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Prison Yoga: Freedom Behind Bars

Hawaiʻi Public Radio | By Noe Tanigawa

Published June 6, 2014 at 5:05 AM HST

"Main Street" inside Halawa Prison, the Learning Center is about half way up on the left.

Yoga class at Halawa Correctional Facility. Mahalo to Amy Jodar, the Education Supervisor at Halawa, for her assistance with the story, and her support for the yoga classes.

Lu after class, heading back through the many doors and gates

The yoga studio industry has been one of the fastest growing in the U.S. for the past eight years, worth nearly 7 billion dollars in 2013. Growth is expected to continue in 2014, with men and boomers joining the trend. Here, HPR’sNoeTanigawa reports on one woman who has spent twenty years changing lives with yoga classes in an unexpected location.

In addition to the classes she teaches at Halawa, Waiawa, and OCCC, Lu DiGrazia began teaching yoga classes at the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility in Kailua this week. She is hoping for financial support to expand the schedule of classes and offer support to transitioning prisoners.

DiGrazia also teaches in the community through her studio, the Yoga School of Kailua.