In Mexico, Yoga Soothes Teen Criminals at Capital's Juvenile Halls Laurent Thomet - Sapa-AFP
go to original October 3, 2013

Teenagers facing homicide and robbery charges practice yoga in a young offenders' institution in Mexico City, on August 30, 2013 (AFP/Omar Torres)

MEXICO CITY — Sixteen Mexican boys stretch their bodies sideways with one hand to the ground, the other pointing to the ceiling, listening to their yoga instructor in the bare room of a youth detention center.

"Your crime doesn't matter right now, relax," Fredy Alan Diaz Arista, a 38-year-old former drug dealer who became a yoga teacher in prison, tells the teenagers facing homicide and robbery charges in Mexico City.

All dressed in navy blue sweatpants and white sleeveless shirts, the boys move in unison to Diaz's instructions, which he peppers with inspirational phrases as they breathe heavily, switching to poses like the downward dog, table and pigeon.

... The soothing powers of yoga are among a slew of activities that the capital's juvenile halls offer to young offenders, hoping to steer them straight in a country struggling to defeat a wave of drug-related violence that has not spared Mexico's youth.

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