Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Saint Badass
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Douglas W. Carnine, Douglas Carnine
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.feedkindness.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; wife’s name Linda; children: a daughter.
EDUCATION:University of Illinois, B.S. (with distinction), 1969; University of Oregon, M.A.; University of Utah, Ph.D., 1974.
ADDRESS
CAREER
University of Oregon, Eugene, professor of education, 1973-2008, professor emeritus, 2008–. Feed Kindness, Starve Harm Project, creator and host. Eugene Buddhist Priory, founding member, 1973; Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, ordained lay minister; worked as a hospice volunteer. National Institute for Direct Instruction, board member; National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators, former chair; National Institute for Literacy, former program chair; conference speaker in the United States and abroad.
MEMBER:Phi Beta Kappa.
AWARDS:Lifetime Achievement Award, Council for Exceptional Children; numerous federally funded grants.
WRITINGS
Contributor to more than fifty textbooks. Contributor of more than one hundred articles to academic journals.
SIDELIGHTS
For more than thirty years Doug Carnine devoted himself to helping children. As a professor at the University of Oregon, he aimed to improve the education of children at risk: children who were poor or disabled, children of color, or children learning English as a second language. He advocated for literacy and for direct instruction by teachers who present structured academic content, normally in a classroom setting. Carnine spoke at conferences around the world, and he published numerous books on teaching strategies and curriculum design, especially in the areas of reading and mathematics.
At the same time, Carnine committed his life to the principles of Buddhism. He founded the Eugene Buddhist Priory in his early twenties and was ordained a lay minister of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives just two years later. He served as a hospice volunteer and eventually entered the prison ministry, when his daughter asked him to correspond with a convicted murderer at a maximum security prison in Arkansas. Carnine’s retirement from teaching in 2008 enabled him to redirect his mission from improving the education of vulnerable children to empowering the lives of adults under stress.
Saint Badass
Saint Badass: Personal Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell is a story of success against tremendous odds. Roy Tester was serving a life sentence for murder in the maximum security unit of a prison with a well-documented reputation for violence at the hands of both inmates and guards. Survival in that environment could be a daily challenge, and Tester had heard that the Buddhist tradition of meditation might offer a way to defuse his chronic depression and distress. He began to write letters, and one of them reached a social activist who happened to be Carnine’s daughter. She entreated her father to respond to the man’s search for enlightenment. Thus began a spiritual journey that spanned more than seven years, 600 letters, and changed the lives of four inmates in search of peace.
Carnine’s correspondents were all born into a world of abuse and misery, a world that they never escaped. They committed terrible crimes: Tester, for example, had murdered his parents after years of sexual abuse by his father. He graduated to Tucker Max, where he and his fellow inmates were fed a diet of violence, physical pain, betrayal, retaliation, and extreme discipline. With Carnine’s guidance over a period of years, Tester and his prison mates learned what their mentor had realized long ago: that the practice of kindness transforms the giver as much it benefits the recipient.
Carnine’s correspondents tell their stories in their own words, in language that has been described as coarse, and even shocking, but a contributor to the Buddhist Book Reviews website shared that “the tone of the letters slowly changes.” The reviewer added: “Saint Badass is an incredibly gritty read which is often uncomfortable, but that is also its greatest strength.” A commentator at the Feed Kindness Website wrote: “Prisoners went to great lengths to meet the needs of others despite hellish conditions.” The writer reported: “Their new mental habits send ripples of possibility throughout the prison.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor called Saint Badass “an illuminating and hopeful account of inmate rehabilitation through Buddhist teachings.”
How Love Wins
The success of Carnine’s ministry to the inmates of Tucker Max is an outgrowth of his “feed kindness, starve harm” project, which is described at his Feed Kindness Website. It is also the subject of the book How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness. Carnine became a practitioner of mindful kindness as early as 1973. The Feed Kindness Website defines mindfulness as “awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose.” Mindful kindness applies this awareness to “the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.” How Love Wins offers a twelve-step process to achieve mindful kindness and enable love to thrive.
The process springs from the tradition of Buddhist meditation. In Carnine’s hands it becomes a practice without religious connection or conflict. He explained to the author of Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews, a blog, that he drew inspiration from “personal experiences” reinforced by “scientific findings,” amplified by “the central role of kindness in all the world’s religions.” Haselton described How Love Wins as a “toolbox of skills and techniques that anyone can use to live more fully in the moment and be more kind to themselves and others.”
Carnine devotes a chapter to each step of the process, beginning with “face up to your unkind habits” and “check your foundation” of available skills. He ends with an entreaty to “expand your circle of kindfulness” and a reminder that “steady practice makes strong habits.” The core of his process is meditation, leavened with frequent suggestions to turn aside from the distractions that can trigger destructive behavior. Carnine “provides plenty of exercises and practical instructions,” volunteered a contributor to Buddhist Book Reviews, and each chapter ends with a space for the reader to record a progress check.
“The book feels like a manual for how to live your best life,” observed Shannon Carriger on the Seattle Book Review website. A commentator writing in Kirkus Reviews hinted that a reader familiar with Zen meditation will likely absorb the process more readily than someone who arrives “straight from a more hectic way of life,” but also concluded that How Love Wins “will likely find universal application.” The writer at Buddhist Book Reviews summarized that “the language used in this book is refreshingly straightforward,” and concluded that “all human beings can benefit from developing more mindfulness, compassion and wisdom in their lives.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Carnine, Doug, Roy Tester, John Bruno, and others, Saint Badass: Personal Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell, Mindful Kindness Project, 2017.
