5. Bhakti Yoga and Prison Service Projects with Amy Barnes

In this humbling podcast I interview Amy Barnes, Bhakti Yoga, Non-dual Tantra Teacher and Psychotherapist and Realtor of 22 years about her non profit service projects in Riverbend Maximum Security Institution (Friday Night Service Interfaith Fellowship Project) and South Central Correctional Facility (Yoga/Music Therapy) and the transformative effects of sharing yoga, meditation and singing on those involved. We talk about being raised a Nashville Native by a Reverend daddy and Tai Chi Yogi mama in the buckle of the bible belt and how service in prisons and Civil Rights activism were born into her bones.

It was a moving conversation that had me look at my own languaging with respect to this section of community, the judgments that have been held deep inside my conditioning and the compassion that deepened throughout this conversation as I began to see deeply entrenched beliefs float to the surface. This conversation will shed light on your own conditioning and programing around this sector of society and I pray that it humbles and opens your mind, creating space for a more unitive way of viewing society.  

We pay homage to her teachers Jai Uttal and Sally Kempton among others, while discussing insiders she’s spent time with such as Tony Vick who wrote the book Secrets from a Prison Cell, the innocent Cyrus Wilson who has served nearly 27 years incarcerated-so far-and is awaiting psyche evaluation to see if he will be released on parole this year. Don Johnson, is scheduled to be executed on May 16th 2019, and still praying for clemency from TN Governor Bill Lee. Rahim Buford, a released insider who now works with the Children’s Defense Fund Nashville Organizing Team, having spent 26 years in prison, has founded the non profit Unheard Voices. We also talked about different non-profits such as Jeannie Alexander’s, 'No Exceptions' She also mentions several times, for those who want to gain greater awareness of prison life realities, to watch the documentary Amendment 13 on Netflix. Also check out Call and Response Foundation.

After our sobering conversation we come to the conclusion that the inside is not different from the outside… and that Grace is growing at an equal or greater rate than dark. This is societal, not individual.

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