Leslie Booker began her career in the fashion industry but exchanged the runway for a juvenile detention center in the Bronx. As a dedicated yoga instructor, she is busy changing the lives of incarcerated teenagers.
She works with The Lineage Project, an organization that places yoga and meditation instructors in detention centers, public schools, and other community sites around New York. Their mission is to share these practices with youth who are at risk fall of falling victim to crime and violence.
Their students range from ages ten to 24 and come from some of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City.
The tools gained through meditation can help them improve their self-control and stress. Before Leslie introduced the teens to the practice of meditation, aggression and withdrawal seemed to be among their only options for managing the insurmountable stress of life both at home and in the detention facility. After all, if no one ever taught you to take a deep breath and practice some self love, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with the techniques on your own.
The video below is the latest episode of Urban Yogis, the series featured on a YouTube channel called, The Chopra Well, which features Deepak Chopra, family and friends. Subscribe to The Chopra Well to embark on a journey of personal, social, global and spiritual transformation.
Teacher Brings Yoga to a Juvenile Detention Facility