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2018, review of Saint Badass.
Plus Company Updates, March 2, 2018, “Dalai Lama, Kirin Bedi, and Award-Winning Author Doug Carnine Agree that Mindfulness and Meditation Dramatically Affect Prisoner’s Lives;” March 29, 2018, “Award-Winning Author Doug Carnine’s Latest Book Presents Clear Evidence of the Life Changing Power of Mindfulness, Meditation And Kindness for Prisoners;” April 28, 2018, “How Meditation, Mindfulness and Kindness Transform the Lives of Prisoners–Doug Carnine’s Latest Book Offers Readers an Inside Look at a Revolutionary Paradigm Shift.”
ONLINE
Buddhist Book Reviews, http://www.buddhist-book-reviews.com/ (September 15, 2017), review of Saint Badass; (November 3, 2017), review of How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness.
Feed Kindness Website, https://www.feedkindness.com (June 19, 2018), author profile.
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (November 10, 2017), review of How Love Wins.
Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews, http://lisahaseltonsreviewsandinterviews.blogspot.com/ (November 23, 2017), Lisa Haselton, interview with Carnine.
Seattle Book Review, https://seattlebookreview.com/ (June 19, 2018), Shannon Carriger, review of How Love Wins.
Experience
feedkindness.com
Creator and host
Company Name feedkindness.com
University of Oregon
Professor Emeritus
Company Name University of Oregon
Dates Employed 1973 – 2008 Employment Duration 35 yrs
About the Author
“This moment is my entire life. Where do I want to direct my attention—to the past, future? Returning to the present moment sets the stage for contentment.”
Doug Carnine, PhD
Doug Carnine
During his 35-year career, University of Oregon Professor Emeritus, Doug Carnine, PhD, taught about, conducted research on, and advocated for improved education for vulnerable children—the poor, handicapped, English language learners, and children of color. During this time he contributed to over 50 textbooks ranging from kindergarten math to university computer science. Simultaneously, he was following a personal fascination with kindness, meditation, and mindfulness, which led to adding these two very different non-fiction works to his legacy: Saint Badass and How Love Wins. His commitment to mindful kindness started in 1973, as a founding member of the Eugene Buddhist Priory, and culminated in him becoming a lay minister in the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives. He was ordained as a lay Buddhist in 1975 by Rev. Master Houn Jiyu-Kennett.
His career began with National Science Foundation Fellowship in Psychology as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois, where he graduated with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa in 1969. In 1981 he received the Ersted Award for outstanding teaching at the University of Oregon. He received a presidential appointment to the National Institute For Literacy, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and served as a program committee chair for several years. He has presented at over a 100 conferences in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, the former USSR, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. He has served as consulting editor or editorial board member for eight journals.
The feed kindness, starve harm project:
What’s the point?
Doug Carnine, Professor Emeritus, University of Oregon
We are bombarded with information about how we can improve our lives through exercise, nutrition, sleep, and stress reduction. Seven years ago after retiring from the University of Oregon I stumbled across something just as important in improving our lives: kindness. At that time, I did not know then how great the need was going to be today for more kindness (and less unkindness). During those seven years I created a mindful-kindness project with two books in addition to this website.
My hope is that the books and website will communicate the value of mindful kindness and, on a very small scale, motivate and help people to be more kind (and less unkind).
Tipping the balance toward kindness in this country as a whole will not come quickly; it will not come in our lifetime. But now is the time to be part of the tipping process. Will you help me in in this effort by passing along this message? And if you decide to read one of the books, consider posting a review of it on the Amazon link (or elsewhere).
About Saint Badass
Personal Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell
Saint Badass follows the story of how four prisoners come to change their experience of surviving Tucker maximum-security prison (a prison Hollywood used as the basis for the film Brubaker with Robert Redford in 1980). Each man has a different story and crime. Through guidance from Doug and each other about mindful kindness and meditation,<< their new mental habits send ripples of possibility throughout the prison.>>
The Truth of Tucker MAX Prison: Hell on Earth
It’s no secret that prison feeds human suffering without regard for each prisoner’s potential for rehabilitation and future contribution to society.
Small Acts of Kindness Have Profound Power
<
How the Practice of Mindfulness + Kindness Transcends Surroundings
The main character’s story reveals an unimaginable transformation under the severest of circumstances in a maximum security prison.
About How Love Wins
The Power of Mindful Kindness
How Love Wins is a follow-up book to Saint Badass: a collection of current global research on the impact and personal benefits of habitual mindfulness, kindness, and meditation applied in everyday ways. Doug Carnine’s background as a highly awarded professor, textbook author, and 4-decade Buddhist practitioner form a profound platform for practical explanations of our highest human potential.
Research Compilation
Research citations about the power of kindness come from the Gottman Institute, where relationship scientists Julie & John Gottman have spearheaded longitude research to understand what makes the difference between strong and weak relationships. Other researchers cited include Adam Grant, Wharton Professor of Management, and Shawn Achor, former Harvard Professor and CEO of GoodThink.
Proven Methods of Inspiring Happiness
Various kindful relationship habits from personal to community dynamics have been tested informally in a maximum-security prison and yielded consistently positive results for both the givers and recievers. If these methods can help one thrive in prison, they can dramatically improve one’s experience of the free world.
