Yoga gains ground behind bars in New Zealand

Some of New Zealand's toughest inmates are turning to yoga behind bars - part of a growing effort to reduce reoffending and support rehabilitation.

While only a handful of prisons offer in-person yoga classes at the moment, video sessions are available in all 18 facilities nationwide.

"Before Covid, we had at least one teacher in every prison. Since the pandemic, things have changed," says John Sinclair, chair of the Yoga Education in Prisons Trust, which was formed in 2009 to promote yoga as a tool for rehabilitation.

"Yoga helps reduce anxiety, aids sleep, supports relaxation and helps people deal with addiction," Sinclair says. "We'd love to expand what we're doing inside prisons."

Jasmin Dingemans agrees.

"Without a doubt, yoga has rehabilitative effect," says Dingemans, a yoga instructor and trustee of Yoga Education in Prisons Trust.

Dingemans has been teaching yoga for more than 17 years, practicing for three decades.

Between 2014 and 2019, she taught yoga classes at Otago Corrections Facility.

These days, she works behind the scenes with Yoga Education in Prisons Trust to help expand yoga programmes in prisons.

"We love sharing the benefits of yoga with people who might not otherwise have access to it," she says.

She says New Zealand's prison statistics and high levels of crime, combined with the success of yoga programmes in other countries, prompted the trust to introduce classes here.

According to the Prison Yoga Project - a global non-profit promoting yoga in correctional settings - at least 11 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, France and Australia, have adopted similar initiatives.

In 2014, Dingemans lead her first yoga class inside a prison in Dunedin.

"I was nervous and concerned … but it went smoothly," she recalls. "About 20 men participated, and they were all very attentive and respectful."

She says many of the prisoners who attended her first class kept coming back.

Initially, she encountered scepticism from some Corrections officers - but that soon changed.

"After a while, they saw the change happening," she says. "From there, they were very supportive."

Dingemans says inmates also offered encouraging feedback.

"Many said yoga helped them sleep better and feel calmer and more confident," she says.

Access to prisons became restricted during the Covid-19 pandemic, and in-person classes dwindled.

Sinclair says Yoga Education in Prisons Trust is still working to bring teachers back.

"It's not an easy job recruiting teachers post-Covid," he says. If there are experienced teachers willing to volunteer, we need their help.

"Many prisons are keen to bring yoga back, but finding the people to run those classes has been a challenge."

Yoga Education in Prisons Trust has offered a correspondence course to prisoners for the past eight years, reaching more than 100 inmates.

During the pandemic, the organisation also launched a video series that was uploaded to the prison TV system, with instructors filming sessions from their homes.

In 2022, it partnered with the Department of Corrections to create a series of professionally produced yoga videos, ranging from 12 to 30 minutes.

The project, Te Rokihau, made 14 yoga and meditation sessions available across all prisons in 2023.

"We received some funding from the Corrections and made videos professionally for the project," Sinclair says.

In 2023, 14 yoga and meditation education videos were made available in all prisons across New Zealand with a project titled "Te Rokihau".

"Yoga classes in prisons are a constructive activity for people in prison to partake in voluntarily," a spokesperson for Corrections says.

"Prison staff anecdotally report seeing benefits to prisoners who take part in these activities, which complement our wide range of other rehabilitation, reintegration, health and employment programmes," the spokesperson says.

"Taking part in constructive activities like this can help prisoners to reduce aggression and tension."

Sinclair also says Yoga Education in Prisons Trust hopes to train inmates to run classes for their peers.

However, funding remains a barrier.

"We're keen to do more, but we face many funding challenges," Sinclair says.

Yoga is gaining popularity in many parts of the world, with about 1 in 6 adults now practicing yoga in the United States, according a 2024 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In New Zealand, participation rates have remained steady.

A 2022 survey titled "Sport New Zealand's Active NZ Changes in Participation" shows the number of adults aged 18 years and older who participates in yoga weekly has remained stable between 2018 and 2022, totalling 6-8 percent.

However, Dingemans has seen an uptick in people taking up her classes at her practice, Soma Yoga.

"In the beginning, it was a lot smaller, and I was only running one class," she says. "Now I'm doing five. People are noticing the benefits [of yoga] and adding it as a well-being practice."

Yoga celebrations

On 21 June, yoga practitioners across New Zealand marked the 11th International Day of Yoga under the global theme "Yoga for One Earth, One Health".

The festivities were no different from previous years, with the Indian High Commission in Wellington partnering with organisations in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Dunedin, Invercargill, New Plymouth and Rotorua.

The largest gathering in Auckland was held at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre.

"We had a range of participants from children to seniors, including the consul general," said Puspa Lekinwala, president of the Auckland Indian Association.

"Yoga holds deep significance for the Indian community," she said. "Once you start practicing, you'll notice changes - a greater sense of ease, improved flexibility and a heightened awareness of your body."

A celebration in Parliament's banquet hall drew more than 200 attendees, including MPs Ginny Andersen and Chris Bishop, Indian High Commissioner Neeta Bhushan, parliamentary staff and yoga enthusiasts.

The day was also marked in Samoa, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands.