Path of Freedom

My name is Myra Johnston and I have been a social worker within correctional environments for 30 years. Currently, my practice is at the Sarnia Jail.  Two years ago, my employer approved my attendance at a self-development program called Mindfulness-Based Wellness and Resiliency (MBWR), an evidence-based interactive program designed to engage and train participants in a broad range of simple, practical, communication, stress management, health enhancement, and resilience-building skills. Benefits include significantly reducing the risk of burnout and other serious workplace stress injury and trauma-related health risks faced by corrections personnel. 

Approximately six months after completing the MBWR program, I was invited to participate in training that would allow me to facilitate mindfulness-based programming with our client population.  Initially, I had doubts about my expertise and questioned if I even wanted to train in a new program so close to retirement in little more than two years’ time.  I finally decided to do it; I signed up and attended the 10-week Path of Freedom facilitator training program.  I am so glad I did! 

According to the literature, the Path of Freedom is an evidence-based program for genuine healing, self-development and rehabilitation.  The curriculum is specifically designed to address criminogenic factors, like antisocial attitudes, values and beliefs, and certain temperaments and personality types strongly associated with criminal behavior and recidivism.  Foundational to the curriculum is the power of mindfulness meditation, which creates opportunities for individuals to touch into aspects of themselves that are free, empowered, and essentially of value. When offered behind bars, Path of Freedom can help prisoners reclaim their own lost potential within the extremely challenging environment of prison life.  By attending Path of Freedom, participants have the opportunity to practice pro-social behaviors and develop greater awareness of their own negative attitudes, core beliefs, and self-identities.  Participants can learn to manage and even transform negative tendencies by becoming fully accountable and responsible for their choices.

Image: Unsplash/Lesly Juarez

In reflection, these self-development and training opportunities have been invaluable to my own self-development and increased resiliency within a very demanding and sometimes toxic environment.  It has allowed me to be more self-reflective and manage my own emotions in a healthier way.  Taking time to practice mindfulness either in daily practice or daily activity has improved my mental wellbeing and outlook on life.  I find myself to be more joyful and at peace, I am better able to manage everyday frustrations and disappointments and support others in their journey of change.

I have been facilitating the Path of Freedom program at Sarnia Jail for the past year.  The program follows the book Path of Freedom: Building Mindfulness-Based Emotional Intelligence by Kate Crisp. Each participant is given a copy of the book. Over the past year, I have worked with approximately 50 clients either individually or in small groups.  Some have been able to complete 5 sessions and some all 10.  I have had comments from clients telling me how helpful the program has been, how they are better to manage their emotions, and that this program has taught them more than the intensive programs in the federal system which are sometimes six months long.  I asked my group participants to complete a survey after completing the program.  When asked if they noticed any changes in themselves that they attribute to their use of mindfulness practice. This is what they said:

“I have noticed that I use my breath to help me calm down and settle my racing thoughts.”

“I noticed that I practice meditation in the shower almost every time.”

“I think it is a great group to join to learn control over your emotions.”

“I found this helps with sleeping anxiety and everyday problem-solving.  It made me more confident.  As well as made me feel better.”

“Since starting this program I get better sleep and I am less stressed out/agitated.”

“Because this group helped me so if can help me…it could help others as well.”

“This is the only time of the week where I can just relax and reflect.”

“I calm myself down faster.”

“I have changed my attitude towards others.”

“I noticed I do meditations on my own.”

“I feel this group/program will help people to deal with stress, and emotions while being sober, and having the ability to do this will help people be able to stay clean and sober in the future without turning to drugs, alcohol, etc.”

“Mindfulness has helped me with pain management as well as focusing on the present “here and now.”  Meditation has also helped me slow my mind down and to more easily fall asleep.”

“I use the content of the program every day to make good decisions, communicate feelings, as well as forgive’ which is super important for one to move forward and change characteristics of life.”

“Learning how to meditate and to breathe slowly by myself in my alone time [ has benefited me].”

“Mindfulness practice helps with life inside my cell and inside my head.”

-Myra Johnston, Guest Blog

Winter Solstice

Decades ago, I attended a Winter Solstice event at the Timothy Eaton Church in Toronto.  There was prayer and singing as the ritual evolved with a gradual lessening of the light until all were there, feeling each other’s life energy supporting one another in the seeming emptiness of complete darkness. All was still, a moment full of mystery blanketed by darkness and silence.

That trembling moment of standing in the absolute present, without guideposts to enable action also called forth an inner exploration of the energy moving within each of us individually as women, as beings, as one small part of the living being that is Cosmos and animates us all.  Imagine a Celtic cross, with energy moving north and south, east and west; from the Holy One to each individual and the depth of their being and then each individual sharing that energy with each other enclosed by a circle of safety, belief and wonder with the Centre bringing forth a cosmic crash of birthing light. There we were in one holy circle.