Unifying Global Vision: Mindfully Kind Living
The ultimate hope is a simple unifying practice we can all morally agree on without religious connotation or conflict.
Theme for Feed Kindness, Starve Harm Comes from Native American Legend
A grandfather’s advice to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, “Let me tell you a story. I too, have felt a great hate for those that have taken too much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, it is like taking the poison you wish upon your enemy. I have struggled with this many times.” He continued, “It’s as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good; he lives in harmony; and rarely takes offense. He will only fight for the right causes in the right way. But the other wolf is full of anger. The littlest thing will set off his temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think clearly because his anger and hate are so great. It is a helpless anger that changes nothing. Sometimes, it’s hard living with these two wolves inside me, as both try to dominate my spirit.” The boy looked intently into his grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins?” The grandfather smiled and quietly said, “The one I feed.”
This legend honoring Native American wisdom stands in stark contrast to the way European settlers to North America dishonored and mistreated Native Americans beginning with Columbus in 1492. In order to feed kindness, we need to consider restoring the capacity for kindness to all levels of society and between all peoples.
Key Definitions
Meditation
A family of practices aimed at disciplining, focusing, and calming the mind.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is <
Kindness
<
Kindful
Combining a kind and mindful state of being.
Origins of the Feed Kindness Starve Harm Project
Feed Kindness Starve Harm logo
This project is an advocacy movement for highlighting the power of fusing mindfulness and kindness into everyday living. It all started as a writing hobby between Doug Carnine and an inmate, Roy Tester, who wanted to know more about meditation. Doug’s four decade personal practice of mindfulness through Buddhism was the original springboard in connecting with Roy, and later spread to relationships with three other prisoners. Through the growing friendship via letters, the innovation of mindful kindness & meditation became a theme, resulting in a new concept of simplicity, several books, and a digital spread to support the books. The project advocates transforming personal habits without religious connotation. It also expands our linguistic concepts to include a holistic ‘kindful’ approach to the world.
Doug Carnine
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DougCarnine
"Teaching well — to those who are likely to fail — is a precious gift."
- Doug Carnine
Position:
Board Member
Education:
B.S. in Psychology, University of Illinois
M.A. in Special Education, University of Oregon
Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, University of Utah
Douglas Carnine is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Oregon. He was a National Science Foundation Fellow in Psychology as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois, where he graduated with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa in 1969. He completed his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at the University of Utah in 1974. In 1981 he received the Ersted Award for outstanding teaching at the University of Oregon. Dr. Carnine has directed or co-directed over 20 federally funded grants, totaling over $15,000,000. As Director of the National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators he worked with publishers on incorporating research-based practices in educational tools and with legislative, state board, business, community, and union groups to understand the policy implications of research-based educational tools for diverse learners. Dr. Carnine has worked with these groups in California, Virginia, Washington, Texas, and New York. He received a presidential appointment to the National Institute For Literacy, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and served as a program committee chair for several years.
Since retirement from the UO, he has been developing a mindful kindness project that includes two books, Saint Badass: Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell (see 75 second trailer here) and How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness (see 75 second trailer here), and a related website, feedkindness.com.
Dr. Carnine has over 100 scholarly publications: over 60 research articles in refereed journals, 40 essays, over 20 chapters in books, and seven books (two on university-level computer science, Teaching Higher Order Thinking, Theory of Instruction, Instructional Strategies for Diverse Learners, Direct Instruction Reading, and Direct Instruction Math.). He is a co-author of textbooks for the elementary grades (mathematics and science), for the middle grades (science, world history, US history, and English literature and composition), and English literature and composition textbooks for high school.
He has presented at over a 100 conferences in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, the former USSR, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. He has served as consulting editor or editorial board member for eight journals.
Douglas W. Carnine
Douglas W. Carnine
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Douglas Carnine, a professor emeritus from the University of Oregon, began his pursuit of scientific research, instructional design, Buddhism and martial arts when he was 21. His academic career focused on failure to thrive children and lead to him receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council for Exceptional Children.
After retiring, he became curious about the importance of kindness from working with men convicted of murder and serving as a hospice volunteer. After reviewing the research on kindness, he decided to devote his writing and his advocacy to making the importance of mindful kindness more prominent. The resulting project is his website Feedkindness.com along with the upcoming books How Love Wins and Saint Badass.
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Interview with write Doug Carnine
Writer Doug Carnine joins me on this holiday to chat about his spiritual, self-improvement book, How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness.
Bio:
During his 35-year career at the University of Oregon, Douglas Carnine, Professor Emeritus, taught about, conducted research on, and advocated for improved education for vulnerable children—the poor, handicapped, English language learners, and children of color. He has over 100 scholarly publications, has lectured around the world, received the Ersted Award for outstanding University teaching, and received the Life Time Achievement Award from the Council for Exceptional Children. He received a presidential appointment to the National Institute for Literacy and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, serving as program committee chair for three years. Simultaneously he developed his meditation and kindness practice and became a Buddhist lay minister. Since retirement, he has developed a mindful kindness project that includes a prison ministry, two books—Saint Badass: Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell and How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness and a related website.
Welcome, Doug. Please tell us about your current release.
