Changing from Inside

This is another of the very moving documentaries by Karuna Films about the introduction of vipassanā meditation into prisons that started with Doing Time, Doing Vipassanā in 1997.

This one follows two courses held in Seattle in the USA in 1997-8, one for men prisoners and another for women, concentrating on the latter.

We see first of all how the idea of offering these courses arose, how the Facility Administrator was asked to do the course herself before the inmates; the preparations that had to be made; and then there are interviews with the prisoners themselves, both before and after the course.

As in other films the results are remarkable, and people who have been in much suffering, denial and danger are over the course of the 10-day retreat almost remade and ready to try a new way of living.