Feeling at home in our skin. Bollate Prison, Milan, 2019

Feeling at home in our skin

James Low

21st May 2019.

James Low was invited to give a talk to the men in Bollate Prison, Milan.

Download and read the transcript here.

Italian translation by Francesca Fazzio

French translation prepared by Yann Leguen and Martine Widmer

 

In a closed system like a prison there are many challenges. We suffer separation from the people we want to be with and we are forced to be with people we don’t want to live with. Thus, we might feel abandoned and lacking those factors that allow us to be reassured. On the other hand, we might feel invaded, having to tolerate the rules and everything that is imposed from the prison system. Sometimes we are stuck in one mode, while other times we flip rapidly from one state to another. One way to deal with being in a situation we do not like is to be like a stone and not absorb anything. Another way is to be like a sponge that absorbs everything, and due to this we become hypersensitive and overreact to things. The practice of meditation, however, can provide us with is a more balanced position where we rest in the middle free of extremes.