Skeleton Woman: Embracing This Living and Dying World
Based on a wonderful myth told by Clarissa Estes, this talk looks at the way we run from “lady death” and the blessings of opening our arms and heart. If we can embrace the whole of our nature with unconditional presence – including the inevitability of change and...
Responding to Change with a Wise Heart
An intrinsic part of spiritual life is facing the truth of impermanence. When we open to the changing flow without resistance, we naturally cherish this passing life, and realize the timeless, changeless awareness that is our true home. Yet we are conditioned to grasp...
Tara Talks: Impermanence of the Body (5:54 min. video)
Aging, sickness and dying are treated as something “bad” to be fought. Truly opening to the reality that every body in the universe continually changes can awaken us to the ‘who we are’ that’s larger than the changing flow. Listen and watch the full talk...
Tara Talks – Opening to Reality Means Full Engagement (not Resignation) (2:31 min.)
Every time our heart gets really broken open by loss, there can be more attunement to what it means to be unconditionally loving. This frees us to act more fully, honestly, true to our hearts. Listen to the full talk: River of Change – Part 1: Bringing a Wise Heart to...
River of Change – Part 2 – Bringing a Wise Heart to this Impermanent Life
These two talks look at how we relate to change – especially the notable changes involving loss of relationships and our own body and mind. We examine our strategies for avoiding uncertainty and fear; the consequences of resisting reality; our refuges of...
River of Change – Part 1: Bringing a Wise Heart to this Impermanent Life
These two talks look at how we relate to change – especially the notable changes involving loss of relationships and our own body and mind. We examine our strategies for avoiding uncertainty and fear; the consequences of resisting reality; our refuges of...
The Reality of Change: Embracing this Living Dying World
“What is it that allows us to open our hearts to every moment of our life? It’s the remembrance that it’s passing and it’s precious.” Our true refuge is reality – only by opening to “things as they are” do we find true peace...
Tara Talks: What Am I Running From Right Now?
Tara shares a dear friend’s end-of-life insights on how every one of us has something we’re running from. It’s when we start recognizing what we’re resisting that we can re-enter the flow. Watch with Japanese subtitles: https://youtu.be/x1_Ulh6-jLc Watch or listen to...
Love, and Death (Retreat Talk)
To live our lives fully, we need to embrace the natural unfolding of birthing and dying. Yet we are deeply conditioned to resist loss, to pull away from fear and grief. Through a powerful Inuit story, Skeleton Woman, shared by Clarissa Estes, this talk explores how...
Tara Talks: Keeping Busy (5:04 min. video)
We are sometimes described as “human doings” versus “human beings.” In this short presentation we look at how our drive to keep busy and to over-achieve is a way of avoiding facing the inevitability of loss. Listen and watch the full talk: The...
Awakening Through Change and Loss
Our capacity to live and love fully is entirely related to how we open to the truth of impermanence. This talk examines how our ways of trying to control life solidify our perception of being separate and threatened. We then look at the wings of mindful presence and compassion that open us to loss and grief, and reveal the loving awareness that is beyond birth and death.
Loving and Losing
The way that we relate to impermanence and loss shapes our capacity to live and love fully. This talk, drawing on Mary Oliver’s poem “In Blackwater Woods,” explores three elements in our response to this fleeting, precious life that are integral to our healing and freedom.
The Fires of Loss
We all encounter the great losses of our own health and life, and of cherished others. We are conditioned to resist opening to the rawness and grief that comes with loss. This talk describes the refuge of presence in the face of loss, and the gift of timeless love that arises as we make peace with the reality of this living, dying world.
