QiGong Prison Ministry

Friday, January 12, 2007

Finding Peace thru QiGong

High stress and high noise levels are not confined to the prisons I teach in.  They seem to be universal problems these days.  I encourage my blog readers to go out and find themselves a good QiGong teacher or tape and experiment with the benefits.  The left side bar is full of links.  A good article to help convince you of the benefits was in Arizona Republic titled  "Peace, quiet pave road to health: noise can take a bigger toll on the body than you think" Dec. 12, 2006 featuring Rev. Deanne Hodgson, RN, an IIQTC graduate of Omega 2006, fellow Tai Chi Chih teacher, and spiritual friend.

See this link --
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/ar...

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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

MSN explains health benefits of QiGong and Tai Chi

Curious about the health benefits of the spiritual practice I teach in the
prisons?

Here is a good summary article from MSN:

http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100144066&
GT1=8506

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Saturday, September 23, 2006

Consider the Christian condition

Traveling on my sabbatical has opened up many conversations about the nature of God. So many deeply spiritual people are resistant to what they identify as Christian beliefs. Beliefs they find incompatibly to their sense of compassion and justice, their views of the dignity of the natural world, and their scientific curiosity into the creative nature of the cosmos. They want no part of a religion based on the image of a punitive father, a fixed notion of natural relationships. So they reject "Christian" religion, and struggle without a home for their intuitive knowing of the Holy Mystery.

Christianity is at a pivotal point. We can seek a new way together. There are teachers such as Matthew Fox,President Emeritus, Wisdom University declaring a pathway for Christians choosing a different way.

I invite you to look over his "95 Theses or Articles of Faith for a Christianity for a Third Millennium" and see how this speaks to your condition.


matthew-fox-1.2.doc

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Sunday, April 02, 2006

World Tai Chi And QiGong Day

Look around where ever you live and it is likely that some group will be offering a QiGong or Tai Chi experience in a local park or community center on April 29th, 2006 at 10 am.  This is World Tai Chi and QiGong Day.  Please join in the fun!

... “ As the planet turns, tens of thousands across hundreds of events in sixty nations will join in as 10 am rolls across the planet time zone by time zone. A Harvard, Yale, MIT study just revealed that “meditation increases brain size” especially in creative centers of the mind. As the moving meditations of tai chi & qigong expand throughout cities worldwide in public places, they expose tens of thousands to the gentle flowing motions of moving meditation, and with the help of global media, this moment of mind expansion is carried into millions of homes. What effect does this blanketing of the world for one day in images of unity, healing, and open heartedness, have on the planet, on humanity? Perhaps it expands the global brain size! And although research hasn’t emerged on this, yet, perhaps it enlarges the planet’s heart size.”  ...

To read the whole essay by Bill Douglas in The Meta Arts:  http://www.themetaarts.com/pages/billdouglas1.html

A deep bow to Bill Douglas who through his publisher just sent my prison classes two cases of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to T'ai Chi & Qigong."   a wonderfully easy to read and accessible introduction to QiGong principles and movements.

While your moving send a wave of energy into my students, who will be sending one back to you!

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Tuesday, January 24, 2006

WHAT WE WISH WE HAD BEEN TOLD

(Advice from some Quaker women volunteers who are old prison hands, to new women volunteers,Quakers and others)

1. Prison is, to you, a foreign country. As in any foreign country, it is wise to be quiet, observe, listen, learn the language and identify the values of the prison culture before advancing too many strong opinions or taking any drastic action.

2. Don’t be afraid to define yourself clearly. You are not required to be all things to all people at all times, nor to live up (or down) to any stereotype (including the one about the sainted Quaker lady). You are entitled, more over, to define for yourself and for others what you choose to be or not to be, do or not to do. This will take some time, but you should be aware of the need to do it, from the beginning of your prison visiting. Even after you have clearly defined yourself, expect to be tested, again and again, in many ways, including sexually, morally, and religiously. Eventually, however, if you are firm in sticking to your definition of yourself, others will adjust to it.

3. Expect to meet many tremendous and valuable people in prison. Expect also to meet some champion manipulators. Do not be surprised if these sometimes turn out to be one and the same person. Manipulation is a form of survival for the powerless (a fact that women,
historically, have had ample cause to know).

4. Especially at first, you will find it helpful, ...

Use the link below to read the full piece.  I highly recommend this to any who are doing prison volunteering or considering it!! I orginally found it as a pdf on the Buddhist Peace Fellowships site (www.bpf.org/html/current_projects/ prison_program/pdfs/QuakerAdvice.pdf) but can't properly give credit the authors. My apologies and gratitude to them.  I have heard now that it comes through AVP materials....

quakeradvice.pdf

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Friday, December 23, 2005

The Monastery

This wonderful article about the Buddhist Sanghas at Folsom Prison appeared in our local weekly paper.  It features students that are also in my classes.  In the photo of the men walking, the room in the background with the light is the C Yard chapel room where I teach.  On B Yard, I teach in the main room which is identical to the one shown.  I have written before about helping Helen Hobart out, traveling with her to the Chaplain’s conference and attending the Buddhist Volunteers gatherings.  It is great to have more of the community aware of contemplative efforts and the aspirations of some of the men inside.

http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2005-12-15/news2.asp

Next up ... A  special showing of the new Johnny Cash movie and visit from the lead actor.  I hope they get off lockdown.

the-monastery-news-review.2.html

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Thursday, December 08, 2005

The Value of Prison Work

Do you ever wonder about the the value of helping prisoners, as compared to the homeless, troubled teens, or the addicted, or ...

