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Yoga practice reduces anxiety and impulsivity in prison populations

ALAMY

Incarcerated thieves, drug dealers and murderers may not be the typical group you imagine doing yoga, but recent studies show that the ancient discipline might be able to play an important role in reducing prison violence. Several studies have shown that yoga helps to improve symptoms of anxiety and depression in prisoners, and now a study at the University of Oxford has found that it also increases focus and, crucially, decreases impulsivitya known factor in much prison violence.

The Oxford researchers studied 100 prisoners from seven U.K. prisons. About half the prisoners practiced yoga once a week for 10 weeks; the other half were told they were on a waitlist for the yoga class and encouraged to go about their regular exercise routines. Prisoners in the yoga programtwo women and 43 menbecame less aggressive toward their fellow inmates and felt less stress, as measured by standard questionnaires. The yogis also performed better than the waitlisted group on a computerized test of executive control, suggesting they had become more attentive to their surroundings and more thoughtful about their actions.

Attention and impulsivity are very important for this population, which has problems dealing with aggressive impulses, says Oxford psychologist Miguel Farias, one of the study's authors. With less anxiety and aggression, he notes, prisoners should be better able to reintegrate into society when they are released.

This article was originally published with the title "Prisoner's Escape."

2014 Scientific American, a Division of Nature America, Inc.

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Yoga Lowers Inmates' Aggression and Anxiety

As the afternoon sun dappled across the checkerboard floor, hands came together forming a steeple and rose above their heads in unison.

In a small group, the handful of mobility-challenged attendees of the first-ever Wheel In Yoga class in the Community Wholeness Centre (in the former Community Care Access Centre or CCAC building) on Maple Avenue, were quietly following yoga instructor Joanne Lougheed's movements.

We do a modification of the same poses you would do on a mat, Lougheed said as the attendees readied themselves for their first yoga lesson.

It's both mind and body awareness. It's meditation with movement.

It's one of many classes founder Yolanda Gallo has scheduled at the Wholeness Centre. Holistic programming classes include Zumba, meditation and Qi Gong Thai Chi classes, as well as similar children's courses in a smaller format.

Using the former offices and clinical rooms of the CCAC, Gallo is renting out space to practitioners of massage, acupuncture, reflexology, Reiki, and naturopathic medicine. There will also be a therapeutic component in yoga, music and art therapy, Thai Chi, as well as large community gymnasium for rent.

Gallo's vision is to charge a low membership fee of $50 a month for the large volunteer base active in Barrie, while charging practitioners to rent the office space.

We're confident we'll sustain the volunteer centre and programs through the space rentals, Gallo said.

Focusing on natural and holistic wellness, Gallo said having the various practitioners under one roof offering a one-stop-wellness-shop will encourage people who offer their services freely to others to help themselves.

In my opinion, if we don't start taking care of those human resources and help them take care of themselves, we'll lose them, she said.

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Yoga class at Barrie centre the first of its kind in region

When her son was a toddler, Deena Blumenfeld started teaching yoga, partly out of a need for adult contact. When she started branching out to prenatal yoga, a funny thing happened.

"What I found from the mothers because I started seeing them regularly was they started feeling comfortable asking me questions that they didn't feel comfortable asking their doctors," she said. "But they weren't things that werewithin the scope of the practice of yoga."

The mothers-to-be wanted Ms. Blumenfeld's guidance for a range of childbirth and baby-related things, such as Lamaze and breastfeeding.

"I came to realize that women needed more than prenatal yoga or a childbirth class. They needed continuity, a community with a consistent message of support," she said.

After conducting classes for a couple of years, she opened Shining Light Prenatal Education on Butler Street in Lawrencevillein 2012 as a place to help educate and guide women through pregnancy, childbirth and beyond.

Her motivation came from her personal experiences. Her son Owen was born via Caesarean section, which was not what she had planned.While she was still earning her yoga teacher certification, she discovered she was pregnant with her second child.

At that point, she enrolled in an intensive prenatal yoga teacher training, and has since become a certified Lamaze and prenatal yoga instructor. Classes at Shining Light now include pre- and post-natal yoga, family yoga, and baby sign language. There also is a support group for new mothers.

She said there are about 25 or 30 similar centers like hers around the country, and there are other places in Pittsburgh where pregnant women can get childbirth classes, Lamaze classes or even prenatal yoga. "But this is the only place where they can get all those things together," she said.

Even the type of yoga she teaches is a niche within its field. "It's very tailored to the pregnant body," she said, "no abdominal work and you're not going to sweat bullets. We're indirectly preparing the moms for labor, so we do a lot of positions that will be helpful, like squats. Even the breathing and relaxation skills can carry into labor with them."

She has even been called upon to teach other yoga instructors how to accommodate pregnant women into traditional classes, Ms. Blumenfeld said.

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Prenatal yoga instructor expands business to meet growing demands

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Donna Terrell has been on a mission all month long to bring awareness to colon cancer. A treatable, curable disease that took the life of her daughter, Queah, three years ago.

That is why she created the "Donna Terrell's Yoga Warriors Fighting Colon Cancer" event which is this Saturday, March 29th.

If you do not know much about yoga or are afraid to give it a try, yoga instructor Breezy Osborne explains how it can help you heal mind, body and soul.

"Inhale, arms up and you'll exhale fold. You're only going to fold as far as it's available to you. You don't have to touch the floor," explains Breezy.

Breezy has been teaching yoga for ten years and owns Barefoot Studios in Riverdale and West Little Rock. She believes the workout has the power to change your life.

"Yoga brings you what reality is. What the truth is. Can you touch your toes? Maybe not today but can you tomorrow? Maybe, I don't know. so whatever you do on the mat, that's teaching you acceptance," says Breezy.

But yoga has been recognized in the medical community as another tool to help people heal.

"We are learning more and more about spirituality, laughter and nutrition, appropriate rest. The thing about Yoga is not only is it physical, it puts the body in a state of relaxation and we know that when the body is not stressed that is when it can optimally heal itself."

Donna Terrell's daughter, Queah, found the healing power of yoga when she was fighting colon cancer. Which Breezy explains, makes sense.

"There's a healing aspect to yoga whether you're a student or a teacher. To see everyone have these 'aha' moments and their journey because everyone has a different story. Everyone has a different body and background and that's what on their mat," explains Breezy. Breezy teaches all different levels. She says whether you've never tried yoga before or you've been doing it for years, there is something in it for everyone.

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Yoga Warriors Welcomes Everyone From Beginners to Experts