Our society stresses action and doing, not being.  It is difficult to remain in the darkness of expectant waiting when our world seems bereft and empty, when all that we have seen and known is taken away from us.  It is sometimes near impossible to remember that the light is ever-present while not visible and that life is gestating and preparing to birth again.  At least this was the case for me when our dearest daughter, Kristina, died in a tragic car accident on Easter Sunday, 1991. The powerful transmission of spiritual energy between the generations was suddenly curtailed; I felt suspended in the deep darkness of loss without knowing the way out. It would take years of psychological and spiritual direction before a safe path was hewed through the wild and untamed forests of grief.

Two experiences sustained me then and still do. That night at the hospital while praying with two Associate friends, the words from Isaiah, “You have given all to me, now I return it” were all I was able to articulate, yet their gift was the confirmation of a sure, unwavering faith in the cycle of life and the sacred mystery that is the Holy.  And then came the dream that called me “to the sanctuary, or spiritual center of my being” and took me “beyond linear and spatial limits” to a new consciousness (Geri Grubbs. Bereavement Dreaming and the Individuating Soul. Berwick, Maine: Nicolas-Hays, Inc, 2004). In the dream,

Kristina and I are walking along a dark alley when suddenly, she falls into a deep rectangular-shaped hole. Desperate to rescue her, I climb down the rocky face to rescue her.  The descent into the hole is slow and scary but I manage to do it. Lo and behold, there she is – just as she was – but cradled in a manger filled with straw! I am surprised that it is not dark down here; the space is filled with a deep, golden, warming light. I figure that we will have to climb up the way I came down but miraculously, over to the right, is a shiny, copper ladder fixed against the wall.  We climb up, me first; I woke before I ever knew if she made it out. 

She taught me that no matter how dark it may seem, there is always an ember of Light to sustain us; that, in fact, an ever-present Holy Fire animates our spirit if only we have eyes to see. And when it is time and we are ready, like the mythical Persephone we will be provided with all we need to rise up and out of the earth and flourish once again.  

Since that time thirty-one years ago, I have become a sacred circle dancer.  We always have special dances that honour the Solstices. Part of me never quite understood why dancers were asked to wear white during the darkness of our Winter Solstice Celebrations.  Now I do!

-Susan Hendricks, Associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph

Presence, Grace, and Gift

Sean came to live with me in late December 2020. His mother passed away about 9 years ago when she was 45 years old due to complications from juvenile diabetes. Prior to that, Sean lived with his step-father in Chatham.

Sean is 35 years old and has Cerebral Palsy and is on the spectrum for autism.  Sean functions cognitively around the age of 8-10 years old.

I went to pick up Sean to come live with me on Dec 24, 2020 following the death of his step-dad from pneumonia. Sean’s only sibling passed away suddenly a few years ago at the age of 32, which left Sean with no immediate family except a grandma and grandpa who are elderly and unable to have Sean live with them.  Sean is not able to live alone due to his cognitive abilities. Sean’s biological father is “not in the picture”.

Sean has taught and continues to teach and remind me of so many priceless and valuable life lessons.  For example, Sean is simple and simply lives in the present moment. He doesn’t worry or have anxieties: he simply lives in the present moment.  When his mother, brother, and step-dad passed away, Sean would say that “they are in heaven now watching over us”.

If you ask Sean today, he would say that he is living his best life through God’s grace. He loves camp and loves to help out.  I am convinced an angel, the Holy Spirit, all of the above was looking out for Sean as he immediately landed a volunteer position at an overnight camp where he works in the kitchen. He gets to stay overnight in a cabin he shares with other staff members. The staff are so good to him, they include Sean in after work activities and treat him as an equal.  Sean came from the Chatham area where his step-dad worked and Sean had some experience working as custodial in a factory on modified duties and later in a marine shop.  Sean graduated from a special college program that provides life skills and specialized classes to students with special needs. When Sean lived in the country near Chatham, he would watch TV or listen to music and had little contact socializing with others due to the country setting.

“ I am convinced an angel, the Holy Spirit, all of the above was looking out for Sean ”

The camp director tells me that we need more people like Sean: he is on time for work every day, always completes all chores/tasks and he takes pride in the work he does in the kitchen and shows others how to use the industrial size dishwasher.  Sean never complains and he never asks for anything. 

I am truly grateful for the gift of Sean’s presence through the grace of God.  I am reminded to slow down, not to judge others, not to complain, and to see life as true gift from God.

Sean is a gift from God and during Advent and Christmas, I continue to reflect on Sean’s purpose in life and how and why he entered mine.

