Dear Supportive Community Member,

The Santa Fe Community Yoga Center (SFCYC) invites you to participate in our ongoing Yoga in Prison Project fundraiser. Your generous contributions directly support the Yoga in Prisons program. The Yoga in Prison Project is a continuation of SFCYC’s commitment to providing yoga outside the studio walls and is a nine-week peer-to-peer yoga training program, developed and led by Phoenix Savage, a certified yoga and meditation instructor. The women inmates at the Springer Correctional Center in Springer, NM, learn the fundamentals of teaching Yoga, Meditation, and Mindfulness to their peers. Prior to the loss of funding in June of 2025, eight inmates completed the peer training program and taught a variety of yoga classes in the prison gym-resourcing their peers with beginner yoga, intermediate yoga, chair yoga, and guided meditation classes.Currently four peer inmate instructors have been paroled and are beginning their studies to earn their 200-level yoga teacher certification. The remaining four Peer inmate instructors are all due to be released by the end of 2027. Currently they are unable to continue teaching yoga classes but have remained committed and are able to offer guided meditation to their peers. As the Program Manager I visit the remaining Peer Instructors once a month and resource them with guided mediation and continued support.

SFCYC is the only nonprofit yoga center in the Northern New Mexico area and supports healthy individuals and communities through accessible, inclusive wellness programming, including Yoga in Schools, Yoga in Prisons and Yoga for Our Unhoused Neighbors program.

We are seeking your continued support as funding cuts have significantly impacted the future operations of the Yoga in Prisons Project.

New Mexico is a land-rich state, and as such, prisons are located at a distance from major urban centers. Springer Correctional is a 2.5-hour drive from Santa Fe (one-way). Since the inception of the Yoga In Prisons Project in 2023, Phoenix drove to Springer at least once a week, sometimes two or three times a week. These visits are necessary not only to train the inmates, but also to monitor the progress of each class, provide continuous coaching, and extend a weekly guided meditation so that the peer instructors are also resourced.

The Yoga In Prison Project supports the whole person both while incarcerated and post incarceration. Service expansion for the Yoga in Prison Project has included: business development coaching for each Peer inmate instructor; a $300 dollar “gate fee” to assist parolees with getting on their feet; continued coaching while they complete their 200-hour Yoga Instructor Certification and business mentorship to assist them as they put in place yoga, meditation and mindfulness programing within their communities. Presently this is all being done on a voluntary basis.

As of January 2026, the Yoga In Prisons Project began offering weekly guided meditation and chair yoga for male inmates at Central Corrections in Las Lunas, NM. These weekly sessions are offered explicitly to geriatric inmates and other inmates receiving medical care. The continuation of this aspect of the Yoga in Prisons Project has also been jeopardized by funding cuts. Nonetheless, the time spent at Las Lunas has proven to be a vital resource for inmates and deserves your support as well.

Please consider giving today and giving often. Thank You!

To successfully operate the Yoga In Prison Project at a bare minimum, the cost is $75,000 annually. If you would like further information about the Yoga In Prisons Project or would like Phoenix Savage to speak at an event on the values and uptake to society on the importance of providing inmates with constructive routes for themselves and their communities post-incarceration, please contact her at
phoenix@santafecommunityyoga.org or by phone at 505-810-3018.

All proceeds support the Santa Fe Community Yoga Center- Yoga in Prisons Project.

You may also drop off your donation at your next class - please indicate it is specifically for the Yoga in Prisons Project or mail your contributions to: Santa Fe Community Yoga Center, 3229 Richards Ln #B, Santa Fe, NM 87507

Warmly,

Phoenix Savage

Director of Yoga in Prisons Project

Yoga in Prisons

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