This is an opportunity for you to directly support the men and women in our community who are living behind bars. Put Gangaji’s Freedom Inside: A Course in Self-Inquiry into the hands of prisoners as they face the harsh realities of living behind bars in these turbulent times.
Last week, an anonymous donor stepped forward with a matching gift of up to $25,000 for the Prison Program. Donate by September 7, 2020 and your gift will have twice the impact.
Your $20 donation will become $40, $100 becomes $200, and $500 becomes $1000. And every dollar will help make Freedom Inside available to someone who is serving time possibly while in lockdown or even solitary confinement.
“Choosing to donate to the Freedom Inside Program is my way of wishing that all people have true support in our darkest moments.” —Matching Donor
Right now, you can do something that will have an immediate impact in a prisoner’s life and in the world. While we cannot prevent the experience of pain in this life, we can prevent the experience of unnecessary suffering. We can step up and claim peace and freedom for all. We can stand in our commitment to love and our vision for peace.
“I came into jail broken and at the end of my rope. I did not know how to move forward or if I even wanted to. You showed me how to STOP. By finally stopping, I saw the tenderness inside of me that I was always either running from or trying to protect.” —CP, Wasco State Prison
helping men and women behind bars to find peace within themselves regardless of their past, present, or future circumstances.
Prisoners are people who, like many of us, have had experiences of trauma and emotional and physical abuse.
For most prisoners, self-hatred and low self-esteem are at the root of why they are now behind bars.
No one is born with self-hatred, it is taught and learned through experience.
outside until I was free inside.” – KW
“l knew that l was not going to be allowed to stay free on the outside until l was free inside.” – KW
“l’m choosing to stop suffering here and now. l’m willing to end that emotional roller coaster of pain, tormented suffering… l am much more aware of my choices even while l’m presently incarcerated” – TS
Like all of us, prisoners have had all kinds of experiences that continue to influence how they see
themselves and respond to the world around them.
Unlike us, they are behind bars, continuing to be traumatized, possibly continuing to traumatize others.
It is possible to end the unnecessary suffering that is generated through our fixation on our past history and our imagined future.
We cannot prevent the experience of pain in this life, but we can prevent the experience of unnecessary suffering.
Human caused events begin as reactions to anger and fear, or deep grief and despair. Self-inquiry is an investigation into the weight of hatred and fear.
We investigate the narratives that we repeat to ourselves over and over that create our mental prisons. We look at the emotions that give stories life and discover how our emotions often nest one into another.
“l have to tell you that this is probably the most helpful and insightful course l’ve come across in the 36 years l’ve been down. l’m finding the material to be a healing balm of sorts since it brings to light the many stories of pain that l’ve avoided most of my life only to find that they cannot hold up under the Light of self-inquiry.“ – Fred
FREEDOM INSIDE: A COURSE IN SELF-INQUIRY is designed specifically for prisoners to address the trauma at the root of their current situation.
VOLUNTEER CORRESPONDENCE PROGRAM pairs prisoners with volunteers for letter writing about their ongoing self-inquiry and discoveries.
MONTHLY CURRICULUM is mailed each month and includes topical articles, letters and reports from other prisoners, and inquiry worksheets.
POST-RELEASE SCHOLARSHIPS offers former prisoners scholarships for online retreats, live online monthly meetings with Gangaji and subscriptions to the video library.
Unravelling a story of unnecessary suffering frees a person to live from love instead of living from fear and hatred.
The positive viral effect of planting seeds of self-love can have an extraordinary impact on our society as each prisoner’s entire experience shifts to love and peace. And that love has a ripple effect.
The ripple effect of this work far exceeds the individuals who receive it. We do this for the sake of all of us, so that we may live in a world where we all discover that peace and love are never absent, never lost, always present and available to everyone.
“lf you are willing to accept yourself, you love yourself, if you are willing to truly know yourself, you see yourself everywhere. What you love you attend to, you don’t abuse. When you love with clarity of attention you are free to take responsibility for yourself on this planet.”
– Gangaji
“I have been with men in Folsom Prison who are doing life and I have watched them weep in the fulfillment of their own heart” – Gangaji
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