WINDHAM, Maine — For people who are incarcerated, transitioning back into society is one thing, but now the pandemic has created its own set of added challenges.
Some at the Southern Maine Women's Re-entry Center, however, have found strength in a specific type of yoga.
It's called trauma-informed yoga.
"It is a really invitational and empowering form of yoga," Skye Adams, who teaches yoga with Sea Change Yoga at the re-entry center, said.
It's used as a way to feel safe in an environment in order to pause and become more mindful of the emotions they are feeling.
"We aim to really slowly gently and an invitational way to offer opportunities for people to come back into their bodies in a place that feels really safe," Executive Director of Sea Change Yoga Elise Boyson said.
For Kristie Hill and Madaline Johnson, that safety is vital as they prepare to enter a world that's much different from the one they left behind.
"It's made me have hope. I found a lot within myself that I didn't know was there," Hill said.
"You can feel the energy and it's so crazy it's so good," Johnson, Hill's roommate at the re-entry center, located in Windham, said.
Sea Change Yoga has been leading classes here for the last several years but they have taken on new meaning as the women prepare to re-enter a world that's much different than the one they left behind due to the pandemic.
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Sea Change Yoga is an organization that aims to minimize the barriers people may face when it comes to practicing yoga. They bring the classes inside corrections facilities, nursing homes, and more—although many of their classes have gone online due to the pandemic.
The Southern Maine Women's Re-entry Center has also had to adapt.
Many of the women go on to work in public-facing jobs, like at Dunkin', formerly Dunkin' Donuts.
Now, they've had to help the women explore other job opportunities like working at gourmet food manufacturers like Pemberton.
Amanda Woolford, the Director of Women’s Operations at the re-entry center, said, "The way that they have come together, the way that they have found ways to cope with that stress has just been amazing."