I found this wonderful piece by Buddhist Ven. Chodron on the Value of Prison Work, I hope you’ll take the time to read it if you do.  As we Quakers say...this Friend speaks my mind. there is a great deal of inspiring material on this site.

http://www.thubtenchodron.org/PrisonDharma/the_value_of_prison_work.html

the-value-of-prison-work.2.doc

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Thursday, October 13, 2005

Are the scales falling from my eyes? Or blocking my vision?

If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together.
   Lilla Watson, an Aboriginal woman activist

Today my Internet browsing took me to the essay, that I had read a year ago. It’s message haunted me and will continue to as I reflect on my motivations for this work.

Below are a few quotes, click here to read the whole article for yourself.

http://www.engaged-zen.org/articles/Kobutsu-Paradox.html

The Paradox of Freedom: Prison Dharma on the Edge

Published in Spring Wind: Buddhist Cultural Forum Summer 2003

Buddha Dharma is not Buddhist Dharma

by Kobutsu Malone

It's easy to run a meditation group in a prison when one is oblivious to the day-to-day horrors actually taking place. Prisoners are desperate for any outside contact whatsoever, and they'll do whatever they can to foster such contacts, including hiding the conditions they tolerate, for fear of alienating an outside volunteer. It is only after the volunteer reveals themselves as empathetic and trustworthy that they begin to hear about oppressive conditions. Civilian volunteers learn through experience the dualistic, deliberately divisive paradigm that drives the prison: they are either "cops" or "fellow prisoners.
…
Motivation: Here lies a paradox. Only a fully enlightened Buddha experiences pure motivation; even very high bodhisattvas experience motivation tainted by desire to liberate sentient beings. In any case, there are many levels of motivations and reasons for doing prison Dharma work. At first glance, we may appear to have very good intentions. Yet there are other disconscious motivations in place at the outset, such as the validation of one's own practice through "teaching" it to others, the exercise of entitlement in reaching out to prisoners as "lower beings" who need to be brought to a "higher level" (the flowering of arrogance that Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche used to refer to as ego-hood), and the opportunity to play Teacher in a closed environment to a captive audience. Subtle racism and classism may be operating, and these are extremely difficult to see within ourselves. For those who work as Dharma teachers in prisons, accepting and fostering Beginner's Mind is usually a Herculean task
…
… and recognize the prison environment as the bottom-line intersection for all of the failures of our society and all of our personal failures
…
If we work with prisoners long enough, we begin to fathom the depth of the pain they endure; we see and acknowledge the suffering they manifest in response to their pain. We are not so different-in time, we see their situation as intimately intertwined with our own predicament. The scales fall from our eyes . . . Perception sharpens.
…
If prison Dharma is limited to creating sitting groups in prisons, all the while believing that our function is to provide something better to people than what they have-is this not power-over, downright arrogance?
…
…the need is for exceptional teachers-those who are thoroughly open and able to recognize their role as student of those imprisoned, and able to learn from them as much as they may be offering as Dharma teacher.
…
Yes, a couple of hours of quiet zazen is a relief, a respite, an escape from cellblock chaos for the prisoner. These hours are usually all that the volunteers ever see of prison life. They do not have to go back or to deal with the brutality of prison life. Their lives are privileged beyond comprehension, when compared with the lives of those inside. The volunteers are entitled-with their status, they can walk out of the prison at any time. They do not have the daily worries about being taunted, psychologically or physically abused, raped, beaten, gassed, or stabbed. Prisons are hostile environments and volunteers are often either unaware or in denial of this fact. If the volunteer cannot grasp this reality, the ability to be of genuine service to the awakened stated of mind is lost.

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Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Yoga of Redemption

Here is a article of Yoga in the Prisons, and a sidebar at the end lists good resources.

magazine-_the_yoga_of_redemption.html

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Monday, September 19, 2005

The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Just found this interesting web blog:

http://realcostofprisons.org/blog/

An example: "Incarceration as a Failed Policy" by Alvin Bronstein August 26, 2005
Jim Gondles has invited me to write a guest editorial on “why US policies on incarceration are ineffective in terms of crime control, costly and counter productive,” something I had said to him in an email in another context. I was glad to receive this invitation and I should point out at the outset that my criticisms would apply to almost any country’s policies on incarceration and not just the United States. This is not intended as an attack on United States’ prisons but rather prisons generally. There are better, less damaging prisons than those in the United States, for example in the Scandinavian countries. And there are far more that are far worse than the United States. I have been in prisons in some countries, Russia and Brazil, that make ours really look like country clubs. The point is not how new or modern or well equipped prisons are but rather the fact of incarceration itself that is, in my opinion, a complete failure.

