sage in the yard

Strange week. No class on Monday due to facility wide lock down for some kind of electrical repair. Wednesday we had been in class about 20 minutes when they came and got us for another facility wide lock down to check the generator.

When this happens I feel deflated. All that prep, then nothing. The guys were down too, from being locked up in their cells all week.

Friday I went out for yoga. The day was perfectly beautiful, the desert blooming with wild flowers, the air moist and windy like the sea shore.

I walked in with my Bhavana Vandana a book of buddhist meditations and prayers, and a branch of white sage I had picked in the jail parking lot to use as a talking stick.

One inmate, John has taken responsibility for this project, managing the sign up sheet.
He had procured a good big broom and sweep the dust out the yard, and was waiting for me.

Jesus a guy with "bitches ain't shit" tatooed on the back of his shaved head, and words tatooed into his eye brows greeted me with "Hey Homie" and a complicated hand shake ending with a "tap".

Everyone was interested in the sage. Is it weed? they asked. Can we smoke it?

Janathan a native guy said, "you boil that and it will make your stomach better." Everyone smelled it. People broke of a few leaves crushed them and smelled the sweet clean smell of the earth. Many people recognized it a a purifying herb.

In the pod there is plenty of day light, windows two stories tall lit by the sky, but that's all you can see from in there: a rectangle of sky divided by wire mesh. You can't see the sun rise or set, you can't see smell or touch land, earth, tree or animal. Some people stay in there for as long as two years.

So the sage was a welcome visitor from the earth.

I stood outside in the sun, my back against the wall, waiting for the 30 men to assemble.

We don't have yoga mats yet, so we're using gray jail issue blankets, sheets or orange shirts.

The temperature was perfect, but its only May. I said "Its nice out here now, but in summer its gonna be so hot we'll have to do this at 7 am." They smiled and said "that will be nice."

We began some standing breathing exercises and then a series of forward bends.
A forward bend in jail is a charged situation and some crude jokes and laughing started.

I stood very still, and calm in my mountain pose and looked at the youngsters (19 -20 year olds ) who were making most of the noise.

Steve, who is in my writing group, looked at me, with a face like a 10 year old. "What?" he said.

I said "I'm waiting for you to focus."

"Oh" he said and he and his buddies got quiet.

A new kid standing next to me kept asking questions. I asked him to be quiet and just listen, but he kept it up. After a about 5 minutes of this I stopped and turned to him and said in a calm voice. "I want you to stop talking. There is no talking during yoga class." " He stormed off in a huff and said "I can learn if I can't ask questions."

Now 29 men were were present and ready to practice yoga. They did great, had fun, tried everything. Got into a pretty good flow with a series of sun salutations.

After the asana practice I lead them into a meditation and ended that with this reading from Bhavana Vandana

The Protection of Loving Kindness

May those with no feet receive my love;
May those with two feet receive my love;
May those with four feet receive my love;
May those with Many feel receive my love;

May those with no feet not hurt me;
May those with two feet not hurt me;
May those with four feet not hurt me;
May those with Many feel not hurt me;

May all beings, all those with life;
All who have become, all in their entirety;
May all see what is good;
May suffering not come to anyone.

Then Shane and Jonathan, two Dine men, got up and went to the big plastic lounge chair they use as a drum and sang blessing songs for us. Their demeanor was so dignified, and humble, the sacredness of their offering so complete, that everyone simply deepened in their stillness. And for a few luminous minutes we were quiet in the fragrance of sage, the warmth of the sun, the companionship of each other.

As the men returned to their cells after class a few asked me for copies of the reading on loving kindness, and the kid who had stormed out said " I'm sorry if I was disrespectful, miss. I'll do better next time.""