-Julie Angiolillo

Christian Meditation

The Fruits of Christian Meditation

For several years I was introduced to many different forms of meditation. Meditations of loving kindness, meditation of soft music, and many forms of guided meditation. I always expected something out of the ordinary to pop into my mind or some great aha moment. Hmmm, but little did I know...my grandson James, who attended the SK class at St. Ann Ancaster practised meditation.

We had just finished playing a game at the kitchen table and he was going to play in the other room while I made lunch. But as he walked across the room he turned around went back to the chair he was on before, he crossed his legs and put his hands on his knees, closed his eyes and began to meditate. I was truly amazed, I had no idea he was learning meditation. When I asked James what he was doing he said “my teacher told me that this is what I should do when I feel like this“. So I had not noticed any change in his demeanour. So when I asked why he felt he needed to meditate, he explained .....because he was feeling a bit sad because he was missing his parents.

At that young age he had been taught to recognize negative feelings and to react with positivity and to feel closer to God for comfort. Not all classes at his school offer Christian meditation so he went for a few years without that guidance but now at the age of nine the teacher he has this year has the students involved in Christian meditation. I am so very grateful to the teachers who feel that meditation can bring the fruits of the spirit alive in a child thereby enriching a healthy environment for students and teachers.

I’m a grateful Grandmother that my wee little grandson listens to his heart and feels God with him.

P.S. I too am blessed to be practicing Christian Meditation. 

Could it be the ripple effect of that one teacher with one child?

-Holly Kropf, Companion of the Sisters of St. Joseph

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Additional Resources: The Canadian Christian Meditation Community

Braiding New Relationships

Food For Thought: Braiding New Relationships

-by Sister Priscilla Solomon, csj of Sault St. Marie on behalf of Federation Ecology Committee

As I child I learned to identify and pick it. As long as they were able, my parents used to pick it every June or early July.  We were taught that it is the hair of Mother Earth and that it was not to be over-picked. Sweetgrass. We were shown that each single-stem plant is rooted in the earth just as our hair is rooted on our heads. That speaks to a very different relationship to the earth than the kind of relationship that sees primarily financial or economic benefits in the land and its life. I remember seeing braids of sweetgrass, and my Mom teaching me that a single blade of sweetgrass is not as strong alone as three clusters of sweetgrass when they are braided together. I was also taught that sweetgrass is a sacred medicine of purification and blessing.

If you have read Robin Wall-Kimmerer’s book, Braiding Sweetgrass, you might remember her teachings on sweetgrass that are so like the ones I received.

I was thinking of these teachings as I reflected on the recent visit and apology of Pope Francis to Indigenous peoples on this land. Not that there is anything sweet about the horrific history that necessitated an apology but rather, that his apology was one of the strands of a braid that carry the hope of new relationships. He was responding to the Truth and Reconciliation’s Call to Action that the Pope come to apologize to Indigenous people on our own lands. The commission itself, the courage and determination of survivors, the growing awareness of the painful and damaging past as experienced by Indigenous people, and efforts by both Indigenous people and people of Settler origins to develop a new relationship are all part of this strand of the braid.

The second strand of the braid includes the efforts of Pope Francis to engage Catholics and all people of good will in addressing climate change and the ongoing destruction of our planet. Laudato Si’, The Synod on the Amazon, Querida Amazonia and Fratelli Tutti communicate very clearly and powerfully the need to recognize that everything is related. Destruction of one part leads to destruction of the whole; healing of one part can lead to the healing of the whole. Pope Francis listened to the people of the Amazon. He responded with a clear call to us to hear the cry of the earth itself and the cry of poor people of the earth as one cry for healing and the transformation of our relationships with them. Not dominance and extraction but rather, respect, compassion and care. Not arrogance but rather respect for Indigenous peoples’ wisdom gained over centuries, even millennia, of living in harmony with the land and the rest of creation.

“Destruction of one part leads to destruction of the whole; healing of one part can lead to the healing of the whole.”

The third strand of the braid leading us to hope and transformation is the recent preparation for the Synod on Synodality. Already, the work that is being done is engaging people at various levels of the church. Both locally and globally, structures have been created to enable people to speak their truth and offer their ideas and opinions on how we might move together into a new future.  Pope Francis vision is one of a church - a people of faith - walking together encouraging, supporting, serving and strengthening each other in faith, hope and love. This is a vision of church that prioritizes life-giving relationships with other living beings over one that focuses on management and control though structures and laws. Like the apology and the concern for new relationships with others in our common home, this strand of the braid seeks a new quality of community and solidarity with others.

When we braid these three strands together we can create a stronger, more unified effort to transform our own lives, the lives of others and the whole of creation. Even more, we can strengthen and grow our relationships with our Creator, with the Living Word and with and the Spirit who lives and works in each of these strands of life. Let us walk together in hope and trust!

-Sister Priscilla Solomon, csj of Sault St. Marie on behalf of Federation Ecology Committee