Yesterday, I took the Tibetan singing bowls to a prison in the south part of Mexico City. It was the second of these and I was invited by a woman in a liberal university who does this as part of her work. She teaches them Mexican history, essentially, Mexican alternative history. It is her guess that many of the 20 who came to class, are in prison for murder; it is that kind of place. I would just like to speak a little bit to the experience. First of all, this prison and the other I had been to in January look very similar to high schools. The environment is very athletic and the energy in general quite light with some people who of course are obviously not enjoying their time and have a somewhat solemn gaze. I was received with a lot of gratitude, smiles and hand shakes and my good bye was even warmer. In fact, I was introduced personally to each person I came across after a hug was exchanged with my host. Uniforms seem to be supplied by the family and people are required to wear certain colors, blue actually but can have some differences in design. For this reason I was told to avoid certain colors and came with maroon pants and a green t-shirt. I had 2.5 hours with them and we began by making a few jokes before I decided to introduce a meditation practice which emphasizes listening to sounds, breath and body vibrations, keeping an open awareness. We did some feedback around that. People reported a mix of peace and surprise at what had always been there there but that they did not realize. I then offered a more advanced version of that using elements of the Christian orthodox, Prayer of the Heart, one of those practices that came through being in Yoga community. And again a similar response. One man reported feeling his heart for the first time in his life. Amazing what breathing in and out of your heart can do, a technique and approach emphasized by Hridaya Yoga, one of the systems I have a teaching certificate in. From there we did some fun and grounding warm up exercises and I played The Tibetan Bowls for 40 minutes or so. We ended with me asking them a little of their experience in the prison and although I could not follow all the Spanish, I got the general idea. For some of them, there is a lot of acceptance, learning and even cheerfulness. For others, it has been a very large challenge getting accustomed. One share that really touched me was a kind of hard looking large man who said that today was the first time in 9 years, since he had arrived in the prison that he felt peace. So powerful! That touched me. My love is creating impact. It is creating trends. It is being the pioneer. It is pushing boundaries of possibility. It is asking and getting away with it. I was touched by the attentiveness of these men. And a quality of kindness, linked to their receptivity, I decided to have it asked (if it might be possible, if a donor or donors could be found), if they would allow a set of bowls which could be borrowed not unlike books from a library. That set could cost as little as $400, but preferably closer to $1500 would be amazing. They said it would be allowed. And so I immediately began to speak with my host, the teacher about it. What is true is that the idea is now in our minds. What I can imagine is inviting maybe 10 prisoners, to come to a training that i would offer for free (as my offering). They would then be obligated to commit to a certain amount of times with the bowls each week, maybe 3. A community would form intentionally around it. And the bowls would be use to offer healing, deep peace and relaxation within the prison. I can easily imagine that this would be but the first of such places and I am curious to see what the effects might be after some weeks or months of this. In fact that teacher works at 4 prisons and they would be obvious later choices. I consider that a celebration in that this experience has opened me to more possibilities and more joy and may be the catalyst for some amazing contributions. I believe it will happen, truly. And that too I am celebrating.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 01:01:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015