practice.
Inall cases, confinement, boring routine, lack of privacy, lack of affection andloving touch, lack of freedom, having people yelling at you all of the timeresults in a wide variety of human discomfort levels and mental and physicalpain, worry, sorrow, thoughts of violence and revenge, dread, fear, remorse,stressors which bring the strongest people to their knees. Regardless of how one feels aboutpeople paying their "debt to society," inmates are human beings andsuffer in confinement unless provided with diverse rehabilitationopportunities.
Yoga,meditation, and breathing exercises are essential to helping inmates cope withchallenging circumstances by tapping into their creative ability to carry outtheir own solutions. Yogaintroduces them to their capacity to heal their addictions, mental andphysical; and to cope with the routine discomforts. These yoga techniques aid inmates in understanding anddealing with restitution. Stillingthe mind through meditation helps everyone with lifelong mental conflicts andpersonal disharmony. Meditationexpands the consciousness to personal awareness of the movement of thought, andinappropriate reactions to life circumstances. It expands one's level of attention and mindfulness andguides inmates to becoming more compassionate and aware individuals.
III. Theyoga classes at Halawa and the Women's Facility (WCCC) consists of thefollowing:
1)An introduction to yoga history and philosophy. Introducethe "Yoga Sutras" by Patanjali (200 BCE), and bring information fromSwatmarama, who lived around 500 CE, and who expanded the physical side of yogapractice. The information presentedshould be relevant and up to date in our present way of communicating, whichcan be a creative project with some of the inmate-students not having acomplete grasp of historical context or philosophical concepts. We use handouts and explanations thatallow the inmates a chance to discuss challenging topics amongstthemselves.
Teambuilding and trust are key to yoga practice anywhere. In the men's and women's facilities, we encourage yogastudents to use their own examples of the history and philosophy, giving themvoice to the teaching. We have themost skillful students teach from their own knowledge-base and experience, oncewe feel and trust the student-teacher has a full grasp of the yoga concepts.
2)A discussion about the meaning and utility of meditation. Thiswill often include a discussion on what meditation is not. Meditation, for instance, is not verbalrepetition, nor concentration. Since meditation is often taught as though it were a skill one willachieve in some unknown future, we show that meditation is here now, one only has to become aware of it and still thewhirling, endless movement of thought to sense meditation, feel it, andexperience it. With the results ofdeep relaxation and meditation techniques, inmates understand this processfirst hand and are encouraged to explain yoga principles to one another. This teaching technique is key to trustbuilding, leadership building, right communication and right relationship. Meditation is key to cognitive change,deep relaxation, and a healthy body and mind. Meditation supports impulse control, and therefore reducesviolence within the individual and in the correctional facilities.
3)A discussion on the importance of safety, and the wisdom of the masterwithin each of us, which must be nurtured. We encourage our studentsto grasp the teaching as an essential part of discovering and cultivating innerwisdom. This gives theinmate-students the courage to find their own voices and to follow theirintuitive talents regarding body, mind and spirit. We allow each person to feel confident with his/her ownappropriate spiritual, physical and mental instincts.
Torebuild years, perhaps a lifetime, of low esteem by instilling confidence thatthey know themselves and canchange fundamentally is another benefit for inmates. Watching and guiding the injured soul, as well as body-mind,is an important responsibility. Keeping the students out of harms way, means making sure they understandtheir strengths, weaknesses, old problems or injuries, and nurture, rebuild,and heal on all levels of being through awareness. Non-injury must be taught on an ongoing basis. Showing off is counter productive anddangerous. Doing no harm is one ofthe key principles of yoga discipline, and a key to keeping peace in acorrectional facility.
4)A discussion on health and well-being and yoga as a vehicle on this path. Yoga isa vehicle on a path to improve the overall capacity and health of a totalsystem, a whole, holistic, holy system. This teaching process includes the use of diagrams and discussions ofthe human body, bones, muscles, organs (heart, lungs), etc. This could include a discussion on foodand nutrition. With personal andprivate issues of this kind, trust building is key, as is encouraging inmatesto suggest the ideas on their own within the supportive inmate-yogacommunity. The men in particularare very interested in strength building and the muscles of the body. We discuss strength and what they havedone to diminish their strength with bad habits, too much stress on certainmuscle groups, joints, and over-repetition of certain exercises that may createmuscle mass, and joint weaknesses.
Theylearn that the trade-off for this limited kind of exercise is stiffness, inabilityto move freely---particularly in their arms, shoulders, back andchest---vulnerability to injury, thus boxing themselves into mental andphysical quagmires. Having beenabused as children, many inmates have manifested deep physical, body-mindpain. It is important to behelpful and aware of this common problem in the facilities' population and knowbreathing techniques and postures which can help inmates release these painful,disturbing, old, and deep hurts.
