Each time I visit a prison I am struck by the preponderance of gates. Gates at every turn. Gates for controlling, ordering and locking up. The Intensive Journal program offers a different kind of "gate" for the women incarcerated at the Bedford Hills facility. This is a gate which opens into an inner space of calm, inner peace and profound transformation. We completed the Life Context module in a series of three one-day sessions over a three-week period. We began with twenty-eight women who signed up for the program. Twenty stayed on to complete the series. The Intensive Journal is truly a "road not taken" ever before for these women. Rather than my telling you how the days impacted their lives, here are some comments given by a few of the women in their own words:

"The experience of this Journal workshop helped me realize the beauty within ourselves despite our circumstances."

"This way of writing is helping me change my negative behavior and become a better person."

"This experience is making me feel strong."

"Through the meditations and writings, I have been able to raise up and out of a bleak and depressed state. I am not hopeless."

"Attending this workshop, I have learned how to cope with my emotions and to grow in so many ways."

"This group for me has helped me cleanse my soul. Writing down my feelings and being able to read it has helped me put myself on the right track."

"I am able to release a lot of anger by writing down my feelings rather than act on them."

"The workshop gave me the chances to go deep inside myself and find stuff that I had no idea ever existed there. It helped me to understand my inner self and why I react to certain situations the way I do."

"This has been an enlightening experience. I learned many things about myself and my peers. There were times I felt really tense and didn’t want to be here. . . 

However shortly after the opening meditation began, a feeling of peace came upon me. This feeling carried me through the day and gave me something to hold on to when times got hard."

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