WEBVTT

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What's the first thing
that comes to your mind

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when you think about a prison,

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or jail,

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or any correctional facility?

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And what's the first thing
that comes to your mind,

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when you think
about a monastery or a convent?

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The image you're seeing on the screen

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is a drawing about a utopia.

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In 2013, as an environmental engineer,

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I was involved in
the conception of a building

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that dealt with the rehabilitation
of an old oil platform

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in the sea outside
of San Francisco, California.

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The idea and the form how we restructured
this project was based on the poetry

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of seeing prisons as places
for the transformation of the brain.

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This prison was in the middle of the sea,
so it didn't need walls.

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The ocean itself created enough isolation

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that prisoners needed to have
to rethink their lives,

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to increase their conscience, depending
on the acts they had committed.

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But that was a utopia.

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A project that was awarded prizes
but didn't go ahead

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and this is the reality.

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A few years ago I had an opportunity

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to visit two prisons in the Americas.

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On your left side, you can see the prison
Garcia Moreno, in Quito, Ecuador.

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And on the right, Tepic, Mexico, Nayarit.

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I visited the prison in Tepic

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because two friends had been
unjustly incarcerated.

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I remember when I arrived at the prison,

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and looked at that enormous space,

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prisoners walking about
and all the time they had in their hands.

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I remember talking to my friends,

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inspiring them, taking books to them
so they could practice yoga,

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practice meditation and make the most
of the countless time they had,

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while they waited to go to trial.

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For 18 years, yoga has been in my life.

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Yoga is a philosophy that integrates

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the three large components
of what it means to be a human being:

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our minds, our bodies and our spirits.

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Yoga works as a philosophy
that covers the mental part.

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It works as a physical exercise

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and, as the science that goes
to the physical side, also our bodies.

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It is also an art,

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and helps us see the qualities
and essences of our spirit better.

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So, the idea that we got this prize for,

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is about creating a national program,

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a platform that may gather
all yoga teachers

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who may be interested,
so they feel inspired

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to teach in a prison.

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Certified yoga and meditation teachers

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who are experienced and may bring

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the benefits of these techniques
to prisons in Portugal.

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So, we distributed teachers
across staggered time plans

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so they can go there weekly
and so we may create a program

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that will help social reinsertion,

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to their physical transformation,
their mental and brain transformation.

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It's true that most prisoners

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suffer from some kind of trauma

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that took place in their childhood
or their adolescence,

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or even in their adulthood.

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And many times these unprocessed traumas

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lead them to commit criminal acts,

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or that, at the very least,
are unlawful in their countries.

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So, we want to teach yoga as a tool

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that will help prisoners

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to have a relationship with their bodies

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and improve that relationship.

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Reestablishing the connection
between body, mind and spirit,

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so they may manage their emotions better.

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So, we can look at the individual
as something complete, holistic.

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This way, by increasing this sensitivity,

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we are able to look at others
in another way,

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to increase our empathy with others,

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increase our compassion and reduce,
ideally, the cycle of violence.

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Logically, it is also
about dealing with vice.

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Yoga gives us techniques
that we can use on the mat

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and also out of it.

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We can use them in class, or outside class

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and we can integrate
all the dots in our lives.

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That's the idea and here's
the transformational value of yoga.

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During class, one only listens
and practices what the teacher suggests.

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But it is in our daily lives
that we can really see

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that these tools will help us deal

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with our emotions and stress

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and how we deal with life.

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I suppose you have an idea
about the many benefits.

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Yoga helps relieve stress,
helps increase attention,

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focus, concentration.

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It gives us strength and physical health.

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When we feel better
and stronger with our bodies

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we will also feel stronger
with our self-esteem and our minds.

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Our thoughts become clearer,
and so much more.

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There are many case studies
of success worldwide.

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I studied projects
in several states of the USA,

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in China, in France,
and other countries of the EU.

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The results are fantastic.

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The idea was to bring yoga and meditation

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as a practice to help
with social reinsertion,

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to give a new perspective
on life to these people

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who need to be in their
"compulsory retreat"

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and help them realize
that they can change,

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they can transform, and can do
something better with their lives.

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Meditation helps us to see
things as they are

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and yoga is, without a doubt,
the path to freedom

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when we can see ourselves
as a whole being.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)