Prison Mindfulness

Prison Mindfulness

By Prison Mindfulness InstituteHealth & FitnessMental HealthReligion & SpiritualityEducationSelf-ImprovementSpirituality
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Prison Mindfulness episodes

  • Ep.15 Transforming Trauma through Buddhist Psychology with Venerable De Hong

    In this episode, Venerable De Hong talks with Vita Pires about his work with the Engaged Buddhist Alliance, providing programs in facilities and through correspondence courses. 

    • How Buddhist Psychology supports Insight Development & Trauma Healing
  • Working with those serving life (or LWOP) sentences
  • Developing correspondence curriculums


    • VENERABLE DE HONG Ven. De Hong has taught Buddhist Psychology and Mindfulness Meditation in several state prisons in Southern California since 2013. He has also corresponded with incarcerated individuals in other California state prisons and other states offering correspondence courses on Buddhist teachings and meditation. He has been ordained in the Chinese and Vietnamese Traditions since 2006 and the Theravada Tradition since 2014. He taught Buddhist Psychology and Buddhist Counseling at the University of the West since 2016 and has retired this year to focus on his practice and prison ministry.

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

    34 min
  • Ep.14 Detaching From the Shame of Addiction with Marshall Lane

    In this episode, Marshall Lane talks with Fleet Maull on his experiences with addiction and incarceration and his life post-incarceration, focusing on his work with Tiffany's Recovery Inc. 

    • The complexities of recovering from addiction in prison and the role meditation can play
  • Taking responsibility and shifting self-blame/shame from the past to create a better future for self and all human beings
  • TRI Recovery- helping to coordinate recovering addicts with community outreach services

    • MARSHALL LANE: A former drug addict and prisoner who, through education, Buddhism, and recovery, has achieved personal success in life, as well as helping others find similar success.


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

    50 min
  • Ep.13 Finding Freedom on the Inside (and Outside) with Carmen Alonso

    In this episode, Carmen Alonso talks with John MacAdams about her experiences facilitating PMI's Path of Freedom program. 

    • Connecting incarcerated folks with the outside community through each group taking PMI’s Path of Freedom course and writing to each other
  • Working in supermax and maximum security environments
  • Cultivating humility and patience as qualities necessary for effective service

    • CARMEN ALONSO Carmen Alonso is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 20 years of experience. She is dedicated to serving adults in both individual psychotherapy and group settings. Carmen has taught mindfulness-based interventions to alleviate stress and decrease suffering to a wide variety of groups, such as:

    • Patients with clinical depression and anxiety
    • Veterans with and without PTSD
    • Spanish-speaking populations •Medical residents
    • School personnel
    • Athletes
    • Police officers
    • Residents in maximum and medium security facilities (including men in the segregation unit in the most secure correctional facility in Wisconsin)
    Some of the mindfulness-based interventions Carmen has offered throughout the years are Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Path of Freedom, and Mindfulness-Based Resilience Training. She has also combined her mindfulness teachings with Tae Kwon Do, a martial art she has practiced for over 30 years, including nearly 25 years as the head instructor of the Choi Tae Kwon Do School at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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

    47 min
  • Ep.12 Sound Immersion as Somatic Healing with Gail Jackson

    In this episode, Gail Jackson speaks with  Sandy Inkster about her experiences working as a probation and parole officer, and her work with drumming and sound immersion. 

    • Mindfulness Inside: Point of view of a parole/probation officer/certified mindfulness teacher
  • Drumming, gongs and sound immersion: how it helps ground both prisoners and those working in prisons
  • Creating immersive environments for those traumatized by racial violence

    • GAIL JACKSON Gail Jackson comes to us from the unceded land of the Dena’ina People in Anchorage, Alaska where she is the owner and founder of CreativeRhythms. She is a graduate of the Engaged Mindfulness Institute's 500-hour Mindfulness Teacher Training. Gail facilitates mindfulness practices in marginalized communities as well as community and corporate drumming circles for well-being. She is also a performing artist and is one of 40 luminaries in the new documentary “ We All Just Need To Gong,” and recently finished recording a CD due out in September featuring her sound artistry using the gongs. This CD also works well as a sound meditation. Gail is a social justice activist bringing awareness to her community of the killings of black and brown people. During Juneteenth she facilitates “Say Their Name,” a Celebration community coming together to acknowledge those that have been killed through drumming for healing.


