# “Can meditation teach you to fly over walls?”

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-prisoners-fly-over-walls
- Themes: prison, motivation, humour, meditation
- Life situations: teaching in prison, unrealistic expectations, volunteering

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

On his first prison visit, at the old Canning Vale jail, over a hundred of about 110 prisoners crowd in to learn meditation; inspired, Ajahn Brahm gives his best. Ten minutes in, a huge scarred gang leader stands to ask on everyone's behalf: is it true that through meditation you can learn to fly over walls? Told levitation takes a lifetime of skilled practice, the class shrinks the next week to three.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

this is when I first went into a prison to teach meditation and you cannot make up these stories real life is funnier than any story anyone can concoct because when I went into this prison to teach meditation it was actually the old canning Vale jail I think it's called what's it called now hakia yeah Alvin canning Val and at that time was about 25 to 30 years ago in that time the prison population there was just over 100 Maybe 110. and over a hundred prisoners came to my talk almost the whole prison population the only ones who didn't come were those in solitary confinement or seeing the doctor or something and I couldn't believe just how many criminals were interested in meditation interested in actually doing something with their life improving themselves that was just so inspiring to see and so I really gave the best possible talk I can on meditation I really wanted to actually meet them halfway if they were going to be interested in this and do something with their lives and make themselves better I was also going to help them and I'd only been talking about meditation maybe about 10 minutes when this big guy stood up he was one of the leaders in the prison you know they all have their gangs he's one of the gang leaders he was about six foot four and that was just across his shoulders lots of lots of scars on him and when someone like that I often say when someone like that stands up to interrupt you and say can I ask a question say yes sir yes sir please and he said he said this is on behalf of all the people here is it really true he asked is it really true that through meditation you can learn how to fly over walls sure that did break this up and then I realized why so many prisoners have come to my meditation class stupid they believe that a couple of meditation classes you could do that and they're all out of jail so when I told them look yeah levitation can sometimes happen it's incredibly rare you have to be a really skilled meditator for Life hours and hours to do something like that when I went back next week to continue the cross only three people turned up

## Teaching point

(Opening to the karma story that follows; real life is funnier than invented stories.)

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

On his first prison visit Ajahn Brahm faced over a hundred keen inmates, until their spokesman asked whether meditation could teach them to fly over the walls. Told levitation takes a lifetime, the class dropped to three. People come for many reasons. Teach whoever stays, and enjoy the comedy of good intentions.

## Source

- [How to deal with blame and criticism | Ajahn Brahm | 18 Nov 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39mEezTbMcc) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 15:45 to 18:27: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39mEezTbMcc&t=945s

Other tellings of this story:

- [How to be Free | Ajahn Brahm | 26 November 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeiRya9-vXc) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 32:02 to 34:29: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeiRya9-vXc&t=1922s
- [Trust | Ajahn Brahm | 01-04-2011](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ4r0C3IcWU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 35:04 to 36:33: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ4r0C3IcWU&t=2104s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 31 May 2025](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkBLYXjIpKg) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:30 to 2:08: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkBLYXjIpKg&t=90s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 12 June 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI-BMC_eqwk) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 0:53 to 1:52: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI-BMC_eqwk&t=53s
- [Joy and Power of Peace | Ajahn Brahm | 13 February 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaYAEgABL2M) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 7:36 to 9:09: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaYAEgABL2M&t=456s
- [Mindfulness and Productivity | Ajahn Brahm | 6 February 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO0A43r2r1Y) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 22:16 to 23:07: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO0A43r2r1Y&t=1336s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 30 March 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEJJ4ltaXbM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:01:30 to 1:02:19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEJJ4ltaXbM&t=3690s