Former prisoner builds bonds, tears down barriers through yoga
It's a crazy little part of the story. Well, the whole thing is kind of crazy, really.
Meet Frank "Breeze" Smith.
He sits at Shakespeare Park recently before teaching a Saturday yoga class less than two months after being released from federal prison. Time served, the 51-year-old said, was for "drugs and a pistol ... on a conspiracy charge." His hair is tied back into a ponytail, and his tattoos tell a life's tale: a smiley face, he's an Alabama fan, there are yoga poses, a skull. The name "Breeze" is tattooed across his stomach.
Smith's story has a middle class beginning, includes work as a pipefitter and welder, and one that could have just ended with prison time. But it is that time spent behind barbed wire that Smith found his purpose following a riot at Victorville Federal Prison in California that ended with him being airlifted to a hospital for care, and afterwhich, left him with bouts of vertigo. One doctor told him he was just lucky to be alive, but Smith wasn't satisfied with that answer. So he sought help from a psychologist and she asked him, "Have you ever tried yoga and meditation?"
And I said, 'No, but I think I'm fixing to.'
Upon the advice, he started taking yoga classes in prison. And once he started relaxing and feeling the benefits, he practiced even more.
And, man, that's all I did. I would practice it everywhere. When watching TV, I'd practice there. In the courtyard. I never did yoga before prison. It was 'cheesy ole girl stuff.'
After four months, the yoga instructor was released from prison, and people looked to Smith because of his passion and commitment. They told him he would teach. Knowing he doesn't like people asking him questions he doesn't have answers to, he started ordering books. And he studied the practice. He immersed himself in it.
I don't know about most folks in the world, but who has 24 hours a day, seven days a week to focus on something for seven or eight years? You know?
Smith is from Mobile, and expected to return there after he was released from prison. Instead, he was told he was going to a halfway house – Dismas Charities – in Montgomery. Wherever he was going, he was going to work on becoming certified to instruct yoga. Even if he had to store yoga mats in a minivan and sleep in it, he would teach at parks and live in his van.
So this is ironic, he says, looking around Shakespeare, which is located near his efficiency apartment.
Long story or short, what happened next was a chain of events that has Smith now spread throughout the Capital City teaching yoga: Yoga Gem, Hogan's Gym, The Waters, and he offers free services to children through "That's My Child" as well as various teaching demonstrations at EastChase and also 2A Fitness. While at Dismas Charities, he made his way to a city library and on a computer, searched for "yoga studios in Montgomery" and found Yoga Gem on Carmichael Road.
He emailed its owner on Oct. 6, and said: "Yoga changed my life 7 years ago while serving time in federal prison. I began guiding classes and have had a daily practice over 5 years now. I am currently at a halfway house in Montgomery and am seeking employment doing any type work that will expose me to the yoga community and prepare me for a teacher training program. I am a certified personal trainer thru NFPT (National Federation of Professional Trainers) and I have decided that the Yogic path is the path I will travel. I had a chance to share the yoga experience with a wide range of people, age, backgrounds and physical limitations. I just want a chance to continue the path while here in Montgomery. I would thank u for a chance to come in and interview for any position."
There wasn't a job available. But he was invited to attend a class.
After the class, he was eventually offered a teaching internship in order to complete the 200 hours he needed to receive his Yoga Alliance Certification. He received his opportunity, and today, he is on a regular schedule rotation at Yoga Gem – which includes a Sunday morning class where those in attendance are encouraged to bring donations for various nonprofits, including the Montgomery Area Food Bank and the Alabama Animal Alliance.
I tell people I was teaching in federal prisons and they say, 'Oh, that's so good.' And I say, 'No, I was a resident.'
In prison, he worked with men he describes as "a lot of dudes who had been locked up since the 70s. A bunch of gang bangers. Some are 25 or 26 years old. They're not even supposed to talk to each other. You would see them talking, and they'd say, 'I can't wait for class tonight.' What can complement anything except for flexibility and peace of mind? Do some yoga with me and see that your body isn't so stressed out. You know what's going to follow? The mind."
I realized that yoga builds such bonds and tears down such bridges that, man, how can I go wrong if I follow that path? Everything has fallen into place and I don't want that house on the hill. I just want to share yoga, and I just thank these people for letting me share what yoga means to me when they let me come into their studios to teach.
All Smith wants today is to teach yoga and share with others what it means to him. The practice was a subtle shift he never really saw taking place until it took hold. It has changed his perspective on life. It has allowed him to take things in stride. To let go. And when things happen, that it's OK.
If you focus on something with a pure heart for the right reason, how can things not open up for you? That's what the universe is all about, ain't it? People will work their butt off trying to figure out a way to get over something like that. I just want to figure out a way to share yoga.
Want to take a class?
Email Frank "Breeze" Smith at breezeyoga24.7@gmail.com for information on classes. Or, stop by Shakespeare Park at 5 p.m. on Saturdays for a free class, which meets next to the bathrooms near the theater.