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Jeremy Irons Lends Support To Prison Yoga Program
I thought this was a great example of a celebrity not getting caught up in name & fame but using their insight and personal spiritual experience to help other people in a powerful way. doing seva (service) like this is an incredibly accelerating yoga, in itself, esp bringing some light into such desperate conditions.
- Alx
the actual story link is here:
www.ctv.ca/servlet/Arti...0604/20070604
Jeremy Irons lends support to prison yoga program
Updated Mon. Jun. 4 2007 11:00 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Actor Jeremy Irons says his work as an actor enabled him to connect with the prisoners he wants to help as part of a program that encourages inmates to meditate and practice yoga.
“I live on the edge,” Irons told CTV's Canada AM. “I play characters who live on the edge and I like that. I'm very aware that it's a very thin line between being inside jail and being outside jail.”
The actor is involved in Freeing the Human Spirit, a program that helps prisoners deal with their anger and stay out of jail through the practice of yoga and meditation.
Irons – who has won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Tony – became involved with the program through 83-year-old Moncton, N.B.-born Catholic nun and Zen master Elaine MacInnes.
MacInnes has been teaching meditation to prisoners since 1980. She received the Order of Canada in 1999 for her work in the area.
According to The Globe and Mail, Irons met MacInnes while she was living in England in the mid-nineties while he was taking one of her Zen classes.
“She's an extraordinary woman,” Irons told The Globe. “Sadly, she's now 80-something, although you wouldn't know it.
“I wish she was 30-something because she has so much to give to life. I've only met four or five amazing people in my life, and she is one.”
Irons has been involved as a hands-on participant with the Freeing the Human Spirit program for the past 12 years. The Freeing the Human Spirit organization and some prisons are located near his Oxford home.
“The idea is not only to help prisoners while they're in prison, but to prepare them for when they get out,” Irons told Canada AM. “Because when they get out, they haven't got a house, they haven't got a job, their wife's probably left them.
“It's tough and unless you've got some sort of calm and centre for yourself, it's really difficult not to reoffend and go back in. So, it seemed to me to be a fantastic organization.”
The program has been running in Canada for around four years, according to Irons. It is accepted in 27 prisons in the country and is currently being practiced in 14 correctional facilities. The program can make a genuine difference in the lives of the incarcerated, Irons said.
“When you're banged up in prison, as Paris (Hilton) will find out, I suppose, you're stuck in a cell on your own, a very negative experience,” Irons told Canada AM. “But if you can turn that cell into an ashram, if you can learn to meditate and do yoga, exercise your mind and exercise your body – then it becomes a positive experience.”
I thought this was a great example of a celebrity not getting caught up in name & fame but using their insight and personal spiritual experience to help other people in a powerful way. doing seva (service) like this is an incredibly accelerating yoga, in itself, esp bringing some light into such desperate conditions.
- Alx
the actual story link is here:
www.ctv.ca/servlet/Arti...0604/20070604
Jeremy Irons lends support to prison yoga program
Updated Mon. Jun. 4 2007 11:00 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Actor Jeremy Irons says his work as an actor enabled him to connect with the prisoners he wants to help as part of a program that encourages inmates to meditate and practice yoga.
“I live on the edge,” Irons told CTV's Canada AM. “I play characters who live on the edge and I like that. I'm very aware that it's a very thin line between being inside jail and being outside jail.”
The actor is involved in Freeing the Human Spirit, a program that helps prisoners deal with their anger and stay out of jail through the practice of yoga and meditation.
Irons – who has won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a Tony – became involved with the program through 83-year-old Moncton, N.B.-born Catholic nun and Zen master Elaine MacInnes.
MacInnes has been teaching meditation to prisoners since 1980. She received the Order of Canada in 1999 for her work in the area.
According to The Globe and Mail, Irons met MacInnes while she was living in England in the mid-nineties while he was taking one of her Zen classes.
“She's an extraordinary woman,” Irons told The Globe. “Sadly, she's now 80-something, although you wouldn't know it.
“I wish she was 30-something because she has so much to give to life. I've only met four or five amazing people in my life, and she is one.”
Irons has been involved as a hands-on participant with the Freeing the Human Spirit program for the past 12 years. The Freeing the Human Spirit organization and some prisons are located near his Oxford home.
“The idea is not only to help prisoners while they're in prison, but to prepare them for when they get out,” Irons told Canada AM. “Because when they get out, they haven't got a house, they haven't got a job, their wife's probably left them.
“It's tough and unless you've got some sort of calm and centre for yourself, it's really difficult not to reoffend and go back in. So, it seemed to me to be a fantastic organization.”
The program has been running in Canada for around four years, according to Irons. It is accepted in 27 prisons in the country and is currently being practiced in 14 correctional facilities. The program can make a genuine difference in the lives of the incarcerated, Irons said.
“When you're banged up in prison, as Paris (Hilton) will find out, I suppose, you're stuck in a cell on your own, a very negative experience,” Irons told Canada AM. “But if you can turn that cell into an ashram, if you can learn to meditate and do yoga, exercise your mind and exercise your body – then it becomes a positive experience.”
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Re: implementation: Jeremy Irons & Prison Yoga
Wed, June 6, 2007 - 10:42 PMwow! that was very inspiring; i always thought jeremy irons was hot; now i know his chakras are alive and well!
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Re: implementation: Jeremy Irons & Prison Yoga
Thu, June 7, 2007 - 1:29 PMI've thought a lot about why solitary confinement is the worst, most-feared punishment in prisons. It's one of those things, I guess, that you can't really imagine until it actually happens to you and you have to go through it. The closest I've come was when I got stuck in a traffic jam for 9 hours - alone in my car, not in control of the situation. It was challenging to stay positive and not give way to anger, desperation, etc. -
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Re: implementation: Jeremy Irons & Prison Yoga
Thu, June 14, 2007 - 1:37 PMhey, Narayan --
yes, I suppose in a way solitary confinement can be a huge gift to people if they can take it that way. it's like a huge karmic "time-out!!!" from Nature itself. if one is receptive, it could be a great opportunity to develop meditation abilities and peace internally. unfortunately, since people aren't generally trained in this kind of approach to solitude, when it's forced on them the mind dominates, and often goes completely mad.
I do have a dear friend who used his year of incarceration for a minor felony as a chance to develop himself spiritually -- he took all the remote lessons available through Yogananda's organization, SRF, read spiritual books, meditated a lot, and served as a volunteer firefighter in Southern California (it's an option for some prisoners). in one way, being in prison was a great humbling for him. from another angle, it was a huge gift.
Alx
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