For kids in the juvenile justice system, yoga and meditation programs offer the rare and life-changing opportunity to find calm and comfort within.
By Keith Kachtick and Diane Anderson
Seventeen-year-old J.D. Alfonzo has been locked up more than once. Most recently, it was for a charge of assault with a deadly weapon and violation of probation, after he was implicated in a park shooting in Oakland, California. Having to spend up to 18 hours alone each day in his cell at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center left him feeling isolated and tense. In the few moments he was around others, his rage made him combative.
“I was like a gun. Someone just had to pull my trigger, and I’d snap,” says Alfonzo, who fought at the slightest provocation. When he noticed a few other inmates coming from a group session with smiles on their faces and brownies in hand, he became intrigued. He asked around and learned that if he followed the prison rules for one week, he could earn the privilege of attending the thrice-a-week gatherings conducted by a group called the Mind Body Awareness (MBA) Project.
There, the boys grapple with philosophical questions such as Who am I? Am I separate from what I do? They investigate basic goodness, identity, and forgiveness as well as develop listening and empathy skills. Leaders also introduce simple meditations to help prisoners learn how to calmly be with whatever emotions arise in the present moment. The boys count their breaths and do body scans to get into their bodies, relax, and find freedom from reactivity. Read more on Yoga Journal…
TWITTER