In his marvelous 1974 book, The Future of Imprisonment, Norval Morris, the distinguished criminologist and long-time consultant to the Federal Bureau of Prisons wrote:

The criminal law’s reach has been extended in this country far beyond its competence, invading the spheres of private morality and social welfare proving ineffective, corruptive and criminogenic. This overreach of the criminal law has made hypocrites of us all and has cluttered the courts and filled the jails and prisons, the detention centers and reformatories, with people who should not be there.

When that was written, we had about 350,000 men, women and children in our nation’s jails and prisons. Today we have over 2,200,000 and prisons here and throughout most of the world are still ineffective, corruptive and criminogenic.

It is widely recognized that we have locked up too many social nuisances who are not real threats, too many petty offenders and minor thieves, severing such few social ties as they have and pushing them further toward more serious criminal behavior. In the US, we inappropriately incarcerate the mentally ill and the alcohol and drug addicted. Prisons generally make people worse.

The 1973 national commission, The National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, recommended that “the institution should be the last resort for correctional problems.” They gave their reasons – failure to reduce crime, success in punishing but not in deterring, providing only a temporary protection to the community, changing the offender but mostly for the worst – and concluded that “the prison has persisted partly because a civilized nation could neither turn back to the barbarism of an earlier time nor find a satisfactory alternative.” Today, over 30 years later, we have a new national commission that is looking at the abuses in and the problems of prisons in America.

Again, nothing has changed except that there are many more people in prison, our prisons are now larger and more destructive of the human personality with fewer programs and harsher regimes. Many years of studies have revealed that only three possible changes in the life of the prisoner during his or her incarceration are correlated with later conformity to the conditions of release and with the avoidance of new criminal behavior – the availability of a family or other supportive group to join on release, the availability of a reasonably supportive job, and the process and duration of aging itself. Getting a job and preserving or creating social relationships are exactly what prison most interferes with although time for aging it does provide. We cage people, it is clear, not to treat them but for a variety of other reasons. Increasingly prisons are places of punishment and have nothing to do with rehabilitation.

One of the great prison reformers in the world, Baroness Vivien Stern, Secretary General of Penal Reform International, in her 1998 book A Sin Against the Future: Imprisonment in the World, wrote:

It is a great strength of the reform movement that the people in the system know that what is going on is wrong. They say so through the associations to which they belong. They need to be reinforced in their conviction that whilst they are contracted to carry out their instructions and follow their rule book, they have a higher loyalty to a set of values and principles. It will not be an excuse for the perpetrator of a clear human rights abuse to say, “I was just obeying orders”. Prison staff need to be given the confidence and courage to keep on pointing out what is wrong. Perhaps they should require that the international norms and instruments governing the treatment of prisoners should be written not just into prisoners’ rights, but into their rights too, as staff. There are rules governing how prisoners should be treated. So also should there be equivalent rules governing what prison staff can be asked to do, and making it clear what they cannot be asked to do.

As Nelson Mandela once said, “Prison not only robs you of your freedom, it attempts to take away your identity. Everyone wears a uniform, eats the same food, follows the same schedule. It is by definition a purely authoritarian state that tolerates no independence and individuality.”

In 1999, a large group of criminal justice professionals, academics and officials from 50 different countries in all five continents met for five days in Egham, England, to consider “a new approach for penal reform in a new century.” At the end of the five day meeting they drafted without any dissents an agenda for that new approach which included among them the following:

The understanding that penal reform is an essential part of good governance.The awareness that penal reform cannot proceed without changes to the criminal justice system as a whole and that crime prevention in and by civil society is essential to the success of penal reform.The determination to make sure that everyone, especially the poor and marginalized, has equal access to the justice system. The recognition that drug abuse is usually better dealt with inside the health or social welfare care system rather than the criminal justice system, especially when there is no violence involved. The need to enrich the formal judicial system with informal, locally based, dispute resolution mechanisms which meet human rights standards.

During the past 40 years I have visited hundreds of prisons and jails in the United States and many prisons in Asia, Latin America and Eastern and Western Europe. The best, least destructive, prison that I have ever been to was a maximum security prison in the city of Ringe, in Denmark, which I visited on a number of occasions.

This was a small maximum security prison which housed men and women prisoners together, all of them recidivists, in which every prisoner worked at a productive job every day, where correctional officers wore no uniforms and worked side-by-side with the prisoners and had many other marvelous features. Every time I left the prison and walked out through the main entry way I was accompanied by the prison governor, Eric Andersen. Each time I left, I would say, “Eric, this really is a marvelous prison.” And his answer each time was, “But remember, Al, all prisons damage people.”

* Alvin J. Bronstein is Director-Emeritus of The National Prison Project of the ACLU; US Board Member, Penal Reform International (London). This editorial originally appeared in the August 2005 edition of Corrections Today magazine.

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Thursday, September 15, 2005

Prison reform efforts

Friends Committee on Legislation Education Fund
FCL Research Page

Reform Our Systems of Justice, End Violence and Terrorism

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Monday, January 17, 2005

Practicing Tai Chi Chih in prison - An inmate's testimony

This article was written by one of the founding members of our Tai Chi Chih Class at Folsom Prison and published in the Vital Force, the teacher newsletter for the form.