“Be kind. It sounds simple, so why is it so difficult? Most of us recognize that being kinder and more present would not only improve our own lives and the lives of our loved ones, but also strengthen our communities and even our world. In fact, numerous scientific studies have confirmed that both living mindfully and being kind to others offer a host of benefits — from stronger relationships to longer life. Yet even if we truly care and are motivated to change, we find that old habits keep us coming back to the same self-centered cycle.
With his book How Love Wins, Buddhist and educator Doug Carnine offers another path. In this simple but powerful guide, Carnine leads the reader through a 12-step process of transformation, opening a <
What inspired you to write this book?
<
Excerpt from How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness:
INTRODUCTION
The Case for Mindful Kindness
You may have read a lot about mindfulness in the media recently— for example, according to a recent article in the New York Times, mindfulness has become a “mainstream business practice and a kind of industry in its own right.” However, when is the last time you really thought about what it means to be kind? In fact, while mindfulness is a hot topic with many different meanings in the fields of spirituality, personal development, and business, you may not have had a conversation about kindness since elementary school. And yet there are good reasons why you should. Plenty of research shows that when we practice kindness, the people who bene t the most are ourselves. Acting with generosity, altruism, compassion, cooperation, forgiveness, empathy, and gratitude consistently results in better relationships, a more satisfying career, and a longer, happier, and healthier life.
That’s not to dismiss the value of mindfulness. On the contrary, this ancient practice has become popular for good reason. Mindfulness comes with its own slate of proven benefits both for our physical health (through less stress and lower blood pressure) and for mental health (including less worry about the future and fewer regrets about the past, less preoccupation about success and self-esteem, and more deep connections with others).
I like to use the word kindful to describe how we can combine being kind with being mindful. If mindfulness is how we can “be” in the world; kindness is what we can “do” in the world. Being kindful frees people from the o en-unpleasant need for distractions that can lead to addictions and violence. Spending less time with distractions gives us more time to be kind to others and to reap the benefits of that kindness. This book describes the value—to us and to society—of fusing kindness and mindfulness in all aspects of our lives. I want to show you why you should make kindness one of your life goals and explain why and how mindful- ness can help you be more kind to yourself and others. Most important is the hands-on advice for adopting habits of kindfulness and meditation that will change your life and the lives of those around you.
What exciting story are you working on next?
“My life was the result of my crazy childhood.” With these words began an extraordinary correspondence, between Roy Tester, a double-murderer serving a life sentence in the notorious Arkansas prison Tucker Max, and Doug Carnine, a professor emeritus at the University if Oregon and lay Buddhist minister on the other side of the country. In the letters that followed — more than 600 over seven years — these two men, along with three other prisoners at Tucker, developed a profound spiritual partnership that changed all of their lives. Saint Badass: Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell tells the inspiring story of these unlikely friends in their own words, and follows their journey as they rediscover their humanity in one of the most inhuman places on Earth. You can follow their journey after the book ends by going to http://feedkindness.com/blog/.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I started academic non-fiction writing when I was a 21-year-old junior at the University of Illinois National Science Foundation fellowship program to accelerate the training of experimental psychologists. By the time I was 27 I was middling academic writer, not becoming proficient until in my 30s. I have not yet become proficient in writing trade books such as How Love Wins; the clarity of the writing is strongly influenced by the developmental editor Ilima Loomis.
Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I write two to three hours a day: revising this book, preparing course proposals using my two books, writing my blog, responding to emails about my books, and responding to letters that come out of my prison ministry.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I am obsessed with getting feedback on everything I write and making revisions based on that feedback. I rewrote this book probably 20 times over a ten-year period.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
In 7th grade, I told my parents I wanted to be a psychology professor.
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
When I first started writing this I thought that the purpose of kindness was to help others. I now realize we need to practice kindness so that our own lives will have meaning and lead to times of contentment.
Links:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon
Thanks for joining me today, Doug.
Carnine, Doug: SAINT BADASS
Kirkus Reviews. (Jan. 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Carnine, Doug SAINT BADASS Mindful Kindness Project (Indie Nonfiction) $12.00 7, 25 ISBN: 978-0-9980509-0-4
A retired education professor corresponds with prisoners who find peace through Buddhism.
Introduced to inmates at the Maximum Security Unit in Tucker, Arkansas, through his social activist daughter, Carnine (How Love Wins, 2017) began corresponding first with debut author Tester, eventually widening his epistolary acquaintance to three others. Tester had been drawn to meditating after seeing a fellow prisoner at Tucker Max discover tranquility through the technique. Carnine, a lay Buddhist minister, encouraged Tester and the other inmates--debut authors Bruno, Griffin, and Price--not only to meditate, write letters, and read the books he sent, but also to practice kindness with the other prisoners. The four men seemed unlikely Buddhists, having already committed crimes that were against the religion's teachings. But Carnine, along with his wife, Linda, encouraged their development over a several-year period. While some of the acolytes occasionally slipped up--using cash Carnine sent them for the kindness project for their own needs--the enterprise overall succeeded, helping the originators find a degree of serenity in their circumstances and introducing both inmates and prison employees to Buddhist principles. In this absorbing book, the four incarcerated authors share their back stories; all of them were raised by abusive parents in unfavorable and unpleasant circumstances. While their early hardships fail to justify their eventual heinous crimes, the information does enlighten readers about their life experiences. The inclusion of excerpts from letters and the varying points of view enrich the text. As with the inmates' back stories, the injustices and crimes committed inside Tucker Max will be eye-opening, if not shocking, to many readers. The prisoners' occasional despair--particularly that of Tester, who also suffers from debilitating pain--is often palpable. While Carnine may have edited the contributions of his co-authors, the book is well-written. Some of the inmates' jargon may be new to readers, but Carnine supplies a brief, useful glossary of Buddhist terms.