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

     

    44 min
  • Ep.11 Secular Dharma in Prisons with David M. Smith

    In this episode, Dave Smith talks with Vita Pires, about his work in prisons and recovery groups. 

    • What is the Secular Path of Dharma?
  • Prison work as service work.
  • Training in mindfulness-based emotional intelligence in prisons and recovery groups.


    • DAVID M SMITH Dave Smith is an internationally recognized Buddhist meditation teacher, addiction treatment specialist, and published author. His background is rooted in the Insight Meditation tradition, and he was empowered to teach through the Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. He has extensive experience bringing meditative interventions into jails, prisons, youth detention centers, and addiction treatment facilities. Dave teaches residential meditation retreats and classes, provides training and consulting in secular and Buddhist contexts, and works with students through his meditation mentoring program. He recently founded the Secular Dharma Foundation and lives in Paonia, Colorado.

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

     

    47 min
  • Ep.10 Neurodecolonization with Indigenous Incarcerated Youth with Michael Yellow Bird

    In this episode, Michael Yellow Bird speaks with Fleet Maull about his experiences working with indigenous youth, and his research focused on "Neurodecolonization".

     

    • The systemic impacts of Colonization and abolishing indigenous sacred meditative practices
  • “Neurodecolonization” The conceptual mindfulness framework and healing trauma in incarcerated, indigenous groups
  • Building cognitive resilience in indigenous youth


    • MICHAEL YELLOW BIRD Michael Yellow Bird, IMTA CMT-P, MSW, PhD, is Dean of the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba. He is a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation in North Dakota, USA. He is a member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association and is a certified mindfulness facilitator/teacher – professional. He has been involved in meditation and Indigenous contemplative practices for more than 45 years. His research focuses on mindful decolonization and neurodecolonization. He has implemented meditation programs and conducted mindfulness research in Indigenous communities in the US. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and the co-editor and co-author of several books that focus on decolonization, social work, mindfulness, and Indigenous Peoples. He is the creator of Siíŝu' tooxuuciitu'ooxIt (Mind beautiful all calm): An Arikara Mindfulness Curriculum for Youth. His mindfulness and neurodecolonization works are featured on several mindfulness podcasts. His most recent press article can be found at: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/health/meaningful-mindfulness-576071502.html


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

    57 min
  • Ep.9 Youth in Prisons with Leslie Booker

    In this episode, Leslie Booker speaks with cohost Julie Paquette about her time working with incarcerated youth.

    • “What do we do about it?” The inspiration to truly see the unseen
  • The process of developing trust
  • “The function of freedom is to free someone else"


    • LESLIE BOOKER Booker is a Buddhist Meditation Teacher, Writer and Lover of Liberation. She shared the practices of yoga and mindfulness with children who had been incarcerated in juvenile facilities and Rikers Island, and other vulnerable populations in NYC for over a decade. The gifts from this work have allowed Booker to show up with a fierce heart to cultivate a space of belonging. She is a co-author of ‘Best Practices for Yoga in a Criminal Justice Setting’, a contributor to Georgetown Law's report on ‘Gender & Trauma and contributed to Sharon Salzberg's book ‘Happiness at Work’. She is a co-founder of the Yoga Service Council at Omega Institute and the Meditation Working Group of Occupy Wall Street. In 2020 she was invited to be a Sojourner Truth Leadership Fellow through Auburn Seminary, graduated from Spirit Rock’s 4 year Retreat Teacher Training, and was voted by her peers as one of the 12 Powerful Women in the Mindfulness Movement.

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

     

    49 min
  • Ep.8 Teaching Mindfulness in Israeli Prisons & Rehab Centers with Michal Warshavsky

    In this episode, Michal Warshavsky speaks with Vita Pires, about her work bringing mindfulness practices to Israeli prisons and rehab centers through "The Quiet Within".

