Our Teachers

philip payson

Philip Payson teaches Sea Change Yoga trauma-informed classes at Milestone Recovery Center and Maine Correctional Center.

Five years ago Phil took a weekend training offered by a group (based in Seattle) called Yoga Behind Bars. He had been interested in teaching to incarcerated populations ever since a friend described his experience volunteering at the Massachusetts super max facility.

It took Phil six months to gather the courage to approach the Director of Programs at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. He taught yoga there for several years, to both men and women. He found the people there to be excellent students, grateful for the opportunity to practice yoga. Phil wanted to be part of a community of yoga teachers dedicated to bringing yoga to underserved populations.

He was able to bring the teacher from Yoga Behind Bars to Maine and she taught a group of 12 students. From that group, Sea Change Yoga was born. Phil has had to reorient his teaching towards a gentler, slower style to match the difficulty of the class to the abilities of the students more closely. He usually teaches with a light touch and allows the yoga practice to do all the heavy lifting.