Serving people impacted by trauma, addiction and incarceration through trauma-sensitive, mindfulness-based yoga.
Background:
Founded by Michael Huggins in 2012, Transformation Yoga Project (TYP) began as an extension of the volunteer work done as an individual contributor to bring the benefits of yoga and mindfulness to at risk populations. The program’s purpose at that time was to provide helpful tools through the practice of yoga for dealing with stress, tension, addiction, and anxiety for people who would otherwise not have access to yoga. These volunteer activities began in 2009 and over time have grown to include developing programming for adults who are incarcerated, veterans, in drug and alcohol recovery or are accessing community transitional services.
Mission:
Transformation Yoga Project is a non-profit outreach program teaching yoga as a tool for personal change in prisons, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers and to populations who would otherwise not have access to it.
We believe that yoga creates and supports positive change from the inside out for all individuals. We recognize there are vast numbers of people who do not have access to this practice and its benefits including stress management, self-awareness, impulse control, mindfulness, and distress tolerance. We believe the health of any community is dependent on the health of all of its members. Transformation Yoga Project implements its compassionate mission by providing yoga support services through teachers specifically trained in mindfulness based yoga for this population.
In addition, Transformation Yoga Project offers training workshops and other activities for those involved in, or who want to become involved in, teaching yoga and mindfulness to those at-risk. We want to assist in raising awareness and the level of service activity in greater Philadelphia community.
Populations Served:
Prisoners
The organization is in the process of becoming the Greater Philadelphia chapter of the Prison Yoga Project (www.prisonyoga.org), a nationally recognized leader in providing mindfulness programs to prisons. The prison population has overwhelmed the corrections system and is fueled by repeat offenders. Ex-offenders find that freedom from the impact of incarceration does not end at the moment of release. Many will recidivate within a year of release. Families of the incarcerated are also ‘doing time.’ The burden can be crippling. Law enforcement officers are the first line of defense in dangerous and life-threatening circumstances. Prison staff, on a daily basis, works under incredibly stressful and dangerous conditions. Communities suffer a wide range of effects – 90% of all incarcerated individuals will someday be released into neighborhood communities.
The Prison Yoga Project was founded in the belief that yoga, taught specifically as a mindfulness practice, is very effective in releasing deeply held, unresolved trauma, allowing us to address the resultant behavioral issues.
Yoga as a mindfulness practice is our tool for reengaging prisoners with their bodies to restore the connection between mind, heart and body. We use a trauma based yoga practice to develop the whole person, increase sensitivity toward oneself and empathy for others. By putting the men (and women) back in touch with their bodies, they begin to care more about themselves and understand the harm they have caused themselves.
Our objective is to provide prisoners with a mindfulness tool to draw on their yoga practice when they’re not doing yoga. If they’re tangled in a confrontation on the yard, or upon release, or tempted to go back to using, they can draw on what they have learned from yoga for practical solutions. They can do it without actually having to do a yoga pose to get the value. That’s the transformational, rehabilitative value of yoga.
Drug and alcohol rehabilitation clients
Most rehab programs typically provide one-on-one and group counseling, education, healthful nutrition, recreation and exercise. Daily exercise provides several benefits to the person seeking recovery. It is a natural mood-enhancer, provides a way to release tension and aggression, and promotes overall well-being. Yoga practice achieves all these and more. Many drug rehab centers use 12-Step programs to help patients reach recovery goals. While 12-Step programs are modified from center to center, there are some portions of the format which are integral to making it so successful. Yoga is a natural companion to 12-Step based recovery because it shares many of the same goals and teaches participants how to achieve those goals.
Yoga as part of drug and alcohol recovery has become popular just within the past decade. Now it is not unusual for celebrities to publicly sing the praises of this exercise which helped them in their own rehab experience. And yet, yoga is not a new art. The practice is thousands of years old. And although it benefits all who practice it, the exercise offers particular support to the person forming a new life free from drug or alcohol addiction.
Veterans
Nearly 2.5 million American men and women have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. These men and women bear the burden of the visible and invisible scars from the horrid circumstances and events of war. Rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans have been found to be increasing, with estimates as high as 20 percent in war veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, many veterans with and without PTSD will suffer from major depression, traumatic brain Injury, and addiction, sometimes leading to violence and aggression, legal issues, homelessness, and even suicide.
Veterans have found that mindful yoga therapy helps them sleep better, concentrate and think more clearly, manage anger and aggression better, and find comfort in their own skin. Yoga may not cure post-traumatic stress disorder, yet veterans and active-duty individuals from all branches and eras of service find these practices to be a significant and necessary part of their recovery. Mindful yoga therapy has been successfully integrated into mental health and addiction treatment programs for veterans and active-duty military across the US and Canada.
Other Programs/Services:
Transformation Yoga Project advises prisons, private entities and/or individuals about establishing yoga programs as part of a rehabilitation program, and provides an effective curriculum and facilitation protocol. The program and processes are adaptable to serve the needs of institutions, justice departments, and social work agencies. We work in tandem with probation departments, family court systems, administrators and correctional officers of penal institutions. We form strategic alliances with social service agencies and organizations whose clientele deal with the aftermath of crime and violence to offer tools that alleviate the experience of trauma. Ideally the program becomes a partner with the institution as the stress and anger management component of the facility.
Transformation Yoga Project, Inc. activities are funded through charitable contributions from individuals and organizations. We anticipate seeking contributions from the business community in Pennsylvania and other philanthropic individuals and organizations as well as applying for grants targeted towards the populations we serve. We also encourage the facilities where classes are held to contribute to the cost of the classes.
The objectives of Transformation Yoga Project are:
1) to expand the program delivery to include more populations,
2) to train yoga teachers and therapists on providing mindfulness programs for populations dealing with acute or chronic trauma,
3) to develop and implement programs to address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),
4) to develop mechanisms for tracking the outcomes of mindfulness programs,
5) to develop a sense of awareness and community where participants can have access to safe, supportive, and healthy mindfulness programs.
Transformation Yoga Project will focus its efforts in the Southern Pennsylvania Region and northern Delaware.
Contact: Michael Huggins
mike@transformationyogaproject.org phone: (484) 356-4583
Nonprofit Organization, Alternative & Holistic Health Service
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