Whenyoga postures are performed, the systems of the body become detoxified andstrengthened, and brought to keen levels of awareness. Inner as well as outer harmonytransform and clarify mental and physical activities, furthering the ability ofthe meditative mind to operate fully. This seamless process facilitates management of anger and stress,putting less stress on the facility systems.
5)Discussions on the peaceand well-being of the body,mind, and spirit and how these are forever interacting. Peace isdiscussed in realistic terms. Theylearn that the body-mind is a vehicle for a peaceful, mindful life, as well asdealing appropriately (and peacefully) with where they are---coping andhandling personal experiences with people, including administrative personnel,ACO's, and other inmates. This isa realistic goal for the inmate yoga students. This work and ongoing discussion is furthered by a peacefulheart and soul, which is nurtured in yoga class. The peace and well-being discussion includes a dialogue onpeacemaking philosophy and techniques through meditation, mediation,communication, constructive and destructive self-talk (inner word usage), and outer word usage, learning peaceful dialoguing, and personal actionsand reactions.
ThePeace work within the yoga program helps one to understand that anger is not inherently bad, but one's reaction andaction when angry is key to a fragmented life full of conflict or a peaceful life where self-knowledge and awarenesstake the place of compulsion, domination and force. Communication and cooperation are keys to understanding andnurturing a peaceful heart. Whenone's own level of inner-communication is heightened and made sensitive throughyoga practice, the door to inner and outer peace opens.
6) Many if not most of the inmates inour correctional systems are substance abusers and addicts. Yogaaddresses these serious social and personal problems, and the yoga class is aperfect vehicle for gaining inner strength, harmony, balance, and fordeveloping healthy habits to replace negative and destructive ones. Changing one's thinking patterns anddeveloping a keen interest and pride in one's health is key. Trust and leadership building can be keyin helping inmates see each other as mentors and teachers who have changed theway of their lives. Dysfunctionalrelationships have led many people to the numbing of the mind-body by substanceabuse. When one's primaryrelationship with oneself improves and becomes healthy, the outcome is anattraction to functional relationships outwardly. Doing no harm to oneself or to anyone else is key to yogapractice and one of its most important principles; and is a key to improvingthe overall peace in a correctional facility.
7)Yoga postures (asana) and breathing exercises (pranayama) are taught andperformed and are key to the understanding of self and other. Removingthe barriers which divide people is key to trust, and leadership, as well. When we see that we are all strugglingto move a body part in a yoga posture (asana) we have a deeper, universal understanding of our humanity, our limitations andstrengths, and how to build upon them and grow as a yoga community inside. Until aperson has experienced one, it is hard to imagine an asana changing one's lifefundamentally. But when the inmate-studentsexperience this for the first time, this exercise-experience generates a changethat is fundamentally transformative on all levels of their being. Through the postures, inmatesexperience flexibility, strength, balance, harmony, humor, and innerpeace. The breath whichaccompanies the poses further enhances these benefits.
8)Prison life is hard. The stresses and anxiety levels ofinmates are extreme. Though ourcorrectional facilities are to the outsider humane, the life inside prevents any sense of privacy, is extremely noisy,confines one into claustrophobic conditions. The food can be undesirable, and the fight or flightbody-mind mechanisms are being triggered constantly with few resources toproperly or adequately release the daily toxic effects of tension and anxietythat is turned loose into the body-mind.
Yogais a perfect vehicle for the inmates to relieve stress, both immediate and thatwhich has accumulated over a lifetime of poor choices and bad decisions,unfortunate and destructive relationships, bad health, mental and physicalabuse, and poor self-image issues. Yoga with its emphasis on complete health, well-being, inner and outerpeace, deep relaxation, and esteem building, through a fundamentaltransformation of one's being and deep cognitive change, is essential for thewell-being, stress reduction, deep relaxation, and complete health of ourinmates, and therefore the correctional system as a whole. These benefitstranslate into a more peaceful correctional facility, and puts less stress onfacility medical care, and other resources.
9)A non-judgmental attitude is key. Though the atmosphere, location, andexternal disruptions can be harsh, trying, loud and difficult on myriad levels,it is important for anyone teaching in the facility to allow the inmates to bethemselves, to discover their true nature as human beings, in an honest andtrusting environment. Thisatmosphere must be created by the teacher.
Yogahelps one to bear one's soul and the place to do that must be a safe place freeof judgment and condemnation. Ultimately the greatest student is the teacher herself who must learn inevery moment how to row in the same canoe as the people she serves, being a keenobserver, sensitive, and understanding. She must know when to present one of the teaching principles, so that itwill be observed deeply and perhaps understood, awakening a thread leading toenlightenment. One, after all,must prepare the soil for proper growth of the seed.
