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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — “An offender can cut their time down by more than 40% by signing up for Yoga 4 Change that meets weekly. Once you clear the mind of all the negative, you make room for the positive.
Yoga is an $80 billion industry. You see classes for free at the Riverside Arts Market on weekends or at breweries for a small fee all around Jacksonville.
Because of all this interest, National Geographic put out a special health issue exploring whether yoga makes us healthier. In it, they featured Yoga 4 Change, a Jacksonville non-profit that has classes inside correctional facilities to reduce stress and promote well-being for inmates.
In fact, one of their former students is teaching yoga himself.
Alan Calkins was an addict for decades before he was put in jail in 2014. There he was introduced to Yoga 4 Change. His first-class was themed on gratitude.
“I weave that into every time I get on my yoga mat,” Calkins said. “Just that perspective has changed how I see life drastically.”
Yoga 4 Change was founded in 2014. They have a mission to offer trauma-informed yoga to four populations: veterans, youth, individuals who are incarcerated and those recovering from substance use. They have been teaching at correctional facilities since 2016.
Yoga 4 Change was able to get a research grant from the Chartrand Family Fund to look at how yoga could improve health, sleep quality, coping skills, forgiveness, self-compassion, emotional regulation, anger management and post-traumatic growth in inmates. For a year, starting in February 2018, the researchers from Boston University saw significant improvements in all categories.
Kathryn Thomas is a former Navy Aviator. She is the Executive Director and Founder of Yoga 4 Change.
“I started Yoga 4 change as a way to continue my own healing,” Thomas said. They have actually trained two former inmate students to become yoga teachers. Calkins is one of them. He now teaches at Warehouse Yoga at 8200 Cypress Plaza Dr. Suite 404.
Thomas was followed around for two straight days by National Geographic writer, Fran Smith. Through that Smith was able to meet Judge Eleni Derke. Derke deals mostly with misdemeanors, such as shoplifting, minor drug possession, driving under the influence. These are all punishable for up to a year in jail.
Duval County is the only county in the nation that sentences individuals to yoga programming while incarcerated. Derke is one of those judges.
“Yoga 4 Change has been a Godsend,” said Derke. “An offender can cut their time down by more than 40% by signing up for Yoga 4 Change that meets weekly. Once you clear the mind of all the negative, you make room for the positive.”
Derke leads a yoga class outside the courthouse weekly. She wants people to join her to relieve some of the stress from the day. And on Wednesday, on the courthouse lawn, an ex-convict, two judges, a bailiff and several clerks basked in the beauty of the sunlight and the good deep breathing of downward dog.
The special issue on The Future of Medicine: Wellness, is now available online. If you are interested in donating to help create sustainability for yoga in the carceral system, visit the Y4C website.
