Teaching meditation in the prison system

Introduction

• Meeting Venerable Thubten Chodron in Seattle
• Early volunteer work with incarcerated people

Anger management 01 (download)

Demographics of the American prison system

• There are six million people under supervision: incarcerated, on probation, or on parole
• There are two million in prison
• The US has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, except possibly for China
• Most of the people there are average people, and are good to work with

Anger management 02 (download)

Specifics of working with incarcerated people

• Teaching meditation to women as a stress management technique
• Using a subset of Lam Rim meditations (attachment and aversion, etc.), and some purification (the Four Opponent Powers) to advance the meditations
• Working with men in a course called “Anger Management”

Anger management 03 (download)

Experience in the county jail

• A stressful environment for incarcerated people

Anger management 04 (download)

The prison guards

• The training and demographics of the guards

Anger management 05 (download)

Graduate work in counseling psychology

• The search for credentials to support the meditation work
• A masters thesis on evaluating anger management techniques
• Measuring anger, empathy, narcissism

Anger management 06 (download)

Buddhist techniques

• Anger management tips derived from the teachings of Venerable Thubten Chodron

Anger management 07 (download)

Working with incarcerated people

• People who self-select for the program are just the sort of people you want to sit and talk with
• How to talk about love

Anger management 08 (download)

Masters thesis

• Results of the study

Anger management 09 (download)