Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a question about our training or facilitator application that is not listed below, please contact us.

Are Prison Yoga Project facilitators paid or volunteer-based?

Prison Yoga Project offers both volunteer opportunities and limited grant-funded facilitator roles, with most programs operating on a volunteer basis and any compensation dependent on the availability of external funding.

The training is open to anyone interested, regardless of experience or training. To work with us as a facilitator, we require a 200-hour yoga teacher training certification or extensive experience teaching yoga and/or mindfulness. Due to the sensitive nature of our work, we screen, so not everyone who attends the training is guaranteed an opportunity to work with Prison Yoga Project as a facilitator; however, there are many other ways to engage.

We offer a tiered-pricing model with Community, Supporter, and Benefactor levels. For people who can afford to pay a little more, the extra you give covers a part of the cost for those who cannot.

For those with constrained finances, we also offer scholarships. Scholarship applications are evaluated based on economic need, identification with a disproportionately impacted group by trauma and incarceration, and the likelihood of applying the knowledge and skills learned in service to the community.

You will find the scholarship application here.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

Please read the following before applying to be a PYP facilitator

Bringing yoga and embodied mindfulness practices to incarcerated people can be one of the most rewarding endeavors a person can undertake. It takes commitment, skill, and deep personal practice.

We operate in highly-sensitive and potentially volatile environments. We serve people who have likely suffered trauma in their lifetimes, who may have caused significant, perhaps mortal, harm to others, who live in a potentially traumatizing environment, and who deserve the best quality support we can provide. We work alongside administrators, health care professionals, correctional staff, and security-conscious professionals who are themselves subject to the traumatizing nature of the environment. Facilitating yoga and mindfulness programs in this setting requires a unique skill set, knowledge base, and character.

We recommend that people take Prison Yoga Project’s Foundational Training before applying to become a Facilitator. Attending this training will help interested people clarify what this work is and what it is not. It will orient them to our mission, philosophy, and methodology. It will provide an informed foundation for deciding whether or not to apply to become a Prison Yoga Project Facilitator. Attending training, however, does not guarantee a person a position as a Prison Yoga Project Facilitator.

Anyone who has completed a yoga teacher training program may apply. We value lived experience, experience working with incarcerated people or similar groups. We welcome certified yoga therapists, Somatic Experiencing Practitioners, or mental health professionals with training in somatic modalities and candidates who have advanced training in trauma-informed yoga. We expect Facilitators who have not completed training with Prison Yoga Project to do so at the earliest convenience upon acceptance.

Once an application is complete, our team reviews it in consideration of the applicant’s qualifications, the need for facilitators in specific areas, and our capacity to onboard new facilitators or explore new opportunities to initiate a program. We will work with the applicant to schedule an initial interview following this review.

We look forward to reviewing your application!

Continue to Facilitator Application
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