Hi! I’m Erika and I have been attending Yoga Classes at two of LA County’s Juvenile detention facilities. I have learned a lot about myself and the other young adults incarcerated in those places. It is both inspiring and sad to see so many intelligent youth just now trying to do something with their lives. I look at them and think that it could have been me in there or some of my friends. I feel so lucky! I want to do everything I can to help keep people out of those places.
I learned that 2,833 children drop out of school; youth account for 18 percent of all violent crime in the U.S.and 33 percent of all serious property crime. I believe Yoga for Youth can have a dramatic impact on the lives of a lot of people and can offer an effective and affordable alternative to detention and police centered crime prevention programs.
Participants at detention camps Kilpatrick, Miller, Sylmar, Juvenile Hall Yoga classes, reported that Yoga has helped them to control their tempers more easily and keep calm when other inmates are trying to antagonize them. Their outlook on life invariably changes from one of hopelessness and despair in the early stages of the program to one of optimism and determination in the later weeks.
Learning stress and anger management through yoga and meditation demonstrates alternative means to deal with daily challenges and generates different cognitive ways of perceiving oneself in the world -- youth learn to trust their instincts and listen to the quiet voice of reason.
