Lapeer Township resident Roy Sexton taught meditation to an incarcerated man as a spiritual leader at the Lapeer County Jail on Monday afternoon, sharing his knowledge for more than an hour without pay.Photo credit: Jeff Hogan
Lapeer — In the summer of 2002, Roy Sexton was hard at work renovating the grand brick building he had just purchased at 244 Rowe Street in Lapeer.
Originally a Baptist church built in 1873, it served as a recreation center in recent years. Its mission, in Sexton’s words, was to transform it into a “center for teachers and students to share nondenominational spiritual growth.”
One day, while the new owners were tearing down the interior, a police car pulled up in front of the original church. Sheriff Ron Karankin got out of his car, looked at the work truck and debris, and went inside to see what was going on.
Sexton introduced himself and shared his plans. The two talked for a few minutes, then the sheriff asked Roy if he was interested in volunteering at the county jail. Will he teach prisoners how to meditate?
“I told him I’d think about it,” Sexton said.
The sheriff returned a few weeks later, and this time Sexton agreed. Ms. Calankin thanked him and said it would take 30 to 60 days to get the program up and running and ready at the jail.
Sexton had experience as a meditative arts instructor before his first session at John Conley Drive. By then he believed that prayer was a way of communicating with God. Meditation is listening to God’s voice.
At the beginning of class, Sexton asks each student what they hope to gain. She then demonstrates how, through deep breathing exercises, she can slow down and gently bring a racing heart to a halt. He explains that meditation is an inner cleansing that removes negative energy and brings peace of mind.
“Everyone has bad times,” Sexton said. “Learning how to quiet your mind allows you to let go of painful emotions and find peace.”
It’s been 22 years since Sexton and Karankin met. The former church was completely renovated long ago and opened as a meditation self-healing center. Information can be found at: www.meditationselfhealingcenter.com.
Meanwhile, Sexton still volunteers weekly at the county jail. He is there on Monday afternoons as a spiritual leader, teaching meditation to the incarcerated men and sharing his knowledge for more than an hour without pay.
Jail Deputy Ryan Wilcox said once Sexton arrived, all he had to do was log in. He is not familiar with his meditation program or its effect on inmates.
“They have their own space and do their own thing. We don’t have to be with him,” Wilcox said. “He seems like a nice guy. He seems bright and happy with his life.”
Sexton’s students are sent down a hallway to a conference room. More than anything else, it is the men who protect Sexton from false accusations. However, on several occasions female prisoners were mistakenly allowed to attend. They are more receptive to new ideas than men, he said.
Sometimes only one or two inmates attend class. In some cases, there may be more than a dozen. Every week is different, and so are his students. Some may be there just to get out of their cell. To relieve the boredom of a long, monotonous day. It’s human nature. Some people take meditation seriously and keep an open mind.
Sexton conducted a four-week meditation course, but prison administrators changed it to six weeks a few years later. Sexton said participants who are in prison for that amount of time and complete the program will be excused from their sentences for a few days.
They also receive two certificates from Sexton. One is for students to take home when they are released. The other person will be kept in the jail files. That can be shown to the judge as evidence that he is making a sincere effort to improve his life.
Sexton says he can get discouraged at times. Doubt creeps in. He may even tell himself that he is not making a difference in people’s lives.
Sue Erickson Hotchkiss would disagree. The Lapeer woman takes meditation classes at a self-healing center and perhaps most of all values her strong calming effects. She considers Sexton “very knowledgeable.” Very kind. ”
Sooner or later, Sexton will receive a sign that he is on the right path.
More than once, for example, he encountered a former prison student browsing at a hardware store and was thanked for changing the man’s life. Another man left the Lapeer County Jail and returned home to Flint, writing a long letter thanking Sexton and telling him how he had applied the principles of meditation to everyday situations.
“It’s better than money,” Sexton said. The letter was sent to a self-healing center because the address was on the certificate the man brought home from prison.
Sexton believes more rehabilitation programs are needed in prisons and jails. He often hopes others will volunteer to teach classes on yoga and other enlightening topics at county jails.
turn the page
Sexton’s own spiritual journey began after returning from Vietnam. Tired of the atrocities of war, he could not say anything about it. He was in his 21st year, maybe he was 22, living in Pontiac, and returning to work at General Motors.
His aunt saw an ad in the Auckland Press offering a free dinner and lecture about the Peace of Mind movement to be held at a banquet center in Waterford. She passed the information on to Sexton, and he registered for the event.
“It was my way of surviving,” he said. “I wanted to turn the page. I wanted to forgive myself, I wanted to forgive others…”
During his lecture, he learned that we have two parts of ourselves. It is the heart of our lives and the heart of the spirit that lives within us, he said. Until then he had not known about spirits. Another lesson taught that day was to make a list of the things you hate in your life and write it on the left side of a piece of paper. A list of things you like will appear on the right side of the page.
“They told me to quit[things I hate]so I could have more time to do the things I wanted to do,” Sexton recalled.
He hated working for the GM and quit his job shortly thereafter. He really liked working with wood and found himself building his own niche cabinets and creating designs for interior decorators. The income was good and he was happy for a while.
He and his first wife established an answering service for doctors and other professionals in Lake Orion. Sexton also entered the security alarm business.
“I’ve always liked creating jobs. I’ve always liked hiring other people,” he said. At the age of 48, he decided it was time to turn the page again and move on to the next adventure in his life. A lecture on inner peace that he attended many years ago was the seed that motivated him to study world religions.
Sexton says he took Jewish classes for three years in Ann Arbor. He could have become a rabbi with one more year, he said, but that wasn’t what he wanted. He said he learned Hinduism from a Swami in Rivonia and Reiki from an instructor in Hadley.
Reiki is a Japanese method of reducing stress and relaxing. It is based on the concept of an invisible life energy that flows within us and is managed through the laying on of hands.
While searching for amethyst crystals in Canada, Sexton believes he was guided by a larger hand to study the beliefs and visions of Native Americans. He said he went to Peru five times to study astral projection and visited Easter Island twice.
He told the story of going down the Nile River in Egypt to see the pyramids and bribing someone to let him meditate inside the pyramids, away from other tourists. Away from the hustle and bustle of other visitors, he said he could hear humming inside the ancient bricks.
At this point in his life, he is dedicated to leading others on the path to inner peace.
“Learn to forgive yourself,” he said. “Learn to love yourself and your life will change.”
