• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Prison Yoga Project Logo

Prison Yoga Project

Self-empowerment and self-rehabilitation

  • Mission
    • Mission & Impacts
    • Philosophy
  • Programs
    • Books for Incarcerated People
    • Program Locations
    • Prisoner Testimonials
    • Gallery
  • Training
    • Training Programs
    • Becoming a Facilitator
    • FAQs
  • People
    • Our Team
    • Ambassadors
  • Shop
  • Donate

Ambassadors

Our Ambassadors are people who have taken independent action to advance the Prison Yoga Project mission and the concept of restorative justice. 

We want to honor them and the actions they have taken – their selfless commitment – to bringing relief and rehabilitation to prisoners through yoga and mindfulness. It is only with the help of dedicated yogis like these that PYP has made the incredible progress it has.


Josefin Wikström

Josefin Wikström (Yoga Therapy for The Mind, E-RYT 500, YACEP, RCYS) has been bringing yoga and dance into the Swedish prisons since 2008. She has been working as a full-time teacher focusing on yoga for trauma-exposed populations since 2003. In 2015, she began working with Prison Yoga Project to coordinate European training and has been teaching Prison Yoga Project training in Mumbai, India, and Mexico.

Josefin Wikström (Yoga Therapy for The Mind, E-RYT 500, YACEP, RCYS) has been bringing yoga and dance into the Swedish prisons since 2008. She has been working as a full-time teacher focusing on yoga for trauma-exposed populations since 2003. In 2015, she began working with Prison Yoga Project to coordinate European training and has been teaching Prison Yoga Project training in Mumbai, India, and Mexico.

Josefin has been the primary teacher for the Swedish Probation services and co-developed the Swedish Krimyoga program together with Eva Seilitz, a program that is today evidence-based through the research study- Yoga in correctional settings. She is now creating trauma-informed yoga programs for the Swedish forensic psychiatry units, the Juvenile justice system, and stress-reducing programs for children in the Swedish schools.

Josefin trained as a Yoga Therapist with The Minded Institute in London with a particular focus on complex trauma and mental health. Through the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute in Boston, MA, she has completed the Traumatic Stress Studies Certification with Bessel van der Kolk and is in ongoing training TCTSY (Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga) training with David Emerson. She has also studied trauma-informed dance/movement therapy with Katia Verrault and Tripura Kashyap in India. Josefin is a professional member of ICPA-International Corrections and Prison Association.

Show moreShow less

Robert Sturman

Globally renowned photographer Robert Sturman has been committed to and has served this mission since the beginning, creating an archive of unforgettable images of our students in San Quentin. He has since expanded this work to other prisons as well.

Globally renowned photographer Robert Sturman has been committed to and has served this mission since the beginning, creating an archive of unforgettable images of our students in San Quentin. He has since expanded this work to other prisons as well.

Many who know of Prison Yoga Project were drawn to it by Robert’s remarkable photography. He is an unrelenting advocate for yoga and its transformational, rehabilitative values in prisons, worldwide. You can contact him via the Robert Sturman website or on Facebook.

Show moreShow less

Leah Song

Leah runs, manages, directs and is the front-woman of the musical group Rising Appalachia, and together with her sister Chloe and their band, they have invested their lives into using the power of the stage for political, social, and environmental justice. Their music speaks both to carrying on traditions in folk music and creating a new platform for equality and change.

Leah runs, manages, directs and is the front-woman of the musical group Rising Appalachia, and together with her sister Chloe and their band, they have invested their lives into using the power of the stage for political, social, and environmental justice. Their music speaks both to carrying on traditions in folk music and creating a new platform for equality and change.

The group has taken Prison Yoga Project on tour and introduced our mission to thousands of attentive listeners. Their work on behalf of the planet and for easing the plight of prisoners is inspiring. Leah has trained in traditional Ashtanga Yoga, mindfulness and yoga for youth and took PYP Training in San Francisco in 2015. She’s taught in juvenile detention centers and prisons and believes in the power of mindfulness as a tool for restorative justice.

Show moreShow less

Whitney Ingram

Whitney is a dedicated advocate of restorative justice and the Prison Yoga Project, having come to the practice through incarceration as a teenager. “I live, see and feel every day the beautiful impact our service can create.” Practitioner since 2007 and teacher since 2012, as a 200 E-RYT 500 RYT Whitney first attended the PYP Trauma Informed Training in Baltimore Spring 2016. 

Whitney is a dedicated advocate of restorative justice and the Prison Yoga Project, having come to the practice through incarceration as a teenager. “I live, see and feel every day the beautiful impact our service can create.” Practitioner since 2007 and teacher since 2012, as a 200 E-RYT 500 RYT Whitney first attended the PYP Trauma Informed Training in Baltimore Spring 2016. 

During training, she met PYP Director of Women Prisoner Initiatives, Kath Meadows. Whitney has since been instrumental in developing and co-teaching PYP Trauma Informed Trainings with Kath, as well as focusing on fundraising. Her offerings and advocating are authentic, having integrated the practice from a place of embodiment to theory. Learn more at www.whitneyingramyoga.com

Show moreShow less

Naoko Komura

Naoko completed the PYP Training in San Francisco in February 2014. Deeply inspired, Naoko and her friend from Colombia, Maria-Paula Jimenez, wished to spread the PYP initiative in hostile prison environments in Latin America. They launched a collaborative project to translate our book Yoga a Path for Healing and Recovery into Spanish.

Naoko completed the PYP Training in San Francisco in February 2014. Deeply inspired, Naoko and her friend from Colombia, Maria-Paula Jimenez, wished to spread the PYP initiative in hostile prison environments in Latin America. They launched a collaborative project to translate our book Yoga a Path for Healing and Recovery into Spanish.

The project stalled several times, but with a commitment from Translators without Borders and more than 20 volunteers on three continents, the draft manuscript was completed; a project spanning two and a half years. It has since been edited and polished and is in production. Reach Maria-Paula here: ccare.stanford.edu/education/cct-directory#colombia.

Show moreShow less

Kelly Boys

Kelly Boys’ depth of experience teaching Yoga Nidra to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBI) was an invaluable contribution to the development of PYP’s program for incarcerated veterans at San Quentin. She actively partnered and co-facilitated classes for the first two years of the program and continues to play an important role for PYP as both a dedicated supporter, advisor and impassioned advocate.


John Sinclair

John is one of the leaders of the Yoga Education in Prison’s Trust, which seeks to support and expand the Prison Yoga Sangha in New Zealand. He also promotes literacy in prisons through the Howard League for Penal Reform. Along with his colleagues, he’s been invited to expand yoga programs into all twelve of his country’s prisons and is working on setting up community classes for prisoners, so they can continue their practice post-release. John took the Training in San Francisco in 2014.

Sign up to receive our monthly emails and a free audio guided meditation by founder James Fox.

Footer

  • Donate
  • Blog
  • Gallery
  • Contact

Prison Yoga Project
P.O. Box 415
Bolinas, CA 94924

All rights reserved © 2022 Prison Yoga Project.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube