Almost two million adults are currently incarcerated in America.
Many of them are suffering from trauma, unable to receive support, facing an 80% chance of re-incarceration. This comes at an annual cost of $55 billion to governments, or five times what’s allocated for K-12 education.
What if one thing could begin to shift the equation?
What if we could help break the cycle of re-incarceration by reducing the suffering of those inside the system?
We believe meditation is that one thing.
We provide Meditation training for incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people and Corrections Officers.
Evidence shows meditation has the power to help heal trauma and release toxic stress, contributing to reduced recidivism.
Let’s light the way for change together.
The Light Inside offers a sustainable and scalable solution through meditation, working from the inside out to equip incarcerated people with a simple mental technique to calm the mind, relax the body, and dissolve the lifetime of stress and trauma many have suffered.
This work paves the way for change at the individual level to create a safer and more harmonious environment at the system level, decreasing the likelihood of re-offending.
Only light can remove darkness.
The Light Inside on TV
Founder Joh Jarvis and The Light Inside were recently featured on Australian television network Channel 10’s The Sunday Project.
THE CYCLE OF INCARCERATION
BY THE NUMBERS
30-60%
The link between trauma and behavior has been well established. A 2014 study found 30-60% of men in state prisons suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, compared to 3-6% of the general male population. Wolff, Huening, Shi, and Frueh, 2014.
56-82%
The rates of sexual violence victimization are so high for incarcerated women that some researchers suggest sexual abuse may be a pathway to prison for women, likely through the development of mental illness, including substance abuse. Karlsson and Zielinski, April 16, 2018
500%
The number of incarcerated people in the US has increased by 500% over the last 40 years, mainly due to changes in sentencing law and policy, not changes in crime rates. These trends have resulted in prison overcrowding and financial burdens on state penal systems, despite increasing evidence that large-scale incarceration is not an effective means of achieving public safety. The Sentencing Project,
Step Inside The Circle is an initiative created by the Compassion Prison Project. The program highlights how the physical, emotional and social impact adverse childhood experiences have affected society and stresses the importance of care, not punishment, in healing.
Without tools to release the embodied stress accumulated by past trauma and foster lasting mind-body change, detainees are statistically more likely to be re-incarcerated.
LET’S END THE CYCLE.
WHO DOES IT AFFECT?
Resolution of the inner conflicts that can determine human behavior benefits not only those who learn meditation, but those around them.
While 1 in 100 Americans is currently incarcerated, this cycle affects 100 out of 100 Americans every day.
Both incarcerated people and corrections staff face the risk of violence and emotional distress daily.
Their families and loved ones worry about them
Their children are at higher risk of developing psychological distress.
Governments struggle with resources.
The national average cost of incarceration for one inmate is $65,000/year.
The annual cost of incarceration for one inmate in Rikers Island was $556,539 in 2021.
There isn’t a single person in this country unaffected by this cycle.
SUPPORT THE LIGHT INSIDE
TAKE ACTION TODAY
Help reduce the suffering of the incarcerated.
Help relieve the workplace stress of corrections staff.
Help shape the system for the better.
Help disrupt the cycle of recidivism.
Donate to The Light Inside
Bring The Light Inside to your facility
THE PROGRAM
LEARN TO MEDITATE
A four-class course in Vedic Meditation
In only 90 minutes per day over 4 consecutive days, the expert teachers at The Light Inside can train incarcerated people, staff and administrators in Vedic Meditation.
The training fosters self-sufficiency so those who’ve completed the program can continue practicing the simple, effortless technique on their own thereafter.
As the grip of stress and trauma unwinds, a deep inward calm sets in, decreasing reactivity and hostility and increasing capacity for patience and reflection.
THE BENEFITS
Reduced anxiety, depression
Reduced anger and raging
Improved mood and outlook
Less impulsivity and greater patience
Reduced risk of heart disease
Normalization of blood pressure
Relief from insomnia
THE RESEARCH
Science is increasingly confirming the benefits of meditation.
Scientific American and Time Magazine have reported on the most recent key findings.
MEET OUR TEAM
TLI teachers have been expertly trained for 2,000+ hours in Vedic Meditation practice and theory.
WORKING WITH
Joh Jarvis
FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Joh Jarvis is a New York City-based meditation teacher who since early 2020 has been running in-depth multi-day meditation training programs in Rikers Island detention centre. In that time more than 100 men have learned meditation. She has also taught meditation to formerly incarcerated women in Philadelphia. Joh has led meditation training programs in the North Dakota State Penitentiary and North Dakota’s Hearts River (women’s) Corrections Facility training both incarcerated residents and corrections staff and officers.
