This is my second interview with Alexander Medin. Alex has had many incarnations, many lives. However, the common thread I feel running through his history has always been the striving for self-understanding - nothing less than yoga.
I would suggest, this was evident in his younger, unsettled years getting into trouble with the police, becoming Norwegian champion boxer, the professional ballet dancer, actor and finally a Certified Ashtanga yoga teacher.
But, this episode focuses particularly on his most recent work; setting up “Back in the Ring”, a foundation teaching yoga to Norwegian prisoners; many of whom are serving long-term sentences.
Even by Alex’s standards, what he has achieved with this is remarkable, leading to government funding to provide yoga teaching across the board in Norwegian prisons.
In this podcast we discuss the practicalities of this, the difficulties and the achievements. Many of the prisoners have gone on to become yoga teachers in their own right. Some are employed in the running of Alex’s yoga hotel ‘Nosen’ high up in the Norwegian fjords.
