Jo Jarvis

How do you begin it?

What's your spiel?

Do you ask the men to close their eyes when they meditate, Jo?

There are many different styles of meditation with different emphases or different practices, I guess, as part of that.

In Vedic meditation, which you teach, mantras are really important.

What sort of things have inmates told you about their experience with the practice and with learning meditation?

Yeah, right.

And what do you say when people raise that fear with you?

Like if I get let go of all these defences, how am I protected?

So tell me about the decision of yours, Jo, to teach meditation in prisons.

Where did that first come to you?

Or how did it come to you?

Did it come to you on a flash?

Or was it something that you were building towards?

How did it happen?

Was it hard to convince the prison to let you in to volunteer teaching people meditation?

What was that process like?

Did you grow up in a religious family at all, Jo?

Like, was prayer a part of your childhood, say?

Well, tell me a bit about your childhood.