<
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Carnine, Doug: SAINT BADASS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A520735654/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=58784b23. Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A520735654
How Meditation, Mindfulness And Kindness Transform The Lives Of Prisoners - Doug Carnine's Latest Book Offers Readers An Inside Look At A Revolutionary Paradigm Shift
Plus Company Updates. (Apr. 28, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Plus Media Solutions
Full Text:
WILMINGTON, NC: Doug Carnine has issued the following press release:
While it was not always considered a hot topic, the media today is filled with articles about how meditation, mindfulness and kindness can significantly affect and, in some cases, utterly transform the lives and experiences of those incarcerated in prisons and jails worldwide.
NBC recently presented a piece entitled "Prison Meditation Program Helps Inmates Rebuild Minds, Restart Lives". Amy Maclin offered a piece on Oprah.com entitled, "Why Meditation Is Becoming So Popular In Prisons." Lisa Rapaport's piece on Reuters.com was titled, "Meditation linked to lower stress among prison inmates." CNN.com carried a piece by Stephanie Chen titled, "Prison inmates go Zen to deal with life behind bars." More articles can be found on the websites of Huffington Post, NPR, The Washington Post and others. There are hundreds more.
In addition, organizations like the Prison Mindfulness Institute and the David Lynch Foundation focus on showing prisoners how to create a sense of "freedom behind bars".
Why all the fanfare about meditation and mindfulness in prison? Because it works like nothing else. Doug Carnine, author of 'Saint Badass: Personal Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell,' presents the proof in his highly praised, must-read book.
Carnine has personally witnessed the life-changing benefits meditation and mindfulness produce for those who are incarcerated in jails and prisons. The book is a story spanning seven years' worth of letters and Carnine's growing friendships between Roy Tester and three other prisoners.
In their own words, the prisoners describe the crises they face including disabling illness, a brain tumor, a prison gang attack, family betrayal, medical abuse and harsh punishments for mild offenses. Each prisoner in his own way achieves transcendence through his crisis using mindfulness, meditation and the blessings of kindness. Readers are stunned to see the destructive forces of an abusive childhood, a criminal adulthood, and a life without parole in prison result in their incongruously continuous acts of kindness. Their voices are raw and honest, and at times inspiring.
"Mindfulness is necessary but not sufficient to transform both prisoners and prison staff," Carnine stated. "Mindfulness clears our mind of worry about the past and anxiety about the future. But what then? The purpose of mindfulness is not primarily to make us feel better but to make us better able to act with kindness, which is the greatest win-win in the world. The recipient of kindness benefits. And those who act with kindness are happier, healthier, have more loving relationships and live longer. One of my co-authors, Roy, murdered his parents after being sexually abused for years by this father. Yet Roy risked his life to prevent the murder of a child molester who had just entered prison. Kindness overcame Roy's hate of child molesters."
Another of Carnine's books, 'How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness', follows in the same vein. Most of us recognize that being kinder and more present would not only improve our own lives and the lives of our loved ones, but also strengthen our communities. Numerous scientific studies have confirmed that both living mindfully and being kind to others offer a host of benefits -- from stronger relationships to longer life. Yet even if we truly care and are motivated to change, we find that old habits keep us from achieving our goal of increasing our kindness and improving our relationships.
In 'How Love Wins', Carnine offers another path. In this simple but powerful guide, leading the reader through a 12-step process of transformation, opening a toolbox of skills and techniques that anyone can use to live more fully in the moment and be more kind to themselves and others. A lay Buddhist minister who has worked with prisoners and hospice patients, Carnine provides a clear path that will enable almost anyone to build a mindfully kind life -- and make it stick.
Carnine was recently named one of 50 great writers you should be reading in the '50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading' Book Awards'. He was chosen from a field of hundreds of authors through a public voting process.
Readers and reviewers have praised his work. Geri Larkin, Founding Teacher of Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple and author of 'Stumbling Toward Enlightenment' said, "Saint Badass isn't simply about the transformative power of sincere spiritual practice. It demonstrates the impact of our practice on our environment and the people around us. These men have many reasons to be filled with hate, to be violent, and to be completely shut down given the lives they are leading in the bowels of the hell realm of our society, our prisons. And yet. They transform. One of them glows in the dark, I swear. Reading the book gave me hope."
Duana Welch, PhD, author of 'Love Factually: 10 Proven Steps from I Wish to I Do' stated, "This powerful book takes any of us from a life of 'me' to 'we,' from isolation to connection and love. In a world where kindness is so needed yet so little understood, How Love Wins is a must-read."
Doug Carnine is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below, or by email at dcarnine@uoregon.edu. Both books are available at online retail book outlets. More information is available at his website at http://feedkindness.com.
Douglas Carnine, a professor emeritus from the University of Oregon, began his pursuit of scientific research, instructional design, Buddhism and martial arts when he was 21. His academic career focused on teaching at-risk students and led to him receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council for Exceptional Children.
