Bolinas resident James Fox is seeking donations to help circulate his book, Yoga: A Path for Healing and Recovery, to prisoners across the world and for staff and volunteer support. The founder of the Prison Yoga Project, Mr. Fox trains yoga teachers across the globe on centering, conscious-breathing and physical practices tailored to people with mental health issues, in particular prisoners. “There’s this understanding that yoga practices can be adapted to work with a variety of issues,” said Mr. Fox, who this week returned from a teaching excursion in Amsterdam. “Of course, all of these issues are related to prisoners. The question is, how do they practice when they’re not in the class?”
That’s the purpose of Mr. Fox’s book, of which he said around 14,000 copies have been sent out over the past five years at a cost of $85,000, though free for recipients. A major focus of the yoga practices in the book, he said, is to develop impulse control for people who come from a background of early-life trauma that created a pathway for behavioral missteps. With a calmer temperament, Mr. Fox said, prisoners can better handle stress and combat addiction.
Recently, Mr. Fox has received a flood of requests for a Spanish version, which has not yet been edited. That translation, he estimated, could cost as much as $15,000 to produce. Alongside assisting a sizeable portion of California’s prison population, Mr. Fox hopes that a Spanish translation would foster deeper international relationships with like-minded nonprofits in Spanish-speaking countries. Additionally, Mr. Fox plans to develop a CD and other instructional materials. A large portion of donations would go toward staffing employees permanently, rather than relying exclusively on temporary volunteer work. In total, Mr. Fox hopes to raise $125,000 through a crowdfunding campaign. The nonprofit accepts donations through its website at www.prisonyoga.org.