Freeing the Human Spirit
What We Do
IN MEDITATION, BEING ONE WITH OUR BREATHING IN SILENCE, SITTING IN A SPECIFIC POSTURE,
WITH NO THINKING, NO REMEMBERING, NO IMAGINING AND NO EMOTING, THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION BEGINS.
IN MEDITATION, BEING ONE WITH OUR BREATHING IN SILENCE, SITTING IN A SPECIFIC POSTURE,
WITH NO THINKING, NO REMEMBERING, NO IMAGINING AND NO EMOTING, THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION BEGINS.
WE DO THIS BECAUSE OF OUR SHARED HUMANITY AND RECOGNITION THAT CHANGE AND
GROWTH CAN OCCUR EVEN IN A PRISON CELL
Almost invariably inmates:
Inmates are social outcasts and conditions in prison are harsh and dehumanizing. Many inmates are abandoned by family and friends and have little if any contact with the outside world. They have negligible support.
Bo Lozoff, one of our Patrons and founder of the Human
Kindness Foundation, says we are all doing time, imprisoned
by blocks, hang-ups, tensions, and prejudices. People in
prison have these too.
Like us, inmates desire to find out who they are. The hope of Freeing the Human Spirit is to help them to recognize that they have a unique opportunity to do just that.
We believe that silence can simply be the best gift to offer inmates to help them feel normal. Silence is refreshing and cleansing and it can help us to heal.
"As long as I can remember, I have had this hurt inside. I can't get away from it, and sometimes I cut or burn myself so that the pain will
be in a different place and on the outside. Then I saw your Newsletter last month, and something spoke to me about meditation and
although I didn't really know what it is, I wrote for your book. I just want you to know that after only 4 weeks of meditating, a half hour in
the morning and at night, for the first time in my life, I can see a little spark of something within myself that I can like."
FTHS BELIEVES THAT ONE POTENT WAY TO HELP INMATES IN THEIR REHABILITATION EFFORTS IS TO PROVIDE THEM
WITH A PROGRAM OF MEDITATION AND YOGA
An increasing amount of research is being done in this area. The research studies reveal a positive association between inmate
participation in meditation classes and increased awareness, self-esteem, sense of hope, and compassion.
We support inmates by distributing to them without charge our practice guides and our 103-page manual Becoming Free Through Meditation and Yoga.
We recruit our teachers through local yoga studios and meditation centres. We also write to individual inmates to encourage them in their practice, supply meditation mats and foam blocks to prisons, and give regular workshops for our volunteer teachers.
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