After retiring, working with men convicted of murder and serving as a hospice volunteer made him curious about the importance of kindness. After reviewing the research on kindness, he decided to devote his writing and his advocacy to making the importance of mindful kindness more prominent. The resulting project is his website, Feedkindness.com, along with his books, 'How Love Wins' and 'Saint Badass.'
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"How Meditation, Mindfulness And Kindness Transform The Lives Of Prisoners - Doug Carnine's Latest Book Offers Readers An Inside Look At A Revolutionary Paradigm Shift." Plus Company Updates, 28 Apr. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A536541092/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6981615d. Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A536541092
Award Winning Author Doug Carnine's Latest Book Presents Clear Evidence Of The Life Changing Power Of Mindfulness, Meditation And Kindness For Prisoners
Plus Company Updates. (Mar. 29, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Plus Media Solutions
Full Text:
WILMINGTON, NC: Doug Carnine has issued the following press release:
A recent article on Oprah Winfrey's website by Amy Maclin entitled "Why Meditation Is Becoming So Popular In Prisons" discloses a few powerful and insightful facts from Kate Crisp, executive director of the Prison Mindfulness Institute. In that article, Crisp says she believes many inmates land in prison after an act of pure impulse. She, like so many others, knows that mindfulness training can help.
Meditation and mindfulness training can help with much more than just impulse control of course. It can also teach prisoners how to manage anxiety, reduce stress and depression, and can improve conflict resolution skills. Mindfulness training and meditation can also dramatically impact self transformation efforts and personal development.
Doug Carnine, PhD, author of 'Saint Badass: Personal Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell,' has personally witnessed the life-changing benefits meditation and mindfulness produce for those who are incarcerated in jails and prisons. The book is a story spanning seven years' worth of letters and Carnine's growing friendships between Roy Tester and three other prisoners.
In their own words, the prisoners describe the crises they face including disabling illness, a brain tumor, a prison gang attack, family betrayal, medical abuse and harsh punishments for mild offenses. Each prisoner in his own way achieves transcendence through his crisis using mindfulness, meditation and the blessings of kindness. Readers are stunned to see the destructive forces of an abusive childhood, a criminal adulthood, and a life without parole in prison result in their incongruously continuous acts of kindness. Their voices are raw and honest, and at times inspiring.
"RJ offers the most unusual example of transformation through mindful kindness, Carnine stated. "RJ, who confessed to me that he was a child molestation addict with 100 victims, would soon be released on parole in Arkansas and feared he would molest a child. At his request I tracked down the the prosecutor's office that will result in him being transferred directly to a prison in Washington, where he committed most of his molestations. His wish is being granted. He will never be free to molest another child."
Another of Carnine's books, 'How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness', follows in the same vein. Most of us recognize that being kinder and more present would not only improve our own lives and the lives of our loved ones, but also strengthen our communities. Numerous scientific studies have confirmed that both living mindfully and being kind to others offer a host of benefits -- from stronger relationships to longer life. Yet even if we truly care and are motivated to change, we find that old habits keep us from achieving our goal of increasing our kindness and improving our relationships.
In 'How Love Wins', Carnine offers another path. In this simple but powerful guide, leading the reader through a 12-step process of transformation, opening a toolbox of skills and techniques that anyone can use to live more fully in the moment and be more kind to themselves and others. A lay Buddhist minister who has worked with prisoners and hospice patients, Carnine provides a clear path that will enable almost anyone to build a mindfully kind life -- and make it stick.
Carnine was recently named one of 50 great writers you should be reading in the '50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading' Book Awards'. He was chosen from a field of hundreds of authors through a public voting process.
Readers and reviewers have praised his work. Geri Larkin, Founding Teacher of Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple and author of 'Stumbling Toward Enlightenment' said, "Saint Badass isn't simply about the transformative power of sincere spiritual practice. It demonstrates the impact of our practice on our environment and the people around us. These men have many reasons to be filled with hate, to be violent, and to be completely shut down given the lives they are leading in the bowels of the hell realm of our society, our prisons. And yet. They transform. One of them glows in the dark, I swear. Reading the book gave me hope."
Duana Welch, PhD, author of 'Love Factually: 10 Proven Steps from I Wish to I Do' stated, "This powerful book takes any of us from a life of 'me' to 'we,' from isolation to connection and love. In a world where kindness is so needed yet so little understood, How Love Wins is a must-read."
Doug Carnine is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below, or by email at dcarnine@uoregon.edu. Both books are available at online retail book outlets. More information is available at his website at http://feedkindness.com.
Douglas Carnine, a professor emeritus from the University of Oregon, began his pursuit of scientific research, instructional design, Buddhism and martial arts when he was 21. His academic career focused on teaching at-risk students and led to him receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council for Exceptional Children.
After retiring, working with men convicted of murder and serving as a hospice volunteer made him curious about the importance of kindness. After reviewing the research on kindness, he decided to devote his writing and his advocacy to making the importance of mindful kindness more prominent. The resulting project is his website, Feedkindness.com, along with his books, 'How Love Wins' and 'Saint Badass.'
