Can mindfulness set us free?
Can mindfulness set us free?

Summary/Abstract: In spring of 2015 I was in Naivasha (the largest maximum security prison in Kenya) sitting in a circle with 50 inmates. We were doing Mindfulness training together. Many of these men had very long sentences and some even faced death penalties. When the training was over some inmates declared “I may be in prison for the rest of my life, but I am now free”. The following week, I was assessing the coursework of successful people who were doing a Master in Business and Administration in a UK university. I was reading their personal development portfolio (i.e., a piece of work in which they had to enhance their self-awareness). Reading their words gave me great sadness. These future leaders were imprisoned by their beliefs, thoughts, emotions and habits. Internalised expectations had determined the square meters of their own cell. Then, a few months later, I was receiving some deep inner self development training in the mountains, when someone made me see my own dark and compressing inner prison.

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