Hearts Grow: Contemplative Learning for Inner Stability Development in Female Prison Inmates

Abstract

Regarding the research questions of how the contemplative learning process is appropriate for Thai female prison inmates and how it can transform the learners, the objectives of the project were to study the learning process facilitation appropriate for the inner stability development of female prison inmates, and to explicate their inner experiences found during and after the completion of the program. The methodologies used were action research and phenomenological research. The obtained data were then qualitatively analyzed. The phenomenological result showed significant inner changes in the participants. These included the more inclusive perspectives one possessed, i.e. the ability to make more sense regarding the interconnectedness between oneself and surrounding people. Meanwhile, each participant could view herself more self-authoring and more responsible for her own actions. Besides, Meditation had become a useful tool allowing them to mindfully take care of themselves from within. All these phenomena corresponded with the results found during the eight rounds of the learning process. As for the learning process facilitation appropriate for such inner development, it consisted of 14 key components within sufficient length of time, while the process itself showed three distinctive phases.