Saturday April 25, 2015 World Tai Chi and Qigong Day

World Tai Chi and Qigong day founder inside Folsom Prison

At Night I Fly (Awardwinning Full Documentary) [Video]

At Night I Fly (Awardwinning Full Documentary) [Video]

At Night I Fly (Awardwinning Full Documentary) [Video]

At Night I Fly (Awardwinning Full Documentary) [Video]

Prison teachings talk

This talk by Judy "Guma" Tretheway was given at a Chi Center class on April 16, 2013.
The talk begins by picking up from a previous students comments and discusses a practice of "facing into suffering". Then the talk moves to the intended topic:

"How teaching Qigong in the prisons has taught me about Haola."

Haola means "all is well, so be it!" or on the relative dimension "everything is getting better now."

Great reads for folks with interests like ours:
The Lioness Tale by Diane Pendola
The Lioness Tale, powerful story/fable opening up the prison gates to our discovering of the liberating spirit within each of us. also check out the 12 episodes of Interviews with healers and prison related thinkers lifting up the challenges of the Lioness.  She has a programs for people inside.
http://www.thelionesstale.com/

Dreams from the Monster Factory: A Tale of Prison, Redemption and One Woman's Fight to Restore Justice to All
Dreams from the Monster Factory tells the true story of Sunny Schwartz's extraordinary work in the criminal justice system and how her profound belief in people's ability to change is transforming the San Francisco jails and the criminals incarcerated there.

True Notebooks, by Mark Salzman  what a quick and powerful read. Getting right into the heart of the juvenile justice system and the heart of so many young men. If you have ever wanted to see inside the hearts of youngsters leading a life behind bars, this will satisfy you and disturb you both.

great visual presentation of our criminal "justice" situation

Sometimes one of the men will ask me whether I’m surprised at what I’ve seen in prison. I respond that many people — as the men know all too well — would expect prison to be filled with calloused, hardened people but that personally, I was not surprised in the least to see that pockets of compassion, family and humanity obstinately persist behind bars. People are people, no matter where they are. We wish to be treated with compassion, but — as these men’s stories attest — sometimes we also seek to give compassion without expectation. It makes life richer, and in austere circumstances where very little is certain, it makes life livable.

Enjoy the full essay originally published on the Insight Meditation site.  Wonderful stories of acts of compassion inside the prison walls.
IPP Volunteer Becky LoDolce writes about her experiences inside San Quentin State Prison in New Cartographer magazine. For the complete story, click here.