Escaping the Prison of the MindEscaping the Prison of the MindEscaping the Prison of the MindEscaping the Prison of the Mind
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Film Nine

Escaping the Prison of the Mind

Escaping the Prison of the Mind

To realize that you are a prison of your own mind is the dawn of wisdom.
–Nisargadatta Maharaj

The film above, with Earl Simms, walks us through a process of exploring how many of us become imprisoned by our own thinking, and the ways that we relate to ourselves, and our own experience. Violence Prevention expert Earl Simms served 22 years of a life sentence. About five years before his eventual release he discovered meditation, and began digging inside himself to figure out what had happened to him as a child that led him down a road to violence. As he began to understand and dismantle the rage, grief, and helplessness that had led him to seek affirmation through violence, first on the football field, and later through involvement with gangs, his heart began to heal, and he began to recover more and more of his humanity. While the prison Earl was in is more obvious than the prison many of us find ourselves in, his story is universal. As he notes in the film, he was in a prison inside himself long before he found himself locked up.

Related Practices:

See Becoming a Real Human Being. See the Art & Science of Connection. See all kinds of meditation practices (Self-Compassion, Learn to Breathe), as well as down-regulation practices (Coming out of Freeze, Coming out of Fight, Coming out of Flight, 3 Steps: Assess, Down-Regulate, Connect), as well as Emotional Awareness practices (Emotional Yoga, Allow Yourself to Grieve, Feel Your Feelings), as well as Connecting to Nature practices (Gardening, Sit Spot, Touch the Ground, Watch the Sunrise)

Who taught us this?

We have had the good fortune to be involved with mindfulness work in the prison system for many years. This particular practice we learned from Earl Simms, who is part of our faculty at the Restorative Practices Alliance.

Teach me how

Check here for classes.

Who taught us this?

We learned this from many people, and it has become one of the signature elements of our work, which looks to understand the neurophysiological drivers of mental momentum in the body. This unites strands of indigenous awareness with the Polyvagal Theory, marrying ancient ancestral awareness practices with the cutting-edge of neurophysiology

Teach me how

Check here for classes.

Video: | Photography: | Licensed from Pexels.com, used with permission.

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The Restorative Practices Alliance is headquartered in Northern California and serves internationally. Our mission is to re-center safety and connection as the baseline of an ecological human multi-culture. We are a philanthropic ancestral neuro-technology cooperative and culture repair engine, powered by intellectual property licensed from Applied Mindfulness, Inc., and held in trust from other sources of wisdom.

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