COIMBATORE, NOV 10
Continuing Isha Foundation’s commitment to well-being for prisoners, its founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev interacted with inmates of prisons across Tamil Nadu on Monday. The one-hour live interaction was organised by Tamil Nadu Prisons’ Director General of Police (DGP) Sunil Kumar Singh.
Sadhguru spoke about icons like Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela who used their prison terms for inner transformation and made lasting contributions to humanity, a press release from the foundation said here.
Stressing on the futility of resisting the inevitable, he asked the prisoners to work towards creating a joyful state within themselves regardless of external circumstances. For this, one must understand the basics of the mind, he said.
“Whatever you say you don’t want will happen in your mind. Do not decide what you don’t want. Decide what you want,” he urged his listeners and demonstrated the mechanics of the mind by involving them in a short experiment.
“For the next 10 seconds, do not think of monkeys. Give it a try. Can you do it? Your mind is full of monkeys, isn’t it? Your mind is not doing what you want it to do. If you say, ’I don’t want monkeys,’ it will think only of monkeys.”
Ishas yogic practices are designed to bring inner balance and harmony and gain mastery over body, mind, emotions and energy. The spiritual leader also answered several questions from the prisoners mostly related to mental wellbeing and dealing with crippling negative emotions such as fear, loneliness, guilt, shame, and anger.
In response to the DGPs question on how to make it easier for prisoners to find employment once they complete their term, he suggested speaking with industry leaders to introduce a process that would make it easier for former inmates to join mainstream.
In a Deepavali message to prisoners, Sadhguru said, “You are not with your family. But, I am with you. There is always a place in my heart for you. Make good use of the time you spend in prison,” he said adding, No one can fix what happened yesterday. We can create what needs to happen tomorrow.”
Isha trained yoga teachers to conduct online yoga sessions for 8,165 men prisoners, 3,453 women prisoners, and 3,971 prison staff during the pandemic. The sessions were held at the request of the State Prison Department and Isha has been conducting yoga sessions, specially designed for prisoners, for over two decades in Tamil Nadu prisons.