Some teachers hand this out as a motivational handout to inspire their students on the outside.
--------------

Folsom inmate describes effects of regular practice of T’ai Chi Chih
The Vital Force Journal, March 1999

My name is Phil (AKA “Frenchy”). I am an inmate currently housed in Folsom State Prison. I have been incarcerated since 1984 and am considered a “long termer” – I’ll be here for a while yet. Since my incarceration I have been working at self-rehabilitation. In these efforts I have been involved in a number of groups and programs and learned a lot from them. In 1996 I was able to become a part of an inmate-originated program that secured sponsors both “outside” and “staff”. We named it “The Contemplative Fellowship”. At first we learned silent meditation. Through the years other styles and forms of meditation have also been shared by others.

About a year ago I was able to start down the path of T’ai Chi Chih. One of our group is Jim Hecker who is now a certified instructor. He began giving classes and sharing this with others. I became one of those students and now have progressed to being an assistant – basically showing new students, through example, how the movements are done. This group is growing and being taught every day of the week now here at Folsom.

I was asked to share some of the things that I have gained through doing T’ai Chi Chih. I am really still at the beginning of this journey and yet the benefits have already become a very real part of my life. It’s funny when I look at it. The first time I saw Jim doing it I almost laughed and wondered how moving around in such a fashion would ever begin to help me. I also respected Jim and since we had shared silent meditation together I gave him the benefit of the doubt and decided to try it.

For me, the beginning was slow. I have had several very serious injuries in my life. The muscles that attach under my shoulder blades are now held in place, my knees are bad, my arms are not too much better off. For years I took pain medication as well as relaxers to get through the day. When I began T’ai Chi Chih I experienced a lot of pain and discomfort and after a time, burning sensations were added to that. I’m really not sure then the changes happened but change did come. One day I noticed that the burning sensation sort of collapsed like a balloon and just spread out. It was a while after that I noticed that the supply of pills I had was growing. I wasn’t taking them. I didn’t need them. I’m blessed with being able to practice twice a day. As a result I find I seldom ever need medication. I have walked for years with one shoulder noticeably lower than the other. I don’t anymore. My knees seldom ache like they always used to do and the stiffness in my forearms has become a thing of the past. This is Chi at work, I was told. I believe it. I am in better health than I have been for a long time. I have also lost two notches off my belt as a result. I was never “overweight” but the practice has placed me in better shape there too.

I feel I also need to share about the spiritual and mental gains that have come with regular practice. I have found a peace that is real; I also have patience, understanding and sharing abilities I have never had before. I also have found that the stress and tension that life in prison brings is vastly reduced. Life has become a lot more joy than it’s been in a very long time. It’s hard to say one can be happy within the walls of a place like this but I am at peace as well as enjoy the life I have. I have work, hobby and meditation. I am constantly on the go. I attend as many meetings as I can, it has become a way of life for me.

I also feel I should share some of the intents that I have. It’s my goal to become involved even more in the Fellowship. To do so I have even more to learn. I hope some day to become certified (to teach T’ai Chi Chih) myself. I feel this should be shared with every inmate. Those involved with our fellowship don’t come back to prison. We know of only one parole violation who returned. I want to be a part of doing what I can to give this to as many people as possible. At some point this went beyond working on the self and into even more self growth through working with, sharing with and teaching this to others. Nobody wants to remain in prison but when that day for release comes the changes must be in place to have corrected the mistakes and become productive members of society. T’ai Chi Chih is the path that helps those changes to be made.

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Wednesday, December 22, 2004

QiGong Conference presentation - 1999

Folsom Prison QiGong:
finding freedom behind bars

A paper presented at the
Third World Congress on QiGong, November 19-21, 1999

Prepared and presented by Judy Tretheway
Accredited Teacher, Tai Chi Chih

As one of the world’s
greatest healing arts, QiGong can and should address all levels of sickness. Sickness in individuals as well as sickness in our society. I would like to focus this discussion of the healing of some of the most stagnant Chi in our society, our jail and prison systems, and the healing of the men who are locked up inside.
For the past year I have journeyed at least weekly to Folsom Prison in the foothills above Sacramento. I pass through 12 heavy metal clanging gates, several ID check points, and dozens of guards. I wind my way through corridors crowded with men confined inside concrete walls topped with razor wire. Almost everyone I pass is solemn and tense. Here and there along the way there are a few smiles, and nods of recognition. In a tiny strip of garden, a Chinese statue, Japanese stone lantern and the Native American sweat lodge, greet me as my path skirts around the edge of the exercise yard. In the yard hundreds of men mill around biding their time, telling and re-telling their “war” stories, pacing around the circle and doing push-ups. I work my way through the crowd clustered in a tiny bit of shade next to the guard shack to pick up a alarm. Finally I can slip into the sanctuary of the Chapel. Here the atmosphere is peaceful, and I join the 25 men dressed in blue who were able to get a pass to join the Tai Chi Chih class this week.
Tai Chi Chih is a meditative form of QiGong originated by Justin Stone. It has received approval to be practiced within the prison because of its meditative approach and easy-to-learn qualities. It is a gift of serenity for these men who are confined within a very controlled and angry environment.
Practice is only permitted in the Chapel class or in their prison cells. They are no longer allowed to practice together or separately on the yard. Their cell practice space is the tiny strip of space between the wall and their bunk, just the width of their shoulders. The bars are at one end and the toilet at the other.
The men in my Chapel class are black, white and hispanic. Gang, race and religious distinctions are left at the door. They are murders, rapists and drug dealers. Nothing in their past matters to the chi. They are locked up for 14 months to life. The chi does not discriminate. We all start where we are and take one step at a time. Some students are devout religious men and others have never before set foot inside the chapel. QiGong principles transcend and nurture all religious beliefs.
According to the Jewish Chaplain, Rabbi Book, this mixing of men from all aspects of prison life is unique to my Tai Chi Chih class. It is consistently well attended and has a waiting list. All the men chose to come.
The program is only a year old and the results are difficult to document. Research inside the prison is tightly regulated. I was only able to conduct ‘show of hands” survey of the men. I have collected their personal testimony over the course of the year and will share from this “data”.
The purpose of Tai Chi Chih, like most QiGong forms is to circulate and balance the Chi. Most of the Tai Chi Chih movements have a grounded, repetitive weight shift with circular hand patterns. They teach the practitioner, imprisoned or free, to yield and soften into the flow of Chi, to remain grounded and centered throughout all activity, and to open to and absorb healing Chi from the universe. Although Tai Chi Chih has been approved and has proven it’s appropriateness for the prison environment, I suspect that other forms of QiGong that are meditative and healing in their intent (as opposed to a martial art) would have similar results.
As the men practice the form, their transformational healing process is initiated, sustained and nurtured by the Chi. Some men come to class with a background in meditation from other traditions, other have never touched any of “this eastern stuff.” The prison environment is harsh. Tension and fear are normal operating conditions. Strength and dominance keep them alive. Sorrow, anger and grief fill their hearts.
Their bodies are stiff and battered from the harsh life they have chosen. Tattoos ripple as their arms flow with the movements. Poorly healed injuries and scar tissue challenge their ability to flow smoothly. Their upper bodies are overdeveloped from vast quantities push-ups. It is not easy to shift their awareness to the tan-tien.
Yet they are eager to learn and are good about practicing. Some even get up between two and three in the morning so that they can practice without the constant turmoil of the day time noise.
In the movements they find the quiet, peaceful power of the Chi. They learn how to yield and overcome; how to let go and release tension; how to forgive and flow. They can enter a state of openness and allow healing to flow from the universe and from their own centers (tan-tien). They learn to have a deep connection with their center and to move from that place of integration and wholeness in their core. Gradually they become comfortable with a new sense of self that emerges. They are able to flow and relate to the world around them from a new sense of groundedness, a fresh perspective of the nature of the world and their relationship to it. Having a practice strengthens their personal will and sets in place a opportunity for continual transformation and healing.
But most of all the practice feels good, and relieves them for an hour, at least, from all of the stress and tension of living inside this prison. They discover the potential for balance and harmony in every aspect of their lives, not only during the precious hour in the Chapel.
These are not generally men who are good at getting in touch with their feelings or expressing them. Over the year, as they have come to trust me, they have taken the time as I unlock the gate and let them out of the Chapel, to share of their progress and gratitude for the practice. Numerous men have commented to me of their change in attitude and their ability to relax and let go of tension. They tell stories of other inmates being surprised by their ability to be happy and at ease. They no longer get excited when some one cuts in line (“what’s the rush? We aren’t going any where”). They share stories of improved relationships with the cell mates and guards. They tell of turning away from confrontational situations and choosing new friends that blend better with their new sense of self. They discover a compassionate side of themselves and have found ways to serve their fellow inmates.
At least a dozen of the men have become active leaders. They mentor other prisoners, nurturing their transition into this very different state of harmony and balance. They are very aware of the example they set with their peaceful attitude. This attitude or presence during routine prison life, as well as during times of strife, is what brings new students to class.
The men have shared stories of mediating and preventing conflicts. The leader of the group and instructor, Jim, deliberately began practicing one afternoon as tension was building during a period of racial strife and watched the beginnings of a crisis dissipate.
Several have been able to reduce and even eliminate the psychotropic drugs that control their behavior. Many are sleeping better at night and some with chronic physical conditions have found very welcome relief. Some are writing books and poems, others painting. I hear of bridges mended with loved ones.
But the best and most common comments are sincere smiles and warm comments of gratitude: “thanks for coming, this practice has changed my life.” As we practice together, I watch and can see the tension release from their faces and bodies over the course of the months. They are awakening to their own potential and taking responsibility for their own peace of mind.
There is a profound healing that happens when we find and learn to move from our center. Not easily articulated or quantified, it is nevertheless an essential step in personal transformation. QiGong movements teach us to quietly flow from the essence of our being and to open to the powers of the universe flowing through us. I am privileged to be able to watch the Chi’s progress within myself and within these men whom society has tossed aside as hopeless.
The program began with a small group of inmates that meditated together and were looking for a body movement practice to facilitate their personal and spiritual growth. Several had experience with Martial Arts movements on the outside, but knew that would not be appropriate. They searched for a form that could be approved by the prison administration. A form that would help prisoners cope with the anger and tension common in the prison environment with peaceful rather than aggressive movements. After learning Tai Chi Chih from a book and practicing for several years alone in his cell, one inmate began a long process to get further instruction and eventually approval.
The Tai Chi Chih Originator, Justin Stone, and the International Head of Tai Chi Chih, Ed Altman, went into Folsom prison in May of 1998 and provided certification training for this inmate. Jim Hecker is now a accredited instructor and teaches with me in the chapel. He has previously been able to teach in the PE and Education departments under staff supervision.
In order to use the chapel for group practice and instruction a volunteer sponsor must come in from the outside. I got involved when supportive staff called looking for volunteers.
The Tai Chi Chih program is part of a larger inmate organized group called the Contemplative Fellowship. There is no budget or staff. I teach twice a week. To date (Nov. 19, 1999) we have volunteered a total of 336 hours, commuted 6,720 miles to prison over the course of 112 visits. It is a big commitment for two otherwise unemployed Tai Chi Chih teachers.
Teaching inside Folsom prison has been a profound experience for me. The dramatic contrasts and potential provide a constant source of material for deep reflection. My understanding of Tai Chi Chih and the transformative nature of Chi has increased with each visit.
My students inside demonstrate how possible and important it is to be able to develop inner resources and practice inner freedom within external restrictions. They are living, breathing examples of potential personal transformation within deeply challenging circumstances. They have taught me about unconditional love, patience, forgiveness. I have learned with them as we struggle with issues of strength and softness, of vulnerability and will, of surrender and flow. While suffering may be inevitable in each of our lives, misery is optional. These students have been able to find serenity amidst a very big storm.
Jim Hecker, instructor on the inside, sees the changes in his students in their daily life, I see them only once a week for an hour. Jim recently wrote in our Tai Chi Chih newsletter:
. . .”the advanced students, those who have been practicing T’ai Chi Chih for six months or more are the ones the changes are most apparent in. Men who have been very afraid, (it is a given that fear is the base cause of violent behavior), men who have failed in all aspects of their lives are having those lives changed — not just changes in the body, but changes in the most basic way they think. Men who have lived a life of violence in every facet are becoming calm. Their very demeanor is changing. This change is natural and involuntary. Relationships with family and friends are healed. Addictive behavior (drugs, alcohol, violence) patterns are in a gradual manor being removed from their lives.
I am not the only one who noticed this happening. So often, a student will bring a letter or tell me how their family has written that there is something different about them. They tell me about the peace of mind they feel when doing T’ai Chi Chih.

Numbers:
Old Folsom Prison has a population of nearly 4000 men. 265 men have been through the Tai Chi Chih program and 95 are currently active participants. Many of the others continue to practice on their own because they are not permitted to come to class. Others are able to learn and practice with televised video instruction (14 part PBS series) in their cells.
Only 25 inmates are allowed in class at a time. They are not permitted to gather together on the yard for group practice. As the way opens, practice tips and encouragement are shared. Participants are 50% white, 27% black, 16% Mexican and 11% other. This level of racial integration is unusual for prison programs.
Folsom is a level two facility (scale is 1-4, 4 being the worst security risk). The men in this program are predominately medium security risk.
Our program is only a year old. Only fifteen participants have been paroled during this time, just one has returned. A 6.6% recidivism rate as contrasted to the general population rate of approximately 76%.

Show of Hands Survey
I was permitted to take a “show of hands” survey during one of my classes. Two groups were formed. The main group were students who had learned the entire form (20 movements). Eighteen of this group said they were practicing regularly outside of class.
The results from this group to the request to “raise your hand if Tai Chi Chih has made a positive difference in your life in regards to ___.”
As I expected the greatest response was in increased energy and vitality.
The other responses that received votes from nearly half the men polled were:
• improved general health;
• general improvement of attitude, happier;
• less anger, or increased ability to control anger;
• more reflective, ability to meditate improved
• sense of peace, greater harmony, balance in life
A substantial number found that the practice had helped with
• flexibility, balance, coordination
• specific illness (i.e., headaches, ulcer, injury)
• depression, anxiety
• changed your attitude about being here, ability to cope with prison life.
The second group of eight men present had taken only one - three classes. The classes had already helped 4 of them with their ability to cope with prison life, and 3 of them acknowledged improved general health, improvement with specific illnesses, relief from depression and anxiety, improved self esteem and greater sense of peace.
The results are similar on the whole to what students on the outside experience with the exception of the increased ability to control anger. This is generally not an issue commented upon by free students.

