Blog: A Heart That Is Ready for Anything
A Heart That Is Ready for Anything ~ When the Buddha was dying, he gave a final message to his beloved attendant Ananda, and to generations to come: “Be a lamp unto yourself, be a refuge to yourself. Take yourself to no external refuge.” In his last words, the Buddha...
Practical Dharma for Stressful Times
When we are caught in a stress reaction, we are in a trance that cuts us off from our creativity, full intelligence and capacity to be loving. This talk explores the flags of the stress-trance and three meditative strategies for shifting from fight/flight to attend/befriend. (at end is “Love the One You’re With” by Steven Stills)
Meditation: Letting Life Live Through You (27:40 min.)
Vipassana meditation with Instructions (from 2015 IMCW Spring Retreat)…
Investigating Reality – Beyond an Interpreted World
The skillful use of inquiry – asking questions in a way that energizes and focuses our attention – brings what is hidden into the light of awareness. This talk explores the healing that arises as we investigate the unseen, unfelt parts of our psyche, and...
Meditation: Letting Life Be, Just As It Is (27:46 min.)
(from 2015 spring IMCW silent retreat)
Loving Yourself into Freedom (Retreat Talk)
The most basic truths we forget, and one is this: if we don’t love ourselves, we can’t love life. In the most basic way, attending to and embracing our inner life reveals the nature of reality. This talk looks at the genesis of self-aversions and several...
Meditation: Relaxing, Smiling, Being Here (20:58 min.)
True Happiness: Realizing Well-Being
Well being is the deep contentment that arises from a relaxed, wakeful presence. This talk explores the beliefs and habits that contract us away form presence, and several key ways we can nourish our natural capacity for happiness.
Meditation: Coming Home to the Senses (21:51 min)
Three Liberating Gifts: Part 3 – Looking in the Mirror
This 3 part series is based on a teaching story from the Upanishads that shows our potential to awaken from an ego-based trance and discover the full luminosity and freedom of our natural awareness. In each class we’ll explore one of the three gifts considered...
Blog: Taking Your Hands Off the Controls
As living organisms anxious about our existence, we’re all naturally rigged to want to manage our lives with the goal of creating more pleasure and less pain for ourselves. Yet so many things are completely out of our control—aging, sickness, dying, other people...
Guided Meditation: Listening to, and Feeling, Life (22:43 min.)
Three Liberating Gifts: Part 2 – Inner Fire
This 3 part series is based on a teaching story from the Upanishads that shows our potential to awaken from an ego-based trance and discover the full luminosity and freedom of our natural awareness. In each class we’ll explore one of the three gifts considered...