San Quentin residents attended a multiple-day workshop to inform themselves about the three parts used by the brain to connect personality with personal reality.
In June, the non-profit Give-to-Give put on the event for the second time in the last year. Nearly a hundred residents learned about the science of change and the way reconditioning one’s body to a new state of existence could help to change counterproductive habits.
“We can change in times of pain and suffering or we can change in times of joy and inspiration,” guest and co-host Maria Hincapie said. “We are here to inspire this community to be creators of their lives and understand that change is a choice and the future is your choice.”
Give-to-Give’s “Change Your Mind and Create New Results” workshop focused on thoughts, actions, and feelings. World-renowned author and neuroscientist Dr. Joe Dispenza lectured residents via recorded video.
If an individual is open-minded and willing to understand the driving of behavior by emotions, then a person could learn from experiences and begin to change, Dispenza said.
Hincapie said Give-to-Give provided tools that helped to create a future instead of living in the past, unlike other programs that only delve into past traumas and stories.
Host Christian Palikuca started the workshop by asking for a show of hands of attendees who believed their mind directed and controlled their body. More than two-thirds of attendees raised their hand. To show how habituality could take over a body, he asked the audience to cross arms and then cross them again in the opposite way. Many residents struggled to accomplish the simple task.
“By the time you are in your mid-thirties, 95% of who we are is a set of automatic programs or unconscious habits. So it is the body that knows better then the mind,” Palikuca said.
He said the objective of reconditioning the body to a new mind allowed for permanent changes in one’s life, adding, “In order for change, we need to think greater than our environment, our body, and time.”
Resident Ronelle Draper said he noticed a change in his mood after the first day. He said he felt more effective while working, more empathetic, and the producer of his personal and extended environment.
“I have a practical way and model to be able to change my thought pattern,” Draper said. “I have a means to navigate the day and this place.”
Throughout the workshop, Give-to-Give representatives informed residents on stress responses and ways in which emotional reactions created diverse states of existence.
“There are four tools to practice, which allow individuals to be the best versions of themselves,” Hincapie said, “the first tool is to control your breathing when noticing certain feelings, needs, or wants.”
To overcome one’s environment, body, and time, the second and third tools are change and stopping thought-patterns. If unproductive thoughts of a negative and self-limiting kind changed one’s actions, then stopping to process would allow a person to see alternate choices and act in a new way, she said.
Palikuca said the last tool is a mental rehearsal that allowed an individual to move from a conscious mind to a subconscious mind. “Change your mind, create your results.”
Resident Enrique Sandoval said the workshop provided a better understanding of how the brain sent signals through the body.
“Our body is like a river and sometimes it is rocky and dark,” said Sandoval. “We can change our thoughts for good things, and clear an area until you pass through the dark river to be a better person.”
“I can create a new future and shake my current mental state by bringing my body and mind in unison,” resident Giovanni Gladden said.
Resident Gladden said he already meditated and his biggest takeaway from the workshop was the importance of focusing on the future rather than the past. He said he believed entering in this state of mind before meditation could help create a positive future.
“Mental rehearsal at the end allows us to change the habits that are no longer of service and we can manifest the best version of ourselves,” Palicuka said.
“I have been in five different prison systems and no other prison has seminars like this,” resident Michael Peterson said. “This is an environment of change and we are lucky to have these opportunities.”
