Leslie Booker teaches yoga and meditation to youth in detention facilities in New York City through the Lineage Project. The youth at Horizon Juvenile Detention Center have been convicted for a range of offenses, some quite serious and violent. But as Booker points out, they are 13, 14, 15 years old -- little more than children -- and many of them have grown up in extremely trying circumstances. Before Booker introduced the teens to the practice of meditation, aggression and withdrawal seemed to be among their only options for managing the insurmountable stress of life both at home and in the detention facility. With this program, the youth experience relief, if even for an hour, and learn skills to make better decisions in their lives.

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  • Take a look at the programs offered by the Lineage Project, an organization that works for the well-being of young people navigating incarceration, homelessness and other serious challenges.
  • Learn more about youth confinement in this 2019 report by the Prison Policy Initiative.
  • Join an Awakin Call with Leslie Booker this Saturday on "Cultivating Compassion: Lessons from the Front Lines of Criminal Justice."

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