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Award Winning Author Doug Carnine's Latest Book Presents Clear Evidence Of The Life Changing Power Of Mindfulness, Meditation And Kindness For Prisoners." Plus Company Updates, 29 Mar. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532663851/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=65f69383. Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A532663851
Dalai Lama, Kirin Bedi, And Award Winning Author Doug Carnine Agree That Mindfulness and Meditation Dramatically Affect Prisoner's Lives
Plus Company Updates. (Mar. 2, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Plus Media Solutions
Full Text:
WILMINGTON, NC: Doug Carnine has issued the following press release:
In a recent news article on the OneIndia website, the Dalai Lama praised Kiran Bedi, BJP's chief ministerial candidate, for the introduction of a program of meditation in Tihar jail. While this may seem to be somewhat unconventional, it is in fact a powerful strategy for making improvements in the lives of prisoners. Nearly all of us are aware of the benefits of mindfulness and meditation, but we seldom think of them in the context of how they can help people in the correctional system.
Doug Carnine, PhD, author of 'Saint Badass: Personal Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell,' has witnessed the life-changing benefits meditation and mindfulness produce for everyone, including those who are incarcerated in jails and prisons. 'Saint Badass: Personal Transcendence in Tucker Max Hell' is a story spanning seven years' worth of letters and Carnine's growing friendships between Roy Tester and three other prisoners.
In their own words, the prisoners describe the crises they face including disabling illness, a brain tumor, a prison gang attack, family betrayal, medical abuse and harsh punishments for mild offenses. Each prisoner in his own way achieves transcendence through his crisis using mindfulness, meditation and the blessings of kindness. Readers are stunned to see the destructive forces of an abusive childhood, a criminal adulthood, and a life without parole in prison result in their incongruously continuous acts of kindness. Their voices are raw and honest, and at times inspiring.
" My prisoner friends used mindfulness to move past their guilt and anger and begin to focus on how to be kind to others," Carnine stated. "Roy Tester, whom I have been writing about mindful kindness for almost 9 years, was sexually abused by his father and a friend of his father, with the full knowledge of his mother. In spite of his hate of child molesters, his kindness practice lead him to risk his life to save a child molester from being murdered by two other prisoners. Combining mindfulness and kindness has brought about unbelievable changes in the murderers featured in my book."
Another of Carnine's books, 'How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness', follows in the same vein. Most of us recognize that being kinder and more present would not only improve our own lives and the lives of our loved ones, but also strengthen our communities. Numerous scientific studies have confirmed that both living mindfully and being kind to others offer a host of benefits -- from stronger relationships to longer life. Yet even if we truly care and are motivated to change, we find that old habits keep us from achieving our goal of increasing our kindness and improving our relationships.
In 'How Love Wins', Carnine offers another path. In this simple but powerful guide, leading the reader through a 12-step process of transformation, opening a toolbox of skills and techniques that anyone can use to live more fully in the moment and be more kind to themselves and others. A lay Buddhist minister who has worked with prisoners and hospice patients, Carnine provides a clear path that will enable almost anyone to build a mindfully kind life -- and make it stick.
Carnine was recently named one of 50 great writers you should be reading in the '50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading' Book Awards'. He was chosen from a field of hundreds of authors through a public voting process.
Readers and reviewers have praised his work. Geri Larkin, Founding Teacher of Still Point Zen Buddhist Temple and author of 'Stumbling Toward Enlightenment' said, "Saint Badass isn't simply about the transformative power of sincere spiritual practice. It demonstrates the impact of our practice on our environment and the people around us. These men have many reasons to be filled with hate, to be violent, and to be completely shut down given the lives they are leading in the bowels of the hell realm of our society, our prisons. And yet. They transform. One of them glows in the dark, I swear. Reading the book gave me hope."
Duana Welch, PhD, author of 'Love Factually: 10 Proven Steps from I Wish to I Do' stated, "This powerful book takes any of us from a life of 'me' to 'we,' from isolation to connection and love. In a world where kindness is so needed yet so little understood, How Love Wins is a must-read."
Doug Carnine is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below, or by email at dcarnine@uoregon.edu. Both books are available at online retail book outlets. More information is available at his website at http://feedkindness.com.
Douglas Carnine, a professor emeritus from the University of Oregon, began his pursuit of scientific research, instructional design, Buddhism and martial arts when he was 21. His academic career focused on teaching at-risk students and led to him receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council for Exceptional Children.
After retiring, working with men convicted of murder and serving as a hospice volunteer made him curious about the importance of kindness. After reviewing the research on kindness, he decided to devote his writing and his advocacy to making the importance of mindful kindness more prominent. The resulting project is his website, Feedkindness.com, along with his books, 'How Love Wins' and 'Saint Badass.'
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Dalai Lama, Kirin Bedi, And Award Winning Author Doug Carnine Agree That Mindfulness and Meditation Dramatically Affect Prisoner's Lives." Plus Company Updates, 2 Mar. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A529520024/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e0865df4. Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A529520024
Buddhist Book Reviews and Recommendations
Saint Badass
Saint Badass: Personal Transcendence in Tucker Hell by Doug Carnine is based on a series of letters which were exchanged between the author and four prisoners at Tucker Maximum Security Prison in Arkansas. Doug is a meditation teacher and lay minister in the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives, and he began writing to the prisoners when his daughter – who was already in communication with them – asked if he would mind answering a few of their questions about Buddhism.
More than 700 letters were exchanged over a period of seven years, and Saint Badass is based on that wealth of communication, presenting many direct excerpts which allow the reader to hear the experiences of the prisoners – Cody, John, Roy and Tad – in their own words.
