Episode Highlights:

35 Years of Prison Dharma – Gary Allen shares his decades-long experience bringing Buddhist teachings to incarcerated individuals.

•Correspondence-Based Dharma – The power of personal letters and structured courses in reaching prisoners.

•Anger & Patience – Why teachings from Shantideva on patience and anger are essential in prison.

•Challenges of Prison Work – From administrative hurdles to the evolving perception of Buddhism behind bars.

•Long-Term Impact – How Dharma transforms lives in prison, creating lasting change even beyond release.

Gary Allen shares his decades-long experience bringing Buddhist teachings to incarcerated around the United States, Canada, and South Korea. He is the Co-Executive Director of the Mindfulness Peace Project, which provides programming for prison inmates and veterans. He’s authored secular mindfulness books for inmates (Discovering Sanity) and for veterans (Warrior’s Heart). He has two degrees in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University and has published five books of poetry, most recently Transmigration Suite from Antarabhava Press. He’s been working for the past 20 years on a four-volume book on Indian tantric master Tilopa and the origination and practice of Vajrayana.

In this episode, Susan Shannon, a seasoned Buddhist practitioner, and chaplain, shares her journey of transformative prison ministry, including her work as a Buddhist chaplain on death row at San Quentin. She discusses her adaptable teaching approach, focusing on universal Buddhist principles like the Four Noble Truths and dependent arising, which foster deep transformation among incarcerated individuals. Susan highlights the importance of inner work, understanding prison culture, and practicing humility as a facilitator. She advises aspiring volunteers, encouraging self-reflection, restorative justice work, and exploring alternative ways to serve.

From the Teaching Mindfulness Summit April 24.

• Meditation, mindfulness, and self-compassion.
• Mindfulness and self-compassion teaching methods.
• Trust, intuition, and teaching wisdom.

Christopher Germer, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and lecturer on psychiatry (part-time) at Harvard Medical School. He co-developed the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program with Kristin Neff in 2010 and they wrote two books, The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook and Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. MSC has been taught to over 250,000 people worldwide Dr. Germer is also the author of The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion and he co-edited two influential volumes on therapy, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy. Dr. Germer lectures and leads workshops internationally and he has a small psychotherapy practice in Massachusetts, USA. His website is www.chrisgermer.com