Prison Mindfulness

In this episode, Trime Persinger speaks with John MacAdams about her work as a prison chaplain with the Oregon Department of Corrections. 

• Seeing Yourself and Loving Well in prison work.

TRIME PERSINGER Trime has practiced meditation for 35 years and has been a prison chaplain in Oregon for 15 years. She leads a meditation group inside the prison that meets weekly, and she has coordinated three week-long meditation intensives. For the past two years she has recorded weekly mindfulness videos that are broadcast to inmates on a prison TV channel. These videos are also available online for staff viewing. In 2010 Trime developed The Art of Communication, a mindfulness-based course that teaches inmates skills for building relationships and resolving conflicts. Prior to the COVID pandemic, this course was offered in seven Oregon prisons.

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

In this episode, Bill Brown talks with Vita Pires, about his work with the Prison Yoga Project.

• The harm punitive incarceration causes for the incarcerated, staff, and families.

BILL BROWN, C-IAYT, Bill is the Executive Director of Prison Yoga Project, a non-profit organization that seeks to create a cultural shift toward a healing-centered approach to addressing crime, addiction, and mental illness through trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness. Bill began working with PYP in 2013 and has served in Federal, State, and County facilities. In 2016 he began offering training with PYP in trauma-informed yoga for incarcerated people and assumed the Executive Director’s role in 2018. He is a contributing editor to the Yoga Service Council/Omega Institute’s book Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System. In his downtime, Bill enjoys the creative outlets of photography and cooking and is an avid reader of science fiction.

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

In this episode, Micah Anderson speaks with Fleet Maull about his experiences working with incarcerated youth through the Mind Body Awareness Project. 

• 3 steps for creating safety while facilitating training/workshops

MICAH DAVIS ANDERSON Born in Connecticut, Micah spent several of his teen years in and out of placements due to struggles with drugs, crime, and anger. Around this time, he was introduced to 12-step fellowship, and after extensive travel overseas, began a personal meditation practice in the early 1990s. He is now the Clinical Director of the Mind Body Awareness Project, which transforms at-risk communities—and those who serve them—with mindfulness-based mental health tools that support equity, healing, and empowerment. Micah is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist, focusing on both trauma-informed approaches and mindfulness-based interventions. He has led retreats and trainings on mindfulness, emotional literacy, and mental wellness in multiple countries, and has served thousands of incarcerated people in the San Francisco Bay Area. He lives in Oakland, CA with his wife and two children, and received his Masters in Psychology from Sofia University in Palo Alto, CA.

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

In this episode, Liz Richardson talks with Fleet Maull about her new play, Unconfined.

• Her play, based on a real-life story of an incarcerated prisoner’s contemplative journey while in prison and on death row

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

In this episode, Lama Justin von Bujdoss talks with Vita Pires about his experiences working as a chaplain for the New York City Department of Corrections. 

• Shadow sides of working in prisons

JUSTIN VON BUJDOSS Lama Justin von Bujdoss is an American vajrayana Buddhist teacher, writer, and the is a co-founder of Bhumisparsha an experimental Buddhist sangha along with Lama Rod Owens. He is the author of Modern Tantric Buddhism: Authenticity and Embodiment in Dharma Practice published by North Atlantic Books, and a contributor to Buddhism and Whiteness: Critical Reflections published by Lexington Books. From 2016 until December 2021 Justin served as the Executive Director of Chaplaincy and Staff Wellness for the NYC Department of Correction where he also served as Head Chaplain supervising over 30 chaplains and guiding wellness programming for staff. Justin was ordained as a repa, a lay tantric yogin in the tradition of Milarepa, by His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche, and has presented on Buddhist practice at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Chicago, Wellesley, Columbia University, and has been a visiting instructor at Union Theological Seminary.

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

In this episode, Gabriella Savelli talks with Fleet Maull about her work with the International Association for Human Values. 

• The International Association of Human Values (IAHV) program-reducing offender recidivism

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

In this episode, Jared Seide talks with John MacAdams about his work as the Executive Director for the Center for Council. 

• What Council looks like inside prisons

In this episode, Rebecca Foster talks with Vita Pires, about her experiences bringing PMI's Path of Freedom training into prisons. 

• Training “Inside” apprentices (facilitator training for incarcerated men & women)

REBECCA J FOSTER Rebecca Foster is a meditation teacher, conscious dance facilitator, and Hatha (traditional) & hasya (laughter) yoga instructor. She presently serves as a lead facilitator and mentor for the Prison Mindfulness Institute and offers courses in Mindfulness-Based Emotional Intelligence in the Men’s & Women’s Medium Security Correctional Facilities in Rhode Island. Over the last 15 years, Rebecca has taught a unique blend of mindfulness, movement, laughter, and play in diverse settings ranging from yoga studios to hospitals, prisons to universities, and pre-schools to nursing homes. She has also lived and worked in Africa, Asia and Latin America and currently resides in Providence.

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

In this episode, Kalen McAllister speaks with Fleet Maull about Laughing Bear Bakery, and the resources and opportunities it gives those who are formerly incarcerated. 

• Starting “The Laughing Bear Bakery” business focused on employing ex-prisoners on parole (https://laughingbearbakery.org/)

KALEN MCALLISTER Kalen McAllister is a Soto Zen Buddhist Priest, Dharma Transmitted 2012, former Prison Chaplain and volunteer, founder of Laughing Bear Bakery - a bakery that only hires ex-offenders

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

In this episode, Roshi Fleet Maull talks with John MacAdams about his time incarcerated and the creation of the Prison Mindfulness Institute (Prison Dharma Network).

• Origins of Prison Dharma Network

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