Testimony from Tom:
One of the best ways to understand the impact of the program on the prisoners is the personal testimony of Tom, who was just recently released. He wrote me the following letter to share:
When I came to Folsom I had no idea it would become a new level in my spiritual development. I really felt I had reached one of the lowest points of my evolution. I was physically and spiritually torn down due to the stress levels I had been dealing with. . . .
one day a fellow inmate had picked up a little note from the education department that mentioned a Tai Chi Chih class. I had heard of Tai Chi Chuan but never Tai Chi Chih, so my excitement was sparked. . . .
I walked into the chapel and felt like I was home, there was meditation music playing and people doing Tai Chi. The Chi in the room effected me before I even began to learn about it.
After the first lesson I felt so blessed. It was the first time I had felt so human and alive since being down (in Prison). With every lesson my joy grew and I began to feel the benefits of doing Tai Chi Chih on my psyche. The sadness, frustration, anger and all the things that go with prison life would disappear after doing my practice.
It makes me feel so centered physically and spiritually, it has become the primary source of my love of life.
When I hit the yard after doing my practice people tell me I look happy. Prison is more like an ashram to me now and I can’t wait till I can add Mother Nature to my practice. If Tai Chi Chih can create such a powerful sense of peace and joy in this environment, I can just begin to imagine how much I get to experience in nature.
The Tai Chi Chih has become a cosmic life preserver for me, some people turn to a priest or guru, I turn to Tai Chi Chih.
I don’t know if I would have found Tai Chi Chih if not for coming to prison, but it is the one thing I will always carry with me from this experience. Tai Chi Chih has given me a tool for the future so I can be aware of the space I am passing through in this life and I can live from the center of the space I fill with integrity and peace.
Namaste, Tom.

Inside Folsom Prison there is a small group of prisoners whose background and crimes are as ugly and restricted as they come. Many are in for life. Yet their lives are being transformed by discovering, releasing and flowing with the Chi. As they yield, they overcome. They find a freedom inside the bars.
Within each of the men who practice, the healing is spreading not only from cell to cell of their own bodies, but from cell block to cell block of the whole prison. The twice weekly practice group embraces men from all races, religious groups and gangs. They have tapped into the Bubbling Spring and are drawing it into the “belly of the beast”. Their intent, like each of us who practice, is to heal ourselves. As the Chi flows, they change. Their relationships change. Their attitudes and perspectives of all that is happening around them changes.
It is not easy to teach or practice Tai Chi inside a prison. It has not been without setbacks. But the power of the Watercourse Way has been released. A Way, a practice, to move from confinement towards release, has been discovered and nearly 100 men are practicing regularly to keep the process flowing from the inside out.

Request for healing
As you practice, and transform yourselves, remember these men. Send some of your healing thoughts their way and share their story with your students.
Consider the challenge and opportunity of introducing QiGong practice at a Jail or Prison in your community. I can not imagine a better place to offer healing gifts of the Chi. Your impact will effect not only the lives of your inmate students, but all of us as they are released back into our communities.
Directing healing energy towards our jail and prison system has the potential of healing the largest stagnant wound of our society. Our prison system is a rapidly expanding institution that takes the most wounded in our society and locks them all together. We, as a society look the other way and refuse to finance rehabilitation programs. Our fearful reaction has been to lock up more people, hire more guards and build more prisons.
We know from our QiGong practice that we all are aspects of the same Wholeness. Ignoring our prisons, is tantamount to allowing a gangrene wound to spread its poison unhindered.
Please join me in sending healing energy towards this major block in the Chi flow of our society — our prison system. Thank you.

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Exploring Strength/Tension while practicing Tai Chi Chih at Folsom Prison

