In June 2019, the Seed to Flower Fund was established at the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. The SEED TO FLOWER FUND FOR YOGA SERVICE, when fully funded, will offer mini-grants to nonprofit charities to support teachers offering trauma-informed yoga in Western Mass prisons and recovery centers. Trauma-informed yoga practice has been shown to relieve stress, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression, and to promote empathy, reduce reactivity, and support emotional stability. Many yoga teachers in the area have volunteered their time to lead yoga classes for system-involved people and those with addictions, but the demand for volunteers has always outstripped the supply. The SEED TO FLOWER FUND FOR YOGA SERVICE is intended to help fill this gap by making grants to nonprofits, so that they can in turn pay yoga teachers for many more prisons and recovery centers to offer yoga.

Free Recovery Yoga classes in Prisons and Addiction Recovery Centers

In order to fulfill our Mission, Breathing Space has served at the following locations since Fall 2016:

• Hampden County Prerelease Center, Ludlow
• Western Massachusetts Recovery and Wellness Center, Springfield, MA
• Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center, Chicopee
• Intensive Outpatient Program, Providence Hospital, Holyoke, MA
• Northern Hope Recovery Center, Greenfield, MA
• Northampton Recovery Center, Northampton, MA
• Hope for Holyoke Community Recovery Center, Holyoke, MA
• Gandara Women’s Recovery House, Holyoke, MA
• South Hadley Girl’s Treatment Program, South Holyoke, MA