    • Working within a deeply divided society with Israeli/Palestinian prisoners
  • Developing paths for more prisoners to be actively involved in class presentations
  • The power of a bi-lingual meditation book to be an anchor for change


    • MICHAL WARSHAVSKY I’m Michal Warshavsky, a social activist, living in Tel Aviv. I have worked with single mothers on public housing issues, and with Beduins fighting for land rights. However, my work’s focus is in prisons. 16 years ago, I founded “The Quiet Within”, that offers meditation for current and former inmates. The project was motivated by my strong desire to effect change in the world, rather than just practice compassion on the meditation cushion. We offer inmates tools to create their own quiet within, by leading 29 weekly meditation groups for Jewish and Arab current and former inmates, who live in difficult conditions. Very few successfully rehabilitate oneself. • Volunteers perform all the organization’s activities. After 6 years of working, last year we published a meditation book for prisoners in Hebrew and in Arabic. The book is given as a gift to every group participant.

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

    37 min
  • Ep.7 Leaving Prison Before You Get Out with Kim Grose Moore

    In this episode, Kim Grose Moore speaks with John MacAdams about her work as executive director of the GRIP Training Institute. 

    • Leaving prison before you get out: A year of deep transformation
  • The power of accountability and forgiveness for those sentenced to custody (and for all of us)
  • Maintaining program integrity, consistency and impact while scaling-up mindfulness-based programs in prison


    • KIM GROSE MOORE Kim Grose Moore has contributed for more than 20 years to making the San Francisco Bay Area a more just and equitable community. She is now the Executive Director of the GRIP Training Institute, whose mission is to create the personal and systemic change to turn violence and suffering into opportunities for learning and healing. Kim is endorsed as a Buddhist Chaplain through the Insight Meditation Center of Redwood City, CA. She is a strong believer of the community organizing principle, “the first revolution is internal." The Guiding Rage Into Power (GRIP) program currently takes incarcerated people in California state prisons through an intensive yearlong, mindfulness-based journey of trauma healing and accountability. In the last 10 years, more than 1200 students have graduated from the program, 528 have been released and the recidivism rate is less than 1%. Kim lives with her family in San Jose, CA.


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

    1 hr
  • Ep.6 Shifting Authoritarian Prison Norms with Sam Himelstein, Ph.D.

    In this episode, Dr. Sam Himelstein speaks with Fleet Maull about his work with the Center for Adolescent Studies and his experiences with incarcerated youth.

    • The impact of having positive and supportive role models for incarcerated youth
  • The pros and cons of tech programs and apps for mindfulness
  • Authenticity and predictability as a foundation for trauma-informed mindfulness
  • Teaching from a space of presence, strength, and confidence (rather than ego/authoritarianism)


    • SAM HIMELSTEIN Sam Himelstein, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and the founder of both Family Spring, a mental health company that leverages technology to serve teens, young adults, and their families who’ve been impacted by substance use disorder and related mental health challenges; and the Center for Adolescent Studies, an interdisciplinary training institute focused on trauma-informed care, mindfulness, substance use disorder, resilience, and related training for professionals. For over 15 years, Dr. Himelstein has worked with incarcerated, trauma-impacted, and substance-using populations and has had the mission to help adolescents and young adults thrive by becoming aware of the power of self-awareness and transformation. A formerly incarcerated youth himself, Dr. Himelstein was privileged to change his life from a path of drugs, violence, crime, and self-destruction to that of healing and transformation. Learn more about his philosophy, work, and approach through his books: Trauma-Informed Mindfulness With Teens: A Guide for Mental Health Clinicians (Norton, forthcoming 2019), Mindfulness-Based Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents: A 12-Session Curriculum(Routledge, 2015), and A Mindfulness-Based Approach to Working with High-Risk Adolescents (Routledge, 2013), his professional training institute: https://centerforadolescentstudies.com, and his clinical work: https://myfamilyspring.com


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

    1 hr 3 min

About Prison Mindfulness

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Prison Mindfulness Podcast for those bringing mindfulness and transformational contemplative practices to underserved populations. Our nonprofit focuses on teaching mindfulness in prisons, jails, and…