Written March 1999

At the Intensive last February, we worked on avoiding two very common human tendencies - to hold tension and to use strength to act. The opportunity to develop a Tai Chi Chih practice, and indeed even a life, from a different perspective is the blessing Tai Chi Chih (TCC) efforts in Folsom Prison. As we experimented with releasing tension and with avoiding strength, safe within the church walls of St. Luke’s, I reflected on the challenge and the risk these courageous men are taking. To step aside from the very dominate and nearly mandated mode of prison behavior into this practice is to radically step off the well-know path that led these men to prison in the first place and into very new uncharted territory. I saw deeper into the nature of their difficulties with letting go and not directing the flow, but opening up instead, to receive the flow. I recalled their testimonies of transformation and amazed in their huge leaps under very challenging circumstances.
To look at TCC as only the stripping away of the excessive, of bringing the difficulties into alignment, is to miss half of the (yin /yang symbol). What arises from the practice, what flows from the dantien as we move, is a power, not a power of strength, but a power of peace, a power of unity, of quiet alignment. As we, as the men in Folsom, tap into this magnificent power in the stillness and flow of the movements and the gentle conclusions, we know our depths. True strength ripples without effort from our core and touches everyone we meet. Even though the number of men that are permitted to participate is relatively few, their calming influence on the institution is spreading.
The reasons for tension and use of strength drop away as the balance and harmony of our emerging center reconstructs our lives. This is a true for me, a woman with freedom, and it is true of the Lifers at Folsom Prison. It is delightful to see how even with outside circumstances so different, the process of discovery unites us and frees us from the need for tension, the need to use strength. Tapping into our core power can liberate us, adding new dimensions and releasing us from constricting attitudes wherever our life’s journey carries us
At Folsom Prison the Tai Chi Chih class is held inside a peaceful chapel on the edge of a crowded, noisy exercise yard. To get inside I must pass through innumerable clanging gates, past cramped tiny cells, and weave my way through inmates and guards some scowl, some smile. As a lone free female I stand out, but few pay much attention to my presence. Everything is different than my “normal” life, everything that is except the dynamic, vital, peaceful, serene flow of the chi as we practice together.
The Tai Chi Chih students are all captive men, shunned and set aside from my world outside the high walls and watchtowers. Men with pasts and futures I don’t know about and would rather not speculate upon.
The contrast between us is so great - Yin and Yang. I, a female and alone. They, male and so many. I, free to come and go. They, locked up for years and years. I practice at the ocean, on a mountaintop or in my garden. They practice in the shoulder wide space between their bunks, the toilet and the bars. I can wear any color except blue. They are all dressed alike. I can express myself and speak to any topic. They are reserved, cautious.
Yet the reason we are together, is the same reason we all love and practice TCC. Together we find a sanctuary within the temple of our bodies. Together we rock and nurture our emerging selves. Together we seek a sense of harmony amid the chaos of our lives and our circumstances.
Their struggles and joy with the moves are no different than those of my students outside the bars. Although their bodies may be stiff and battered, their chi and te is strong. They practice. They are appreciative and eager for coaching.
I am grateful to my captive audience. They have stimulated and nurtured my growth as a teacher. The experience has added great to my sense of self as a unique manifestation of the whole where we are all one.
Having no expectations or demands over me they stimulate my personal expansion. They teach me to carry limitations with dignity. They demonstrate how important it is to be able to develop inner resources and practice inner freedom within external restrictions. They are living, breathing examples of potential personal transformation within very challenging circumstances. They manifest the strength and potential healing power of the chi. They have taught me about unconditional love, about serenity amidst the storm, about persistent patience, about forgiveness and non-judgment. I have learned about strength and softness, about vulnerability and will, about manifesting and letting go, from an entirely different perspective. While suffering may be inevitable in each of our lives, misery is optional. Each of us can realize our potential no matter what our outside circumstances.
When I am at Folsom Prison I am fully alive in the divine flow of the chi and I am grateful for the opportunity to grow and practice with these gentlemen. I am both pleased and proud to represent the TCC community of teachers. Thank you for the opportunity.

Judy Tretheway
Folsom Prison Tai Chi Chih volunteer

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Wednesday, December 15, 2004

April 1999 Newsletter article on Folsom work

April 1999.
This article has been printed in The Vital Force and the Sacramento Friends Meeting newsletter.
by Judy Tretheway
At Folsom Prison the Tai Chi Chih (TCC) class is held inside a peaceful chapel on the edge of a crowded, noisy exercise yard. To get inside I must pass through innumerable clanging gates, past cramped tiny cells, and weave my way through inmates and guards, both surly and friendly. As female, alone and free, I stand out, but few pay much attention to my presence. Everything is different than my “normal” life. Everything, that is, except the vitally serene flow of the chi (life force energy) as we practice together.
The Tai Chi Chih students are all captive men, shunned and set aside from my world outside the high walls and watch towers. Men with pasts and futures I don’t know about and would rather not speculate upon. The contrast between us is so great - Yin and Yang. I, a female and alone. They, male and so many. I, free to come and go. They, locked up for years and years. I can practice at the ocean, on a mountain top or in my garden. They practice in the shoulder wide space between their bunks, the toilet and the bars. I can wear any color except blue. They are all dressed alike. I can express myself and speak to any topic. They are reserved, cautious.
Yet the reason we are together is the same reason we all love and practice TCC. Together we find a sanctuary within the temple of our bodies. Together we rock and nurture our emerging selves. Together we seek a sense of harmony amid the chaos of our lives and our circumstances.
Their struggles and joy with the moves are no different than those of my students outside the bars. Although their bodies may be stiff and battered, their chi (vital energy) and teh (sincerity) is strong. They practice. They are appreciative and eager for coaching.
I am grateful to my captive audience. They have stimulated and nurtured my growth as a teacher. The experience has added greatly to my sense of self as a unique manifestation of the whole where we are all one.
Having no expectations or demands over me they stimulate my personal expansion. They teach me to carry limitations with dignity. They demonstrate how important it is to be able to develop inner resources and practice inner freedom within external restrictions. They are living, breathing examples of potential personal transformation within deeply challenging circumstances. They manifest the strength and potential healing power of the chi. They have taught me about unconditional love, about serenity amidst the storm, about persistent patience, about forgiveness and being non-judgmental. I have learned about strength and softness, about vulnerability and will, about manifesting and letting go, from an entirely new perspective. While suffering may be inevitable in each of our lives, misery is optional. Each of us can realize our potential no matter what our outside circumstances.
When I am at Folsom Prison I am fully alive in the divine flow of the chi and I am grateful for the opportunity to grow and practice with these gentlemen.

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