Jill Weiss Ippolito turned her life around with yoga, after being incarcerated as an adult, and went on to complete over 900 hours of yoga teacher training. In 2011, Jill founded UpRising Yoga (URY) and began teaching yoga life skill classes in youth detention facilities, group homes, hospitals, schools, camps, homeless shelters, and underserved communities. Now, Jill educates hundreds of yoga instructors, childcare providers, mental health professionals, and educators worldwide through her international trauma-informed yoga trainings, and advocates for the reformation of prison and probation culture through yoga.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Jill on:

• What she means by “trauma-informed” yoga, and how she ensures particularly sensitive students feel safe and secure in their first yoga class
• Her brilliant (and effective) strategy to get a yoga program integrated into the California probation system, despite heavy resistance from the staff
• How teachers must adjust their approach to teaching in non-studio settings, when the students are not there by choice
• Who can benefit from getting trained in trauma-informed yoga (hint: you don’t need a yoga practice, but you do need to know something specific about yourself)

Announcements:

• Join me this fall for workshops in NYC (Yoga & Fitness Herald Square), Miami (Original Hot Yoga 305), and Richmond, VA (The Yoga Dojo + Hot Yoga Richmond): henrywins.com/events

Links from this episode:

• Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System by the Yoga Service Council — Jill’s recommended book

Get in touch with Jill!

• UpRisingYoga.org
• Jill on Instagram
• UpRising Yoga on Instagram