IV. Conclusion, Our Vision: FutureGrowth Objectives for the Yoga Classes Inside Hawai'i's Correctional Facilities
The Yoga School of Kailua, Inc. has recently receivedFederal, non-profit status with the IRS. We are in the beginning stages of seeking support to succeed in ourfuture growth objectives, and would appreciate any support we can get from theState of Hawaii. As this programwill more than pay for itself in reduced medical costs, improved inmate and ACOmorale, drug treatment and the revolving door syndrome of many of our inmates,as well as reducing violent behavior inside, it would be nice to work together for our commonconcerns.
Yoga gives new life and a sense of purpose to those inneed. It creates a sense ofbelonging and community that goes deeply within. Many of the fundamental elements of correctional facilitysalvation and reform promise this. We believe that yoga classes offer a creative alternative and a transformationfor people recovering from the mental and physical pain of an unconscious life,by offering healthy, compassionate awareness, and joyful techniques that havebeen proven for over a thousand years to be effective.
As the inmates observe the changes within themselvesand watch themselves grow in body, mind and spirit---a fundamental innertransformation---they begin to thirst for more, as any of us would.
1.) We believe the adult correctionalfacilities should grow by expanding the ability of the students to come morethan once (WCCC) or twice (Halawa Medium) per week to yoga class. We would like to expand on thementorship, leadership program by creating a formal mentor, student-teacherprogram, where the yoga school director and key teachers of the school couldmeet with hand-picked inmate student-teachers separately if possible, once amonth, and give them trust-building, leadership, yoga, and peacemaking skills,allowing them, under our supervision, to begin to team-lead yoga classes with the official teacher.
2.) The facilities occasionally havemeetings and groups with outside guests and administrative officials. We would like to see the yoga classestake center stage during these programs with demonstrations of its work and thestudents' acquired skills, usually inside the facilities themselves. This will take cooperation andcoordination with correctional officials and ACO's (Adult CorrectionalOfficers).
3.) We would like to see a yoga andmeditation program for the ACO's. This has been discussed many times between ourselves and ACO'sthemselves and some administrative officials. They want it and need it. This movement to expand the yoga work inside should be facilitated and encouraged.
4.) We would like to see the Yoga Programbecome an essential part of the correctional facility educational programs,taking it off of the list of "electives." We have had inmates tell us, that if it wasn't for the yogaprogram, "I would be in the hole (confinement)," and that the program"keeps me sane."
5.) We would like to see classes in Yogarun at all the Oahu adult correctional facilities, as well as the youthfacilities, and eventually get people trained to teach inside on all the Hawaiian Islands where there are inmatepopulations. Instructors would betrained and supervised by the Yoga School of Kailua, Inc.
6.) Wewould like to formalize the yoga program by having the students have their owntextbooks chosen or written by the Yoga School of Kailua, Inc. These would be books with informationspecific to the yoga exercises, and relating to the history and philosophy ofyoga. Inmates would be responsiblefor reading and reporting on this material; bringing cognitive, academicrhetoric and writing skills into the classroom.
Thereare many dedicated people in our state and all over the country doing what theycan, but too many children aregrowing up to fall too easily into the adult correctional system, which as youknow, unfortunately and tragically, is a growth industry. Yoga is a vehicle for rehabilitationand fundamental transformation, in which a person becomes his/her own bestteacher. This point reminds me ofthe adage about giving a person a fishing rod and teaching him or her to fishin order to sustain life. The practiceand discipline of yoga is like giving a person the tools that lead tofundamental change, a deep sense of community, sustained growth, and personaltransformation on deep and lasting levels of body, mind, and spirit.
TheYoga School of Kailua, Inc. has a staff of fine and dedicated teachers. Yoga inside is a brave new world for anyone going there for thefirst time. Our teachers have beenthrough the 9 hour orientation taught by the Volincore director and his staff,which gives all of the "ins and outs" of the correctional facilities,and many of our teachers are very akamai (skillful) inside. We are dedicated to safety forourselves and our students, and realize that this is an ongoing learningexperience, as most good things in life are. Humor is one of our most important healing tools that wenurture at our school, and we call upon it whenever possible.
J. Krishnamurti sums up best how we at the Yoga Schoolof Kailua, see our teaching,
"Societyis what you and I, in our relationship, have created. It is the outward projection of all our own inwardpsychological states. So if youand I do not understand ourselves, merely transforming the outer, which is theprojection of the inner, has no significance whatsoever. That is, there can be no significantalteration or modification in society so long as I do not understand myself inrelationship to you. Until I, inmy relationship to you, understand myself, I am the cause of chaos, misery,destruction, fear, brutality." (quoted in Your Health,March 1984, No. 22)
Ourschool's mission is to help each of our students to begin to witness theirlives and see themselves in order to change what they begin to see. The only way that we can understandthis is to do it ourselves. This,of course, is the greatest challenge. May Peace Be With You.
May2002 LouisaDiGrazia