Meditation In Prison Helps Inmates Find Peace Behind Bars (VIDEO)

The sense of peace that comes with mindfulness meditation extends to even the most extreme environments -- including prison.

People who are incarcerated who practice mindfulness show a better capacity to learn and pursue educational opportunities, according to Claudia Schippert, a humanities professor at the University of Central Florida.

"For many, it can bring about radical changes in their own self-perception of being able to learn, being able to concentrate, being able to manage their emotions and their stress in a very difficult environment," Schippert said.

Former inmate Amir Varick Amma said mindfulness helped him get past the intense pressures to be a certain way behind bars.

"I had to meditate in there for probably the first five to six years before I got comfortable just being me, because as in society, there's so many images around," he said. "If you dwell on things that are negative so much, it will eat you up internally and physically."

Check out the full conversation about meditation in prison at HuffPost Live HERE.