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Those experiences are not always easy to read about. The four prisoners were sent to Tucker Max for incredibly serious crimes – three of them for murder and one for an alleged rape – and their letters to Doug don’t gloss over very much. On the contrary, they openly describe not only how they came to be in Tucker in the first place, but also how difficult prison life is for them.
Whilst their individual stories are quite different, the four prisoners all look to Buddhism to try and find some peace in their lives, and later, to try and spread that peace to other inmates. Doug supports them in those efforts, not only by offering compassionate guidance about the Buddhist path, but also in very practical ways, such as by sending supplies to help them develop and share their practice.
Over the course of this narrative, <
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Whilst readers won’t always like what they read in Saint Badass, they cannot fail to be transformed by it. We commend Doug for the encouragement and guidance that he has given to his Tucker Max correspondents, and we thank him – as well as Cody, John, Roy and Tad – for sharing their experiences in this book.
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HOW LOVE WINS
The Power of Mindful Kindness
by Doug Carnine
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KIRKUS REVIEW
A 12-step program that aims to guide readers to a kinder life.
“Life tends to go better when we are mindful throughout the day,” writes Carnine (Saint Badass, 2017) in his latest book. But in these pages, he also seeks to broaden the typical ambit of Eastern philosophy’s “mindfulness” with a new term, “kindfulness”—an outward-reaching manifestation of mindfulness’s inward search for serenity. “If mindfulness is how we can ‘be’ in the world,” Carnine asserts, kindfulness is what we can “do”: “being kindful frees people from the often-unpleasant need for distractions that can lead to addictions and violence,” he writes. In 12 steps, the author elaborates on the intriguing connection that he makes between distraction (or “mind-wandering”) and toxic, destructive behavior. The cycle of kindfulness, readers are told, “can soften our deep unhappiness, but quickly eliminating it is rare. Unhappiness during difficult times is our unavoidable teacher for how to be mindfully kind as best we can.” At various points, Carnine turns readers’ attention to negative emotions, such as anger and frustration, and urges them to employ “the Three Breath method” to sap their power. Each chapter details a successive step in achieving kindfulness and includes a “Your Turn” section to document one’s progress. Carnine strongly urges readers to meditate twice daily—once in the morning and once in the evening—and as a result, practitioners of Zen-style meditation will find his book’s path to be far easier than readers who come to the program <
A mind-opening guide to self-improvement.
Pub Date: July 17th, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9980509-2-8
Page count: 220pp
Publisher: Mindful Kindness Project
Program: Kirkus Indie
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10th, 2017
How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness
We rated this book:
$12.00
Doug Carnine’s career as a professor of education spanned over 40 years, and the lessons he learned in front of the classroom are a gift to readers of his book How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness. Written in a completely relatable style and very thorough format, the book walks through 12 steps to living a more loving and kind life.
Carnine comes across as a thoughtful and enthusiastic teacher who wants readers to gain the knowledge of mindful kindness for themselves because doing so could create a better world for all of us. <
The book features not only an introduction explaining the process, as any good textbook should, but, after the formal 12 steps are outlined and explained—complete with exercises for practice and illustrations—Carnine has included a glossary of terms and an appendix of resources for those who want to continue their study beyond his book. Carnine has amassed a great deal of knowledge through his work as “a lay minister in the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives” and with inmates at Arkansas’s Tucker Maximum Security Prison. He practices what he preaches and helps others to develop skills necessary to improve their lives through breathing, meditation, forgiveness, and practice. The most useful step in the book is probably Step 8: Mindful Micropractices in Daily Life, as it reminds us there is always time, even on our most hectic days, to “break our unkind habits [which] is how love wins.”
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Reviewed By: Shannon Carriger
Author Doug Carnine
Star Count 4/5
Format Trade
Page Count 220 pages
Publisher Mindful Kindness Project
Publish Date 2017-Jul-17
ISBN 9780998050928
Amazon Buy this Book
Issue January 2018
Category Spirituality & Inspiration
How Love Wins
How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness by Doug Carnine is a book which is intended to give the reader instruction on how to develop the three Buddhist qualities of mindfulness, compassion and wisdom, but without using Buddhist terminology. The author chose not to write this book in overtly Buddhist language so that the teachings it contains would have the opportunity to reach the largest possible audience.
Doug has spent a lot of time working in partnership with prisoners, as described in his previous book, Saint Badass, so the secular approach which is adopted here makes a lot of sense. It also makes How Love Wins a very good title to share with non-Buddhists who might still want to develop the qualities of mindfulness, compassion and wisdom – which are, after all, universally beneficial – in their own lives.
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The book opens with an introduction which puts forward the case for mindful kindness, explaining the benefits of both mindfulness and kindness, describing the intimate relationship between them, and highlighting their impact on our happiness. Having established that foundation, the author then takes the reader through Twelve Steps for Change, with each of the following chapters focusing, in turn, on one of those twelve steps.
Each chapter provides a good overview of the topic being discussed (such as why it is important to Face Up to Your Unkind Habits, or Set Your Kindness Goals), with the author drawing from his own wealth of experience as a Buddhist teacher – including his work with prisoners – as well as sharing relevant findings from scientific and spiritual communities. Along the way, the author <
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In conclusion, How Love Wins is a book that will prove invaluable to all who spend time with it, regardless of whether or not they call themselves Buddhists. <
Buy How Love Wins: The Power of Mindful Kindness from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk