James Fox Quotes

• Sensitivity is equated with weakness. Feelings are for women. It's OK to express happiness or anger, but it's not OK to feel fear or sadness. This gets exaggerated in prison.

  James Fox

  Sadness, Feelings, Weakness

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• Since the late 1970's, the main focus of prisons has been punishment, not rehabilitation. It's hard to believe, but you would be hard-pressed to find a meaningful violence-prevention class in a federal or state penitentiary. And 'we the people' are footing the bill to keep these folks imprisoned. It costs on average $46,000 a year to keep an adult incarcerated in California and about the same for New York State.

  James Fox

  Meaningful, New York, Believe

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• Yoga class is intimate even just from the standpoint of taking off your socks. Exposing your bare feet can be a big deal. You may be an African American next to a Caucasian or a Latino. But once practice begins and we drop in, separation dissolves.

  James Fox

  Yoga, Practice, Class

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• I'm not fearful by nature, but I am vigilant. When you walk into a prison, it's important that a sixth sense kicks in.

  James Fox

  Important, Prison, Sixth Sense

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• When I teach a new group of students, I introduce some yoga philosophy, but I don't overload them with information. Just enough so they understand the real tradition behind this ancient practice and that it's not a stretching class. Guys come in and they're a little nervous. I tell them that when they cross the threshold of the door, they're crossing to a different dimension. They're moving from an externally-oriented reality to an internally-oriented one.

  James Fox

  Philosophy, Real, Moving

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• The code that most prisoners live by is an extension of the masculine roles they were taught growing up, how they were conditioned about what it means to be a man: you've got to be strong, you've got to be tough, you've got to be in charge.

  James Fox

  Strong, Growing Up, Mean

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• Intense asana practice - too much, too soon - can have detrimental effects. It can also promote a dissociation from the personal sensitivity and self awareness that I am trying to encourage. I don't want to contribute to furthering physical or psychological trauma.

  James Fox

  Self, Practice, Trying

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• It is the absence of hope, which equals the despair that is the punishment.

  James Fox

  Punishment, Despair, Absence

  James Fox (1996). “Killer on Campus”

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• Ninety percent of what most yoga teachers do is teach asana practice. While asana discharges stress and so forth, it was never intended to be a standalone practice. The true intent of yoga is personal transformation. What we get out of the privilege of teaching prisoners is the opportunity to focus on our own personal development. You can be of service, and, while helping others transform their lives, you have the deeper opportunity to transform your own. What we teach in prison is how we live our lives.

  James Fox

  Teacher, Stress, Teaching

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• Childhood is so important. Without a loving one, you're vulnerable throughout your life. We're all the things our parents are - the good and the not so good. Thankfully, I have a wonderful wife who's a brilliant mother.

  James Fox

  Mother, Loving Life, Wife

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• I teach that the foundation for our practice is being able to go inward and disconnect from the busyness of our thoughts, that focusing the mind on bodily sensations and breath will ground us in the present moment. Yoga is about realizing who you really are, aside from your persona.

  James Fox

  Yoga, Practice, Mind

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• When you're on the yard, prisoner politics dictate that you only socialize with your own race. If you fraternize with other races, you can get taught a painful lesson. And there are inmates with a level of consciousness who feel it's their duty to enforce this segregation.

  James Fox

  Race, Yards, Levels

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• If you are deeply connected with yourself, with your energy, staying awake to yourself in the moment, other prisoners tend to leave you alone.

  James Fox

  Energy, Moments, Awake

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• You will surely smile with me when I say, 'Thank God one can still recognise self-pity as such and not give it any greater dignity than just that.

  James Fox

  Self, Giving, Thank God

  James Fox (2012). “White Mischief”, p.195, Random House

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• There's often an assumption you're more privileged if you belong to a family with people who have made a success.

  James Fox

  People, Assumption, Made

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