Community Yoga Austin brings yoga to prisoners, seniors and at-risk children

Yoga classes traditionally are filled with the thin, the young and the flexible.

Seniors, prisoners and at-risk children don't typically fold themselves up like pretzels in the name of fitness. But a new Austin nonprofit is spreading yoga to exactly those nontraditional audiences.

As co-founder of Community Yoga Austin, Jyl Kutsche finds herself dimming the lights, spritzing a little lavender-scented water in the air and launching into meditation and breath work in front of students wearing prison stripes or elderly people who just can't bend like they used to.

"There's a tremendous population out there that hasn't experienced what yoga can bring," says Kutsche, 41. "It has something to offer anybody."

But not everybody can afford it. A typical yoga class here in Austin costs $15 or $20.

According to the 2008 Yoga in America Study by Yoga Journal, 44 percent of yoga practitioners in the United States have a household income of more than $75,000. Nearly a quarter earn more than $100,000. More than three-quarters are female, and only 18 percent are age 55 or older. Collectively, they spend nearly $6 billion a year on yoga classes and products.

Community Yoga Austin is focusing on clients who fall outside those parameters, teaming with the Travis County Correctional Complex at Del Valle, Family Eldercare, Communities in Schools and LifeWorks to offer free classes once a week to underserved communities.

Most of Kutsche's new students have never heard the term downward dog. Some think yoga is a religion. But many are finding a new sense of calm through yoga.

At the Travis County Correctional Complex, prisoners in Kutsche's class range in age from their teens to their 60s. They've been incarcerated for a range of offenses, from DWI to murder.

"It's a pretty intense environment," she says.

Kutsche is convinced yoga eases stress and helps her students learn that power isn't always about physical violence.

"It slowly becomes a lifestyle," she says. "It sinks down below surface level. We're all in these physical bodies, but yoga taps below that with healing benefits. If everybody did yoga, the world would be such a better place."

Capt. Art Cardenas with the Travis County sheriff's office thinks she's right.

"Ultimately we hope that this program will help to reduce recidivism," Cardenas says. "In other words, we want to provide programs such as this one which would help an individual deal with the stressors of life and prevent them from returning into our custody."

Prisoners aren't the only ones to benefit from the program.

Through Family Eldercare, Community Yoga Austin is also teaching yoga to seniors and disabled residents at Austin Housing Authority properties.

Carol Stepp, 69, never dreamed of attending a yoga class until Kutsche started offering free weekly classes at Gaston Place Apartments.

"My body won't do things like the lotus, so when they started talking about yoga in chairs, I decided to sit in, and I'm glad I did," Stepp says. "We're encouraged to move at our own tempo. If you can't bend or turn as far as (Kutsche) can, it's OK. ... It's ideal for anybody, even if you're in a wheelchair."

Laura Kuenstler, 53, attended a class at the urging of her 90-year-old neighbor. "I didn't think I could do yoga, but it was pretty cool, all the breathing and stuff," she says. "Anything that gets me to move or stretch at this point in my life is all good."

The classes are adapted so seniors with health and mobility issues can still benefit, Kutsche says.

"We're introducing something brand new to them, and I can sense the intimidation," she says. The classes are "stress relief and relaxation oriented, and they soak it up."

Community Yoga Austin is bringing yoga to elementary, middle and high school students, too.

This spring, the organization led yoga classes at nine campuses, through the Communities in Schools program. About 20 schools have expressed interest in getting yoga classes this school year, and Kutsche's goal is to provide them at any school that wants them. She says yoga helps kids deal with the pressures of home and school.