by Arielle Feldman for the Transcendental Meditation Blog, June 20, 2012

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) more than 2 million adults are incarcerated in federal and state…

This morning I arrived at MA prison and sat in the waiting room for thirty minutes with a volunteer minister. We discussed the terrible fires out west, climate change and the feelings of helplessness around what seems to be the inevitability of greater ecological disaster and the increasing suffering that is and will continue…

Canadian Blues Singer, Rita Chiarelli, wanted to get to the roots of her genre's musical history.  Her journey led her to the infamous Angola State Prison, where several grandfathers of American blues music served time years ago.  What Rita discovered behind the walls of the massive prison complex was a thriving music…

from One Street Shy, June 15, 2012

Rummaging through my kitchen cabinets earlier today, looking for an old antique pottery bowl to give a friend of mine as a gift, I came across another piece of pottery I had completely forgotten about.  I had tucked it away in the cabinet so as not to break…

A one-week Meditation Intensive will be held at Snake River Correctional Institution, the prison where Buddhist Trime Persinger works as a chaplain, beginning this Sunday June 17. The weekthun will be led by Shastri Frank Ryan and will run from 8:00 AM to 8:20 PM each day. Over 50 inmates have registered for the Intensive.…

Re: "Response 9 : 44  Jun 15, 2012 14:06 Tielhard de Chardin's omega point as love"

And that "omega point" transcends seems to be present in other sacred traditions:…

from The Economist, March 2012

AWAY from the crowds and chaos of the roads in Tihar, a district in west Delhi, the ordered calm of prison comes as a relief. Pigeons hop in and out through the bars of the main gate on their way to the dovecote. A dog snoozes in the shade. A pair of…

from RonArtest.com: Mental Health and World Issues, June 8, 2012

What do yoga mats and prisoners have in common? Both are in high demand. With an overcrowded prison population in the US, it is not shocking to find around 60-67% of inmates return to prison within 3 years of their release…

By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press, June 11, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ohio—In what's become a daily ritual, Tim Ryan finds a quiet spot,…

A New Poet Laureate by Rebecca Foresman for The New Yorker, June 10, 2012

Natasha Trethewey, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the collection “Native Guard,” was named U.S. Poet Laureate last Wednesday. Her poetic voice has deftly positioned her to inherit the…

So, there I was, months later, spending sometime one Friday afternoon with our Books Behind Bars project (we have a book program in which we send mindfulness and spiritually based books inside our nations jails and prisons) when I found myself…

After having taken Prison Mindfulness Institute's Path of FreedomTM online webinar multiple times, I'm…

Rebecca Foster teaches Path of Freedom (POF) in PDN/PMI's Rhode Island programs.

One theme for me relative to the POF class on Transforming Pain is how little I know of what is actually going on for people in…

On July 14th -  her 76th birthday, Pema Chodron is offering a free virtual retreat with new teachings on Practicing Peace.

According to Shambala Sun Magazine and the Pema Chodron Foundation, Pema is spending almost the entire year in solitary meditation, and this virtual retreat is a special opportunity for fans…

Steve Jefferies's notes on the Path of Freedom, April 2012

Hi All ~ Tonight we had 7 guys show up, a few regulars and some newer . I brought a good friend in which changed the dynamic from a typical evening. Amma Thanasanti Bhikkhuni, a Theravadan nun that I have been involved in supporting for the last…

By Tsoknyi Rinpoche for Huffington Post, May 23, 2012

According to the Buddha and the great masters who followed in his footsteps, there are two types of bodhicitta, or awakened heart: absolute and relative. Absolute bodhicitta is a spontaneous recognition…

My parents were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, American communists executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage. I was three years old when they were arrested and six when they were executed. It was the McCarthy era; the US government basically said there’s an international communist conspiracy that will destroy…

A new book by Dan Newman studies grief from unusual perspective: on death row…