This year has seen the slow demise of our efforts taking yoga behind the bars of both Atlacholoaya, Morelos, Mexico, prisons. Our volunteer yoga teachers from all walks of the yoga world, from Kundalini to Ashtanga and Anusara to Iyengar, were severely hit both by the wave of violence which has affected Mexico as well as by the Economic crisis, which made it impossible for them to continue to dedicate their expertise, money and time to the prison project. This could have been partially avoided if Fundacion Parinaama's two projects had been approved by the local Government. One refers to a request for funding in order to continue the regular yoga classes offered twice a week in the Men's Prison and once a week in the Women's Prison, which have been offered now, for over eleven and a half years, entirely for free, as part of a Stress Management Program initiated in 2003. The other refers to an Addiction Prevention Program designed specially for the Men's Prison, with a three month duration, which would have included the participation of ex-convicts trained as Yoga Teachers, inside and out. We await news from the prison authorities regarding whether the continuation of this Herculean effort of eleven and a half years is possible or not.
Parinaama is now concentrating its efforts on Prevention - offering free public classes in parks in Cuernavaca, Mexico City and Buenos Aires - and on Teacher Training (Parinaama Yoga 200 Hours). Fundacion Parinaama boasts the first Yoga Teacher Training Program ever given inside a prison. Some of those who have been able to survive at an Economic level on the outside, giving yoga classes, usually in difficult underpriviledged inner city districts, continue in training with Ann Moxey and are entirely funded, with increasing difficulty, by Martha Malazzo and Ann, the only partners left in the Foundation!
The impact the program is having is being felt far and wide, just through networking and this blog! We have teachers inspired in our work who have started offering their time and training in Monterrey, Morelia, Toluca, Mexico City, Puebla, Queretaro and San Miguel Allende. The repercussions have also been the source of inspiration in Montevideo, Uruguay (see on You Tube: First Yoga Class in Uruguayian Prison) and Argentina, where there are teachers inspired by our efforts offering their time in prisons in La Plata and Buenos Aires. In Costa Rica, where Ann offered "Introduction to Parinaama Yoga" last year, there are teachers offering yoga in Juvenile Detention Centers and the San Jose Women's Prison.
So, even if the going has gotten especially rough for the project in the prisons of Atlacholoaya where it was originally born, the offspring in other areas has multiplied!
Our efforts in 2015 will be geared towards offering the entire Parinaama Yoga Teacher Training in Mexico City (Samadhi Yoga, near the Four Seasons Hotel) and Introduction to Parinaama Yoga in Lima, Peru (Fundacion Yoga Peru ), as well as continuing with Level Two of the training in Mar del Plata, Argentina (Victoria Yoga - Romana Miccio). In 2014 Levels One and Two were completed in Centro Kiai, Bosques de las Lomas, Mexico City (Jorge Espinoza - Layla) and Level Three was offered in Sukhi Kutir, Morelos, (Ann Moxey), along with a Meditation Retreat which is a requisite for the programme. Complementary workshops were offered elsewhere, including one on Eating Disorders and Yoga "Food, Love and Yoga", at Mukta Yoga, Condesa, Mexico City (Andrea Borbolla, Director of the movie "WITHIN' (Interno) - You Tube).
In a Mexico submerged in the use of drugs and the resulting violence, fear and anxiety, our intention is to heighten awareness regarding attachments in general and raise the level of teaching amongst yoga practitioners and teachers.
Programs recorded for Channel Three, the State Government's Television Station, on Stress Management with Parinaama Yoga taught by Ann Moxey, are freely available on www.imryt.org. Your comments, most appreciated!