PYP Portugal
Coming Together with the Same Purpose: Create, Promote and Implement Holistic Projects in Prison Communities
Prison Yoga Project offers a Restorative Justice practice that focuses on recovery from trauma, development of resilience, and cultivation of empathy, compassion, and personal responsibility. Our evidence-supported, trauma-informed approach to yoga and mindfulness supports people in facing and releasing unresolved trauma safely and effectively.
PYP was founded by James Fox at San Quentin Prison where he and his associate instructors have been teaching trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness classes to incarcerated people around the world since 2002.
Meet the Director:
PYP Portugal
History of Organization:
ALMAZ – Holistic Association in Prison Environment – is a non-profit organization founded by a group of human beings aware of the importance of recovery and social reintegration of “humans without freedom” in Portuguese society. Coming from different areas and having different life experiences, Almaz came together with the same purpose: create, promote and implement holistic projects in Prison Communities.
Beliefs and Mission:
We work for a safe society in which we take care of each other. We want to offer an opportunity for holistic rehabilitation and transformation, so humans can integrate into their immediate environment and in society in a healthier way, for themselves and for everyone else. Among other holistic activities, we promote Yoga and Meditation with the Prison Yoga Project framework supporting rehabilitation and social reintegration, helping in the reduction of recidivism and improving mental and physical health, promoting social and behavioral transformation, and promoting public safety.
The maximum sentence in Portugal is 25 years and taking into account the pardons and good behavior, all these people will return to society. Why not give them a real way to recreat
Highlights
- In April 2018, we presented a Prison Yoga Project proposal at TEDXPorto in Casa da Música. Yoga and meditation in Portuguese prisons | Inez Aires | TEDxPorto | TED Talk
- In February 2019, we met with the Minister of Justice of the Portuguese Government and green lighted the project.
- In October 2021, we signed the agreement between Almaz and the General Directorate of Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP).
- In March 2022, we gave the first class in EP Sintra, kicking off the project.
- In December 2023, we initiated the project in 11 establishments (1 feminine and 10 masculine) with an average of 17 students per class, with a team of 30 yoga teachers.
- With PYP, James Fox and Josefn Wikstrom, we trained 43 Yoga Teachers in Trauma Informed Yoga.
- Parallel to Yoga and Meditation weekly classes, we are also promoting punctual Guided Meditations, Sound Meditations and other Master Classes with respected teachers of our community.
- We are working along with Porto University, the Laboratory of Cognitive and Forensic Neuroscience, Neurobios and MuLabs on a Neuro Psychophysiological assessment of the Yoga intervention in Prisons by the Prison Yoga Project, aiming to get results by 2024/2025.
The inmates easily adopted this relaxation practice. This Yoga practice is useful, and it is an experience that has all the conditions to be successful and attractive to the prisoner population.
It’s time we emphasize healing over punishment
Our mission goes beyond rehabilitation. We advocate for a transformative shift in our culture, from punitive judgment to healing-centered approaches. By investing in healing over punishment, we strive to change society’s perspective on the root causes of harm, addressing issues at their source and breaking the cycles that perpetuate suffering.
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