Unity in Yoga: Rosa Vissers and Yoga Behind Bars
Published: April 1, 2019
Rosa Vissers, the Executive Director of Yoga Behind Bars, joined our Unity in Yoga podcast to discuss how prison yoga programs benefit those incarcerated and to share the challenges she and her volunteers have faced.
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Guest
Rosa Vissers is the Executive Director of Yoga Behind Bars (YBB), a nonprofit organization offering trauma-informed yoga to incarcerated youth and adults. Over the years, Rosa has shared trauma-sensitive movement practices with hundreds of incarcerated individuals. In 2015, she spearheaded YBB's launch of its Yoga Teacher Trainings behind bars, one of the country's first teacher trainings for incarcerated people, having now trained more than 500 people in the YBB approach. In 2014, Rosa presented a TEDx talk on yoga in prisons. She also is a contributing editor and contributor to two Yoga Service Council books: Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System (2017) and Best Practices for Yoga with Survivors of Sexual Trauma (scheduled for publication in 2019). Rosa is based in Seattle and is also a dance artist and lover of plants.
Related Resources
Accessibility and the Subtle Body
Teaching a Trauma Sensitive Yoga Class
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