Joh founded The Light Inside in 2021 to expand the teaching of meditation in corrections facilities across the US and eventually Australia.
Previously Joh was a media professional for 23 years. She was both a Senior Executive, media producer and journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, where she led a number of radio networks, current affairs programs and large teams of broadcasters and content makers.
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I began practicing Vedic Meditation in 2006 as a stressed-out media executive, and I have not looked back since. This ancient technique has given me increasing access to clarity, creativity and happiness I never imagined possible.
These qualities lie within us all—it’s merely a matter of allowing them to emerge. Vedic Meditation works by removing deeply embedded stress from the nervous system, allowing the mind to access peaceful, unbounded layers of tranquility.
In 2013, I began teaching this simple technique in my home country, Australia, before moving to New York City in late 2015. Four years later, just before the Covid-19 pandemic, I started volunteering in Rikers Island jail teaching meditation to men in the jail’s maximum security mental health observation unit. My motivation was that I wanted to share the technique that had helped me so much with a group of people who would otherwise never have access to it.
Before the pandemic forced the temporary closure of jail volunteer programs, I’d trained 20 men and knew this was something I wanted to pursue.
When the pandemic forced us indoors, I began planning how to take the meditation more widely across the US. In 2021 I founded The Light Inside with the mission to take meditation to corrections facilities across the nation, with training programs for incarcerated people and corrections staff. Any workplace or home whose members meditate is calmer and more harmonious. The same can be true for corrections facilities. Not only do the individuals who meditate benefit, but there is potential for the entire organization to operate with less friction.
Meditation has the capacity to begin to resolve the inner conflicts which drive behavior. This benefits meditators, those around them and the wider community.
As of early 2024, The Light Inside has trained nearly 200 incarcerated people and corrections staff in both New York and North Dakota. We are now expanding our programs to other states and expect to have training running in women's prisons in Pennsylvania in mid 2024
We are looking for support for our programs.
If you are a correctional facility representative, I would welcome the opportunity to speak to you about our powerful work.
If you would like to donate financially to support, we would welcome your help.
Please follow the links on this page to either contact us, receive our newsletter, or donate to our mission.
The Light Inside Advisory Board
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Rev. Dr. Michelle Anne Simmons
Rev. Simmons is the Founder and Executive Director of Philadelphia-based Why Not Prosper, Inc., an organization helping previously incarcerated women smoothly transition back into society after their release from incarceration. She established Why Not Prosper in 2001 after living through much adversity, including being incarcerated herself. Through her experiences she was inspired to turn her life around and help others.
In the past 20 years, Rev. Simmons has dedicated thousands of hours of volunteer service to help disenfranchised people through prison outreach, missionary work, and mentorship.
In 2015, Rev. Simmons received a full and unconditional pardon for her earlier conviction.
Rev. Simmons practices Vedic Meditation and in 2022 attended a four-day intensive Vedic Meditation retreat in the Blue Mountains, Australia.
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Suzanne Tick
Suzanne Tick is a Vedic Meditation teacher, CEO, textile designer and weaver in New York City. She is the Creative Director at Luum Textiles and Design Partner with Skyline Design. She has dedicated thousands of hours volunteering with myriad nonprofits and community organizations, such as The New Shul, The Fetzer Institute, and God's Love We Deliver.
Suzanne Tick Inc. operates out of Tick Studio in NYC’s East Village and is a NYC-certified Women Owned Business.
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Robert Hammond
Robert Hammond is a Vedic Meditation teacher and Co-Founder and former Executive Director of the High Line NYC, where he led the transformation of an abandoned elevated railway line in Manhattan into an iconic urban park.
Robert has served as a consultant or advisor to many companies and organizations, including the Times Square Alliance, Alliance for the Arts, and the National Cooperative Bank. He currently serves on the boards of Little Island, Grounded Solutions Network, and the San Antonio Museum of Art. He is President and Chief Strategy Officer at Therme Group, North America.
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Nicho Plowman
Nicho Plowman is a Vedic Meditation teacher and the co-founder of Insight Timer, one of the largest global online mental health communities in the world, with more than 20 million users, including teachers, spiritual leaders, and meditators.
Nicho is an investor and advisor to a number of companies and projects in the well-being sector.
Through his foundation, Bay of Grace, Nicho is primarily focused on supporting education programs that bridge the cultural divide between non-indigenous teenagers and indigenous communities in Australia.
SUPPORT THE LIGHT INSIDE
TAKE ACTION TODAY
Help reduce the suffering of the incarcerated.
Help relieve the workplace stress of corrections staff.
Help shape the system for the better.
Help disrupt the cycle of recidivism.