Ep. 54 - Yoga Activism for Social Change with Jill Ippolito

This week on the podcast, we have a conversation with Jill Weiss Ippolito, a leader in the field of yoga activism for social change. Jill is the Founder of UpRising Yoga, a non-profit known for its trauma-informed work with incarcerated youth.

We talk about the beginnings and recent evolutions of Jill’s work through UpRising Yoga, and how she sees their programs as more than “just” yoga classes, but as part of a systemic social change effort. As Jill says, “why be a volunteer when you can be a pioneer!”

She also shares her own story of being in juvenile hall as a teenager, and how that experience informs her work.

You'll hear about:

- how UpRising Yoga got started in LA County’s juvenile halls
- serving the CSEC (Commercially Sexually Exploited Children) population, as well as foster youth and unhoused youth
- growing the programs to include trainings for probation staff
- teaching mindfulness practices to federal judges
- training yoga teachers to offer service-oriented, trauma-informed classes.

You might be surprised (and inspired) to hear how these yoga and mindfulness programs have helped inform policy change and the shift toward more trauma-informed care and community-building. We also talk about how the pandemic affected the direction of these programs, and how the work is now expanding to include more meditation and expressive arts.

In addition to teacher trainings, Jill also offers coaching for individuals in this field, so I took the opportunity to ask her for some practical tips for those starting service-oriented projects.

If you’ve ever wondered about using the skills and benefits of yoga and mindfulness practice in your community, don’t miss this episode!

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You can connect further with Jill Ippolito through her organization http://www.uprisingyoga.org, and see their examples of their work on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@jillippolito4468/videos.

You can also find info on Jill's Deep Shift Coaching services at https://www.yogaforhealingtrauma.com/.

For more links and resources mentioned in this episode, find the show notes at https://www.movedtomeditate.yoga/podcast.

#yogainspiration #yogapodcast #socialchange