A prison is supposed to be the center of rehabilitation and correction for any delinquent individual. Many correctional activities have been undertaken in the prison until recently the yoga programme in the jails of India has been the recent corrective measure of a more holistic and spiritual in nature. This has helped the individuals and the prisoners to a great extent say the reports from various sources. In the recent past Kiran Bedi is one of the police officers who has taken up many correctional programmes in the different jails and prisons of India starting from Tihar jail, Indore jail and many other prisons of India. She also opened her own NGO named India Vision Foundation which works for the rehabilitation of the prison inmates.
Followed by this came the different yoga and spiritual gurus of India who also started to think about the inmates of the prison and their physical and mental wellbeing. One such noted work is done by the Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who used to regularly visit the prisons and use to teach and preach meditation and yoga for the inmates. Later on this was followed up by the teachers of Art of Living.
Such an attempt is also made by the popular yoga guru known as Shwaasa Guru who is also named as Swami Vachananand who visited many prisons of Karnataka and many parts of India to introduce the yoga classes for the prisoners.
In this context, it is for us to remember that prisons of India already have a rich history of spirituality and diverting individuals to one’s real life’s goal. One such noted example would be Rishi Aurobindo Ghosh who was essentially an anarchist in the British period and was sentenced to prison in Alipore jail. It was in this period that he realized the real purpose of life and his transformation took place. After his release he took to religious transformation through the practice of yoga and moved to Pondicherry. This is when he gained enlightenment and came to be known as Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, a noted sage and a philosopher.
India seems to take this history of spirituality and has let her rich heritage of yoga flow into the lives of the poor prisoners. Not only Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or Shwaasa Guru there are other programmes conducted by the trust of Prajapati Brahma Kumari who initiates the prisoners in the Vipassana technique of yoga, a Buddhist technique of meditation. There is Isha foundation also who conducts yoga classes on a regular basis in the various prisons of India. They have held programmes in Coimbatore, Poojapura, Thiruvananthapuram and many other places right from the early nineties.
It was interesting to note that the country’s largest prison, Tihar Jail organized a yoga programme on the morning of the International Yoga day on the June 21st, 2015. The inmates say that they have been highly benefitted in these programmes and many have been looking forward to such practices. Many reports of increased appetite, regularity of sleep, controlled behavior and a decreased tendency of outburst of anger and negative emotions.
Followed by this came the different yoga and spiritual gurus of India who also started to think about the inmates of the prison and their physical and mental wellbeing. One such noted work is done by the Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who used to regularly visit the prisons and use to teach and preach meditation and yoga for the inmates. Later on this was followed up by the teachers of Art of Living.
Such an attempt is also made by the popular yoga guru known as Shwaasa Guru who is also named as Swami Vachananand who visited many prisons of Karnataka and many parts of India to introduce the yoga classes for the prisoners.
In this context, it is for us to remember that prisons of India already have a rich history of spirituality and diverting individuals to one’s real life’s goal. One such noted example would be Rishi Aurobindo Ghosh who was essentially an anarchist in the British period and was sentenced to prison in Alipore jail. It was in this period that he realized the real purpose of life and his transformation took place. After his release he took to religious transformation through the practice of yoga and moved to Pondicherry. This is when he gained enlightenment and came to be known as Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, a noted sage and a philosopher.
India seems to take this history of spirituality and has let her rich heritage of yoga flow into the lives of the poor prisoners. Not only Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or Shwaasa Guru there are other programmes conducted by the trust of Prajapati Brahma Kumari who initiates the prisoners in the Vipassana technique of yoga, a Buddhist technique of meditation. There is Isha foundation also who conducts yoga classes on a regular basis in the various prisons of India. They have held programmes in Coimbatore, Poojapura, Thiruvananthapuram and many other places right from the early nineties.
It was interesting to note that the country’s largest prison, Tihar Jail organized a yoga programme on the morning of the International Yoga day on the June 21st, 2015. The inmates say that they have been highly benefitted in these programmes and many have been looking forward to such practices. Many reports of increased appetite, regularity of sleep, controlled behavior and a decreased tendency of outburst of anger and negative emotions.
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