Prison Yoga + Meditation: Relieve Suffering, Heal From Trauma, Experience Inner Peace

Nancy Deville relied on her extensive experience as the founder of the nonprofit Prison Yoga + Meditation and her background in the health book genre to write a yoga and meditation book specific to prison life. This beautifully photographed book begins with the central theme of using one's thoughts to heal from trauma and to create a life of empowerment, contentedness, self-compassion, and love even while incarcerated. In simple terms, Nancy explains epigenetics (the study of how behavior and environment affect genetic expression) to promote physical as well as emotional and spiritual healing. She reveals the life-altering power of self-compassion, in particular during yoga practice.Before beginning a yoga and meditation practice, Nancy sets the reader on a course of action with Seven Powerful Life Practices.Transformative as it is entertaining, Nancy continues the journey by outlining a brief history of yoga and providing a deep dive into Prana along with enough breathing practices to appeal to a broad spectrum of preferences.She describes ways for incarcerated yogis to utilize and benefit from mudras and chakras.She extensively covers the importance of avoiding injuries.In the meditation chapter, written for prisoners who must learn meditation on their own, Nancy offers an easy-to-understand description of the brainwave activity that occurs during meditation. She explains how to identify the particular brainwave pattern that opens the doorway to the subconscious where a practitioner can eliminate unwanted traits and beliefs and make positive permanent changes.The majority of the book is devoted to yoga, with 30 unique yoga sequences so that someone serving a long sentence can go from beginner to advanced, including Restorative/Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced, Surya Namaskar Salutations to the Sun, Inversions, and Hot Yoga, as well as instructions for 250 poses, a glossary of yoga terms, and common Sanskrit terms and yoga prefixes.Nancy Deville's non-profit Prison Yoga + Meditation has reached thousands of people in state, county, and federal facilities. With the distribution of this book, her wish is that many more incarcerated individuals can benefit from the healing practices of self-compassion, yoga, breathwork, and meditation.To donate toward the distribution of this book, please visit the PY+M website https://prisonyogaandmeditation.org/.Praise for Prison Yoga + MeditationWhat a pleasure it is to read something written with such heart-centeredness and compassion. Nancy Deville has managed to capture her exceptional skills along with her amazing commitment to service in the space of this one book. Combining wisdom, practice, and love, Nancy manages to wrap her arms around incarcerated people in a way I have seldom seen. As a long-time practitioner of meditation and a formerly incarcerated lifer, I found in this book what I believe will be a powerful counterpoint to the daily lived experience of incarceration. Thank you, Nancy!Kenneth E. HartmanAuthor of Mother California: A Story of Redemption Behind BarsKenneth served 38 years of a life without the possibility of parole sentence. Since his release, he has continued his efforts to reform the prison system in California."Nancy Deville has delivered a unique masterpiece on prison yoga. She does an incredible job connecting abstract spiritual principles with the language of science, helping the reader gain faith in the practices that she recommends. She masterfully translates abstruse ideas into immediately accessible recommendations. The book is a brilliant must-read for anyone who feels hopeless, lost, trapped, or without meaning or anyone who is simply is looking to elevate their experience of life."- Srini Pillay, M.D., Harvard-trained psychiatrist and brain researcher and author of Tinker Dabble DoodleTry