Sustainable development blog : ecology and humanitarian aid

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana is a poignant documentary showing how Vipassana, an ancestral hindu meditation technic rediscovered by Gotama Budhha 2,500 years ago, has been used in Indian jails as a way to improve the prison atmosphere, prepare inmates for their reintegration to the outter social environment and help to reduce recidivism rate. Beyond the rehabilitation aspect, it has completly changed the life of many criminals and deliquents and it demonstrates that a soft guided introspective is much more effecient than harsh inhuman methods.

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana is a poignant documentary showing how Vipassana, an ancestral hindu meditation technic rediscovered by Gotama Budhha 2,500 years ago, has been used in

Indian jails as a way to improve the prison atmosphere, prepare inmates for their reintegration to the outter social environment and help to reduce recidivism rate. Beyond the rehabilitation aspect, it has completly changed the life of many criminals and deliquents and it demonstrates that a soft guided introspective is more effecient than harsh inhuman methods.

The documentary is based upon the experiment led in 1993 by Kiran Bedi, a new Inspector General of Indian prisons, who was trying to reform the Indian penal system. She requested that a vipassana course be conducted in the largest prison in India, Tihar Jail outside ofNew Delhi.

During the 10-day period, students remain silent. During the first three days, they focus on breathing. After three days, "the mind quiets down" and students become highly aware of the subtleties of breath, then of all physical sensations. The goal is to objectively experience all physical sensations and feelings, from pain to pleasure to hatred. Students realize, as sensations and emotions come and go, that nothing is permanent and that they can change destructive habits. Inmates in particular learn to let go of hatred and see things as they are.

The results were dramatically sucessful and the images are impressive. We can see inmates breaking in tears and giving big hug to the jailers. Based upon this success, a permanent meditation center has been settled within the walls of Tihar Jail and regular courses are held in several other Indian prisons.

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana won several awards such as the prestigeous Golden Spire Award at the 1998 San Franisco International Film Festival and proved to be a very effective tool in bringing about the introduction of Vipassana meditation courses into the prison systems of other countries. Such courses have now been given in the prisons in the United States and in other countries with wonderful results.

More information about this meditation technique can be found on the Vipassana website. Courses are run through donations and conducted regularly all over the world. Anyone can attend and benefit from this purification of the mind.