Photo credit: Neko Uruñuela
Downward dog.Butterfly pose. Bridge pose. On the surface, yoga is merely a series of stretches and poses with eclectic names, a form of exercise that, perhaps, calms the mind and pushes the refresh button in the hectic rhythm of life. But might yoga’s benefits be more than body deep? Could the plusses of yoga extend into further realms? Indeed, there are justice and behavioral-based impacts provided by yoga. Beyond furthering bodily aesthetic or achieving further calm, yoga can serve to bridge divides between people and to decrease negative thoughts within an individual. This aspect of yoga may be particularly relevant to security in Chicago, furthering efforts towards reconciliation between groups with different mindsets.
Restorative justice is a form of healing that brings together all parties involved in a traumatic event, highlights accountability, and strives for a healing of relationships. In the process, restorative justice may address harm suffered. Practicing yoga can facilitate restorative justice and other healing initiatives.
Photo credit: Lesly Juarez
Mindfulness practices further lend themselves to restorative justice
o IGrow, a local organization dedicated to seeing that Englewood reaches its full
potential, embodies the potential of yoga to create mutual understanding
o Pride ROC, a Chicago-based non-profit started to address the violence
and poverty in certain areas of the city, uses a hybrid approach towards
achieving interpersonal justice
Photo credit: Aleks Marinkovic
Yoga emphasizes being in the moment. Yoga’s focus on living in and for the moment can assist in regulating behavior and furthering mental health initiatives.
o Bessel van der Kolk, leading psychiatrist and author of The Body Keeps the
Score, writes about the potential for yoga to calm the mind, this particularly
important during the pandemic.
o Yoga in school settings can be particularly effective at permitting students to
bring self-defeating thoughts into awareness, this potentially acting to avoid
violent behavior
Yoga has myriad impacts not only within the person but also interpersonally. A practice of yoga can further assist in beginning restorative justice initiatives in addition to improving one’s mental health. As emphasized by Dr. van der Kolk, the effects of yoga are particularly relevant to calm the stressors associated with quarantine. With such uncertainty at this point in time, yoga can provide a structure among chaos, a framework around the unbounded. I urge you to implement a brief restorative yoga routine, particularly useful in calming frayed nerves at this time. Below, further resources surrounding restorative justice.
o National Association of Community and Restorative Justice—seeks to implement
facets of restorative justice that shift the current ways in which questions of justice
are addressed
o Center for Justice and Reconciliation—Focused particularly on the criminal justice
system, an internationally recognized organization seeking to bring people
together to find common ground
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