Prison Mindfulness

Join us as we meet Alex Senegal, an Enneagram Nine who shares how the Enneagram supported his journey from survival to transformation—and how he now uses it to guide and uplift others.

Alex Senegal is a program manager at the Destiny Reentry Center in San Jose, California, and a dedicated leader in reentry, recovery, and personal transformation. After spending 26 years in and out of the California correctional system, he encountered the Enneagram in 2014—an experience he describes as “introducing Alex to Alex.” Today, he is an ordained minister, a certified drug and alcohol counselor, a court liaison, a mental health specialist, and an Ambassador and Board Member for the Enneagram Prison Project. A father and grandfather, Alex is committed to advocating for those on the margins and to fostering understanding, healing, and a more just and equitable world. 

Episode Highlights:

35 Years of Prison Dharma – Gary Allen shares his decades-long experience bringing Buddhist teachings to incarcerated individuals.

•Correspondence-Based Dharma – The power of personal letters and structured courses in reaching prisoners.

•Anger & Patience – Why teachings from Shantideva on patience and anger are essential in prison.

•Challenges of Prison Work – From administrative hurdles to the evolving perception of Buddhism behind bars.

•Long-Term Impact – How Dharma transforms lives in prison, creating lasting change even beyond release.

In this episode, Susan Shannon, a seasoned Buddhist practitioner, and chaplain, shares her journey of transformative prison ministry, including her work as a Buddhist chaplain on death row at San Quentin. She discusses her adaptable teaching approach, focusing on universal Buddhist principles like the Four Noble Truths and dependent arising, which foster deep transformation among incarcerated individuals. Susan highlights the importance of inner work, understanding prison culture, and practicing humility as a facilitator. She advises aspiring volunteers, encouraging self-reflection, restorative justice work, and exploring alternative ways to serve.

From the Teaching Mindfulness Summit April 24. 

• Meditation, mindfulness, and self-compassion.

Christopher Germer, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry (part-time) at Harvard Medical School. He co-developed the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program with Kristin Neff in 2010 and they wrote two books, The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook and Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. MSC has been taught to over 250,000 people worldwide Dr. Germer is also the author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion and he co-edited two influential volumes on therapy, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy. Dr. Germer lectures and leads workshops internationally and he has a small psychotherapy practice in Massachusetts, USA. His website is www.chrisgermer.com

In this episode, Chia-Ti Chiu talks with Vita Pires about her work with Lineage Project. 

• Embodying a trauma-conscious and resilience-based methodology

CHIA-TI CHIU (she/her) Chia-Ti has been working with the Lineage Project since 2009. As a senior teacher, she shares embodied awareness practices with youth in detention centers, alternate-to-incarceration programs, and public high schools. Chia-Ti leads trainings and professional development workshops, which promotes mindfulness through a trauma-conscious, social justice, and resilience-building lens. She also develops curriculum and mentors new teachers. Outside of her work with Lineage, Chia-Ti leads international yoga retreats and provides wellness justice consulting through her business onelovewellness. She is on faculty with the Garrison Institute's Contemplative-Based Resilience Project, which supports the sustainability of humanitarian aid workers, social service providers, and Congressional staffers. She believes in making wellness accessible, affordable, and relevant for all.

To Learn More About the Prison Mindfulness Institute, please visit www.prisonmindfulness.org

In this episode, John MacAdams talks with Garth Smelser about his experiences working with both incarcerated individuals as a chaplain and as a mindfulness trainer for corrections professionals. 

• Stepping into the alien environment of custody

JOHN MACADAMS John MacAdams, CMT-P, is an IMTA certified professional mindfulness teacher as well as a 35+ year mindfulness practitioner and certified mindfulness teacher for over 20 years. He has more than 7 years experience working in corrections and public safety, and serves as a senior chaplain at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Men’s Central Jail and Twin Towers Correctional Facility, part of the USA’s largest jail system. MacAdams has trained law enforcement, custody, probation & parole, border patrol and correctional officers in Oregon, California and Ontario, Canada.

To Learn More About the Prison Mindfulness Institute, please visit www.prisonmindfulness.org

In this episode, Martine Batchelor talks with Vita Pires about her experiences working with those in prisons and teaching Secular Buddhism.

• Developing the path of secular Buddhism

MARTINE BATCHELOR Martine Batchelor was a Buddhist nun in Korea for ten years. She studied Son Buddhism under the guidance of the late Master Kusan. She translated his book ‘The Way of Korean Zen’. Following Master Kusan’s death she returned her nun’s vows and left Korea to come back to live in Europe where she also studied insight meditation. She is the author of different books showing her interest in various subjects from Buddhism and ethics “The Path of Compassion” to Buddhism and Women “Women in Korean Zen”. At the moment she is focusing on meditation and compassion in daily life as in “Let go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits”. Her latest book is The Spirit of the Buddha’. Since 2013 she has stopped writing books to take care of her elderly mother.

To Learn More About the Prison Mindfulness Institute, please visit www.prisonmindfulness.org

In this episode, Matthew Hahn talks with cohost John MacAdams about his experiences with mindfulness while incarcerated and his work post-incarceration as a facilitator for Mindful Prisons. 

• The value of creating safe spaces

MATTHEW HAHN Matthew is a member of the Boundless Freedom Project Sangha and a program facilitator for Mindful Prisons, a mindful community meeting behind the walls of San Quentin State Prison. A co-founder of the Recovery Dharma program, he teaches mostly to members of the system-impacted and recovery communities. Practicing meditation since facing a life-in-prison sentence himself in 2005, Matthew sat with his first sangha as a prisoner in Folsom State Prison. Since coming home in 2012, he has practiced principally within the Insight tradition, but has also studied in Burma within the Mahasi / U Pandita lineages. Matthew has been personally mentored by lay teachers within the Insight tradition and was empowered with lay ordination by Venerable Pannavati and the late Venerable Pannadipa.

To Learn More About the Prison Mindfulness Institute, please visit www.prisonmindfulness.org

In this episode, Richard Shankman talks with Vita Pires about his experiences teaching meditation in California prisons in the 1970s and how that has influenced his work to date.

• Early days (1970s) of contemplative programs in California Prisons

RICHARD SHANKMAN Richard Shankman has been active in bringing mindfulness practice into prisons and jails since the 1970s, when he began teaching meditation in San Quentin State Prison, the Marin County jail and a San Francisco drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. Richard was the Buddhist chaplain and started mindfulness meditation programs at the Salinas Valley State Prison and the Men’s Correctional Training Facility, both near Soledad, California. He has been a meditator since 1970 and teaches classes and meditation retreats at dharma centers and groups internationally. Richard is the guiding teacher of the Metta Dharma Foundation (www.mettadharma.org), and co-founder of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies (www.sati.org) and of Mindful Schools (www.mindfulschools.org). He has sat on many silent, intensive meditation retreats for periods up to eleven months long. Richard is the author of "The Art and Skill of Buddhist Meditation" and “The Experience of Samadhi”.

To Learn More About the Prison Mindfulness Institute, please visit www.prisonmindfulness.org

In this episode, Jonah M. David talks with John MacAdams about his experiences volunteering and facilitating creative arts workshops in men's and women's prisons. 

• Creative Arts programming; Giving a voice to the unseen

JONAH M. DAVID Jonah facilitates mediation and mindfulness workshops inside and outside of prisons. He creates films as well as produces media content for clients, with a focus in social justice, contemplative work, and creative arts. In his spare time, he likes to grow veggies, make pizza, and go for walks.

To Learn More About the Prison Mindfulness Institute, please visit www.prisonmindfulness.org