Contact
Emily Westlake
Administrative Manager
emily@yogabehindbars.org
206-321-0996
Tuition
$325
This includes 17 hours of training and a $75 manual.
Payments in installments, scholarships for people of color, and work/exchange available, please contact us for more information.
- If you unexpectedly can't make it to the training, you can move your registration fee to a future training. Or, if you need to cancel:
- If you cancel up to 14 days before training, you will get reimbursed in full, minus a $25 administrative fee
- Cancellations within 14 days of the training will be refunded 50%
- Cancellations within 7 days of the training will not be reimbursed, except in case of emergency.
Who are we?
Yoga Behind Bars shares yoga and meditation with incarcerated people to promote rehabilitation, personal transformation, and a more just society for all.
When we started out, Yoga Behind Bars was one yoga teacher offering one weekly class in Seattle's downtown jail. Today a team of 40+ volunteer yoga instructors teach 23-26 yoga and meditation classes a week in eleven prisons, jails and detention centers around Puget Sound.
a light in every cell.
Training Sponsored by
Tri-Cities Yoga Behind Bars Teacher Training
Join a growing force in your community creating social change with yoga and meditation
In this three-day training, you will hear stories from the field, learn how to increase your impact as a teacher, gain a greater understanding of the prison culture you'll be entering, get real-time feedback and guidance from masters in the field, and receive the Yoga Behind Bars manual, one of the best resources available for teaching in prisons. Class counts for 17 CE credits with Yoga Alliance.
Friday, April 15th from 6:30-9 pm
Saturday, April 16th from 9 am to 6 pm
Sunday April 17th, 9 am to 5 pm
Be prepared to have your mind blown and your heart opened.
Prerequisites:
- This training is for yoga and meditation teachers as well as anybody wanting to study yoga based tools to work with people in prison.
- In order to volunteer for YBB after completion of the training, 200-hour certification with Yoga Alliance or equivalent experience is required.
About the Trainers
Rosa Vissers, Executive Director. Rosa joined Yoga Behind Bars as a volunteer in 2010 and has never looked back. She became a staff member in 2013 contributing a wide range of experience working for grassroots nonprofits such as Velocity Dance Center and Dance Art Group. Originally from the Netherlands, Rosa combines her commitment to service and social justice with an international dance career.
Rosa fell in love with yoga in 2005 and completed her 500-hour Yoga Certification in 2007 at Centered City Yoga in Salt Lake City. She earned an MFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah, a BFA from ArtEZ in the Netherlands, and is a certified Permaculture Designer. She teaches at the women's prison in Gig Harbor and men's prison in Monroe. You can see her TEDx talk about the power of yoga in prisons here.
Jess Frank is YBB's Program Director. Her passion for providing transformative opportunities to incarcerated people sparked at the start of her career and has only grown since she became a YBB instructor two years ago. As a program coordinator for the Post Prison Education Program and University Beyond Bars, Jess became both intimately acquainted with the challenges facing people in the criminal justice system and deeply inspired by the dedication of the students. She recruited volunteer instructors, managed clients getting out of prison and into community college, and taught prep English classes in the Washington State Reformatory. One of the highlights of her week is teaching yoga to 25 students at the men’s prison in Monroe.
And a formerly incarcerated guest TBD.