Wednesday, August 3, 2005 (AP)Report: Yoga Stir Tempers in Norway Prison
(08-03) 13:07 PDT OSLO, Norway (AP) --
A Norwegian prison has stopped giving yoga sessions to inmates afterfinding that some of the prisoners became more aggressive and agitated, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The yoga classes were introduced on at trial basis earlier this year at Ringerike prison, which holds some of Norway's most dangerous criminals.
Prison officials had hoped meditation and breathing exercises would help inmates contain their anger, but it appeared to have the opposite effect.
Some inmates became more agitated and aggressive, while others developed sleeping problems as a result of the yoga sessions, prison warden Sigbjoern Hagen told newspaper Ringerikes Blad.
Hagen said that deepbreathing exercises could make the inmates more dangerous, by unblocking their psychological barriers.
--------------------------------------Copyright 2005 AP
2 comments:
First off, in the Scandinavian countries, their criminal justice system is a lot more community-oriented than America's, meaning it takes a lot more serious and dangerous of offender before they will be put behind bars. If you were to try it in our prisons your results might vary, as we put anyone in prison, violent or not.
Second, the article says the yoga may be breaking down the defenses built up against trauma, which is a coping mechanism for living in unspeakably horrible conditions. Unspeakable conditions got the Scandinavian prisoners where they are, and being caged is an unspeakable condition. It is no surprise that stripping these prisoners of their last vestige of protection makes them more aggressive.
Ms. Lili,
From a technical pov, Yoga is an internal art (like Taiji, Bagua and other internal martial arts) that emphasizes relaxation by shifting the breathing downward. ... Problem is that most ppl do not emphasize this point. And most ppl. aren't qualified to teach these type of internal exercising. ...
If it was taught correctly, this act would not have happened. ... As said before, most ppl. aren't qualified to teach these type of internal exercising. ...
Regardless where the ppl are positioned at, good internal exercising teaches the release of the mind while the body is positioned at a local position.
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