Skyline Harvest
thanks you for your continued support of
The Lioness Tale Prison Project (LiT-uPP)


CCWF Chowchilla, California Central California Women's Facility

LiT-uPP has already had a profound effect. Lives are being touched and changed. Continue reading and you will come to letters from the women prisoners who powerfully convey the impact of this program. After you read about their experience, please send a donation so that we can continue this important work.

Above is an aerial view of the prison where I am taking the LiT-uPP program, based on my book The Lioness Tale, into the women who are serving long-term to life prison sentences. Not pictured is another prison, the same size, called Valley State Prison for Women, that is literally across the street from this one. Together they comprise a mega-prison housing nearly 8000 women, twice the number that the facilities were originally designed to contain.

Last November I wrote to you asking for your support of this project. (You can read our letter at: http://ecocontemplative.org/appeal09a.html) Then, the LiT-uPP project was still in the planning stage. We've now completed our first program! Twelve women began back in March and eleven received certificates of completion at the end of May. Not only that, I've been to Australia since then, where I had the opportunity to present the LiT-uPP program at a conference honoring my root teacher, Raimon Panikkar. I had asked the women to write what had "lit-up" in their lives as a result of participating in this program. I wanted to take their voices with me to Australia so that they might be heard not only beyond prison walls but across the world. My presentation was enthusiastically received as the audience heard the women's stories and how their participation in LiT-uPP has changed their lives, helping them to help not only themselves but other incarcerated women to find purpose even within the oppressive circumstances of prison life. While I haven't the space to include each letter in its entirety, here are a few selections:

          ...What has "lit up" for me throughout this workshop was the courage to slowly shed my identity coat, to begin to realize that this coat is but an outer shell, not who I truly am deep within. That person is a girl who is willing to look beyond the parameters of her own altered perception and to start to witness not only the beauty of life, but also the beauty of who I am and the woman I am becoming. It has awakened within me a deep sense of purpose that I am now hungry to fulfill. In discovering my inner Panther, it has brought a burning need to help other broken, hurting souls to find the path to their own healing and enlightenment.

          ...Not only has the story of Lioness been pivotal in my life, the group with which I shared this story has affected me deeply as well. To finally let go of my selfish grasp on the hurts that drove me, I allowed myself to embrace the hurts of others, as well as my own, in a beautiful dance of new wholeness.

            ...So while I am still a 62 year old inmate, serving a sentence of Life without the Possibility of Parole, I feel a growing acceptance of my age, my sentence, and the loss of everything important in my life. It's a great truth that I can "choose my own path," even here in this emotional wasteland and also have personal goals which reach beyond the gates. As I get stronger, I hope to be a Panther and share this richness of knowledge with others so that they may also be blessed in such a profound way. Due to this experience, I am, without a doubt, a changed woman and my gratitude (to Diane, the Lioness, the Panther and the Snake) is boundless.

            ...Lioness has brought an opening to my spirit -an inner sense that I felt I had lost and would never get back...Her teaching has made me feel and know I am still human with a heart thriving and hopeful. I know this program can help so many. In the cage I live in, most of the lions have a shadow in their eyes. They need to be aware that there is still hope, whether it is here, or out of here...

            ...The easiest decision I made toward my healing was to immerse myself into this book. I have discovered "Mia", obtaining a peace and confidence, bearing my burdens with others, and listening too. I do not feel depreciated, rather valued and free.

            ...The Lioness Tale is full of deep meanings that so many can relate with, especially those who are incarcerated and/or have experienced great loss...

            [Through] the Lioness book, and also by the help of the facilitator, I have got to learn that my deepest fears come from my inner child. At first I had said, "that book is dumb! I don't even understand it!" But really it's my denial of how much I related to the Lioness- and to learn that she got through it all, I believe I can, too. I have a lot of pain and hurt which has built anger in me. With this group I have been able to share my deepest emotions by sharing and crying...something I had never done.... I want to fully forgive everyone that has hurt me. I want that my past doesn't reflect on the future that I want for myself...

            ...I learned how to listen to my breathing, calming myself by thinking before I act. This journey is  hard for me but I want this... I want to become a better person and find out what triggers my anger, my pain and hurt. I'm learning to open up and I am really thankful for that. I have a lot of issues in my life that I need to deal with and started dealing with, with the help of the Lioness book and Diane. Thank you so much for your support and wanting to help us. ...for seeing us human beings.

LiT-uPP is already making a big difference. Encouraged by our early successes with the program we are expanding to include at least 40 hours of teaching time and another 20 hours of one-on-one consulting per program. We will soon move forward with an on-going training component. Women who successfully complete the 60 hour LiT-uPP program and who choose to continue with "Panther" training, will become leaders who will facilitate LiT-uPP groups throughout the facility, thus helping transform negative aspects of the prison culture from within. All of the women who completed this first group want to continue with Panther training! Panther training will consist of approximately 150 hours of teaching and one-on-one consulting.

"In the cage I live in, most of the lions have a shadow in their eyes. They need to be aware that there is still hope, whether it is here, or out of here..."

Your generosity and support allowed us to successfully introduce LiT-uPP at CCWF. Now we need your on-going support to continue the project. We continue to search for a grant that will help us fund the entire project! But for now we are still dependent on you, our individual supporters. The real cost of each 60 hour program is $10,000. We were able to deliver this first program for $5000, with Diane volunteering a large portion of her time. Our goal is to raise another $5000 with this letter to fund the next 60 hour introductory program beginning at the end of August.(Of course if we raise more, we won't complain!) In the mean-time we will continue to look for a grant to cover the Panther training that will begin in December after completion of the second LiT-uPP group.

Diane is available to share her Australian presentation called LiT-uPP: Light from the Dark: The Lioness Tale Prison Project as Symbol of the Cosmotheandric Reality of Raimon Panikkar with any group who may be interested. We would like to use the opportunity to raise funds for the project. Please contact us for more information about the program and how you or a group you may know of can help.

Thank you!

Diane Pendola with Teresa Hahn and our Skyline Harvest board members:

Hal Zina Bennett, Shirley Dickard, Deb Marois, Yakshi Vadeboncouer

Here are some ways you can directly support the project and the work of Skyline Harvest.

* Make a tax-deductible donation to Skyline Harvest

*Invite us to give our presentation of "LiT-uPP: Light from the Dark" to your religious or community group.

*Buy The Lioness Tale, share it with others and give as a gift.

*Bring your organization or team to a Lioness Tale or Enneagram residential workshop here at Skyline.

*Make a private retreat yourself or give a retreat as a gift.

*Referus to individuals and organizations who would support and benefit from our work.

*Donate a Power Point Projector and a lap-top capable of running power point presentations.

*Include us within the circle of your loving intention.

For more information on The Lioness Tale Prison Project: thelionesstale.com

You can read Diane's blog now at www.skylineprisonlines.wordpress.com


If you would like to make a financial contribution to LiT-uPP
you--


1. Can make a donation through PayPal:

2. Or send a check payable to:

Skyline Harvest, Inc, PO Box 338, Camptonville, CA 95922

Your donations are tax deductible.

In gratitude,
Diane Pendola

Skyline Harvest is a California Non-Profit Corporation
530-288-0308

You live in a world of cages, Silent one,
in one of the monstrous worlds. But you can wake up.
You can wake up and choose your own path, even here. This is not greater
than your own heart. Nor does it run deeper
than your own soul. (From The Lioness Tale, p. 47)