Yoga in Penitentiary Settings: Transcendence, Spirituality, and Self-Improvement

Beyond Narcissism: Towards an Analysis of the Public, Political and Collective Forms of Contemporary Spirituality

“…Recent studies have begun to highlight that the emergence of the holistic milieu in public contexts often assumes a collective and usually altruistic form, particularly in public institutions (Becci 2018;Griera 2017;Griera and Clot-Garrell 2015b). Additionally, some research has also started to explore holistic spirituality's presence in open-air urban environments (Hegner and Margry 2016) and its relationship with political and social movements (Viotti and Funes 2015;Zwissler 2018).…”

“…For three years, we have been following the organization of these courses, accompanying the teachers in their classes-and even shadowing the yoga teachers during training-in order to deepen our ethnographic understanding. Initially, the research was focused on exploring the impact of yoga in the inmates' lives and also the institutional opportunities-and constraints-associated with the organization of such an activity in the context of the prison (Griera 2017;Griera and Clot-Garrell 2015b). However, as the project was advancing, we started to become more interested in the characteristics and role of the yoga teachers themselves, and several questions emerged: why do these yoga teachers relinquish the comfort of the yoga studio to devote their free time and resources to teach yoga to inmates?…”

“…For most of the volunteers, yoga is not only a physical activity, but a practice that has opened a "path of self-discovery," an "alternation" process facilitating important changes in their lives and re-invigorating their biographies (Berger 1963, p. 68). Their involvement in the yoga milieu has been concurrent with the internalization of an "holistic theodicy," enabling them to understand themselves, their relationship to others and the wider world (Griera 2017). This personal experience is what moves them to bring yoga to prisons and to promote the idea that the adoption of yoga can be a crucial 'turning point' in the inmates' process of rehabilitation and transformation, in a similar way that it has been for them.…”

Religion in Public Institutions: Comparative Perspectives from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe

“…Several studies examine frameworks regulating religion as a response to changes in the European religious landscape, such as secularization (Martínez‐Ariño et al. ), the rise of religious minorities (Jahn ; Rostaing, Béraud, and Galembert ), and the growth of holistic spirituality (Griera ). However, most of these studies focus on the religious practices of inmates, and so may overlook the religious experiences of guards and other prison staff.…”

“…Comparative work that thinks institutionally across administrative regions or nations is more limited (for noticeable exceptions, see Becci 2011;Becci and Roy 2015;Beckford, Joly, and Khosrokhavar 2005;Cairns 2015). Several studies examine frameworks regulating religion as a response to changes in the European religious landscape, such as secularization (Martínez-Ariño et al 2015), the rise of religious minorities (Jahn 2015;Rostaing, Béraud, and Galembert 2015), and the growth of holistic spirituality (Griera 2017). However, most of these studies focus on the religious practices of inmates, and so may overlook the religious experiences of guards and other prison staff.…”