Prison Yoga Chicago provides trauma-informed Yoga programming as a rehabilitative tool and a form of social activism for individuals impacted by the criminal legal system. We are an entirely volunteer-run organization. Our volunteer instructors share tools with our students that they can use both on and off the mat including breath work, mindfulness, and intention-setting. Our goal is to encourage self-actualization, awareness, and accountability as well as collective and social responsibility. We do this through multiple class styles such as mat Yoga, chair Yoga, and book clubs.

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Most of our students are currently detained at Cook County Jail where we currently offer 5 weekly, free, trauma-informed Yoga classes across 3 different divisions. We are continuing to expand our class offerings as Cook County Jail increases programming while recovering from the pandemic. We have also taught for community organizations and college classes in the past. PYC enjoys sharing the practices of Yoga with a wide array of groups and has taught classes and given presentations for various community organizations and partners.

We have taught classes in state prisons, and are expanding in 2023. Please reach out if you know somewhere we should start a program), especially if you have the correct contacts and connects.

We are not currently recruiting for teachers for our Cook County Jail classes. We ARE looking for other volunteers to assist with more administrative tasks, fundraising efforts, and other operational support. Volunteers who get involved with these activities will be prioritized during our next teacher recruitment cycle. Please email info@prisonyogachicago.org, and someone from our team will reach out to you.

We have a diverse array of volunteer instructors that include studio Yoga teachers, social workers, veterans, artists, formerly-incarcerated folks, and lawyers. Though we all have different backgrounds and lived experiences, we all share the love of Yoga. At this time, PYC expects all of our volunteers that teach in jails to be CYT200, experience teaching in-person, and attend a trauma-informed training course–though we are open to making exceptions for folks who have been teaching in a less formalized environment or received their training in a different way (ex: Indigenous movement practices that have been passed down through family; someone who has been in the process of credentialing but has been teaching at their hospital or workplace for years). Please reach out to us if you have more questions about this.

PYC is always looking for passionate folks interested in making our organization run more smoothly and more effectively. If you have experience in web design, social media management, fundraising, or community networking, please reach out to us: info@prisonyogachicago.org

Yep. (ex: community agencies, nonprofits, interest groups, Yoga studios, college classes, etc.):

Yes we do! Historically, PYC has led internal and external trauma-informed trainings. We continue to offer these continuing education credits to our volunteers, and will be holding a public training again in 2023. We have also given presentations about our work, trauma-informed Yoga, and mindfulness to agencies and groups outside of Cook County Jail, including at DePaul University, like-minded interest groups and agencies, nonprofits, and yoga studios.

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You can email your request to info@prisonyogachicago.org, with information including your group/organization that is requesting a training/workshop, what type of workshop you are interested in receiving, and potential dates for the desired workshop. We cannot guarantee that we can accommodate every request, but we will try to work with you to see if there’s a way to make it happen, and can always refer out if we are not the correct fit.

Absolutely. We are 100% donor-funded (though we intend to open up grants in 2023). You can make a direct donation via PayPal or Venmo below. You can also support PYC when you shop online. Simply go to http://smile.amazon.com and select "Prison Yoga Chicago" as your charity and use smile.amazon.com when shopping online for a portion of your purchase to be donated to PYC.

Thank you. :)