Special Meditations/Reflections
Meditation: Say “Yes” to Life (13 min.)
This guided practice awakens a relaxed and friendly attention that rests in the breath and opens to whatever is arising. We deepen that presence with the intention to truly say...
Guided Reflection: Making the U-Turn – Awakening Through Conflict (12:03 min.)
How do we honor the intelligence within anger, but not get hijacked into emotional reactivity? In this short reflection, we’ll explores the U-turn that enables us to offer a...
Meditation: What Matters to your Heart? (9:26 min.)
Entering a new year is a wonderful opportunity to clarify our purpose. In this guided visualization, we are invited to attune to the state of our heart and our deepest...
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Meditation: Suffering and Compassion (8:07 min.)
This brief meditation is a version of the Tibetan Tonglen practice: With the support of the breath we allow ourselves to open to the realness of suffering, and then offer it into...
Reflection: Bringing RAIN to the Wanting Mind (11:01 min.)
Most of us have spent a lifetime fixating our desires on external objects. But if we learn to really trace them back, we discover that they are the voice of loving awareness...
Reflection: Pausing and Deepening Attention in the Face of Attachment (10:48 min.)
In this short reflection, we explore how we can bring mindfulness and self-compassion to the habits of obsessing, over-consuming and hurting ourselves and others that keep us...
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Meditation: RAIN on Self-Blame (9:45 min.)
One of the greatest roots of suffering is being at war with ourselves. This meditation, based on the acronym RAIN (recognize-allow-investigate-nurture), guides us in releasing...
Meditation: Awakening the Heart – Giving and Receiving Loving Blessings (11:07 min.)
Our hearts awaken as we express and receive love in an embodied, conscious way. This guided practice brings our attention to dear ones in our life, and explores how we discover...
Tara Talks – Guided Reflection: Coming Home with Attend and Befriend (6:34 min.)
When are caught in our conditioned escape strategies, we feel separated from what we most care about. In moments when we deepen our attention and bring a kind presence to the...
Reflection: Learning to Stay (4:41 min.)
We open the door to healing by bringing a mindful and kind attention to inner vulnerability and fear... "Learning to stay opens up the space that gives us our life. That's when...
Meditation: Blessings of Love (11:28 min)
A blessing is whatever reminds us of the sacred loving presence that shines through all of us. This meditation is a transformational practice in receiving and offering blessings....
Tara Talks: Guided Reflection on Inhabiting This Body (12:50 min)
When we are not inhabiting our bodies, we are not experiencing our full aliveness. When pain arises, how much can you open to it and let it be as it is? Just like waves in the...
Tara Talks – Reflection: Installing a Beneficial Mind-State (6:53 min.)
What state of heart or mind do you wish you could experience more regularly? Is it peace? Gratitude? Love? You can apply your meditation to transform passing states into enduring...
Tara Talks – Guided Reflection: From “If Only” Trance to Open-Hearted Presence (7:47 min.)
When we notice that we’re in the trance of “if-only” mind, we can choose to re-open and surrender to what is right here. When we make that U-Turn and stay with our experience...
Tara Talks – Reflection: The Practice of Savoring As a Gateway to Happiness (5:53 min.)
It is radical and transformative to pause and sense the goodness that is right here in this moment. When we experience gladness for simple things, we know we really can be happy...
Meditation: “Yes” to Life (13 min.)
This guided practice awakens a relaxed and friendly attention that rests in the breath and opens to whatever is arising. We deepen that presence with the intention to truly say...
Meditation: Transforming Fear (11:19 min.)
This guided practice invites us to identify a situation where we habitually become anxious or fearful, and then to explore bringing mindfulness and self-compassion to where we...
Reflection: Cultivating a Loving Heart (7:10 min.)
Reflection: Cultivating a Loving Heart - Love is an innate capacity, and when we intentionally cultivate it, love shifts from a state to a trait. This meditation offers guidance...
Meditation: Blessings of Love (11:26 min)
A blessing is whatever reminds us of the sacred loving presence that shines through all of us. This meditation is a transformational practice in receiving and offering blessings....
Reflection: Transforming Suffering & Awakening the Heart (12:45 min.)
[Excerpt from Darkness of the Womb – Four Key Steps in Transforming Suffering a talk given on January 25, 2017.] [read the full transcript: Darkness of the Womb: Four Key Steps...
Brief Meditation: Entering the Wilderness (6 min.)
We open to our full naturalness as we awaken the senses. This brief meditation guides us to open all the sense gates, and in that openness, experience the pure aliveness and...
Meditation: Know That You’re Here, Right Here (10:00 min) (no closing bells)
Given the first morning of the 2017 IMCW Spring Retreat, this meditation guides you through a body scan, opens to sounds, then expands to the body as a field of sensation. With...
Reflection: The Compass of Our Heart (9:07 min)
When we are remembering our deepest intention in any situation, our lives become aligned, and we can act with grace, compassion and wisdom. These reflections will help you...
Reflection: Heart Wisdom of Your Future Self (9:20 min)
By connecting with your future self, this reflection guides you in accessing the deep wisdom and unconditional love of your own awakening heart. "I returned to the river. I...
Brief Guided Meditation – with no bell at end (9 min.)
Given in the early morning on the first day of retreat, this recording can settle you into a meditation of any length. There is no bell at the end, so you can make your session...
Reflection: Deepening the Truths We Share (8:32 min)
Our capacity for love grows as we practice deepening the truths we share with each other. This short reflection offers guidance in how to bring your presence and heart to truth...
Meditation Instructions – RAIN and Question-Response (14:23 min)
Tara gives morning instruction on retreat including RAIN (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nourish), then responds to questions from retreatants. Includes a question on resourcing...
Meditation: Your Future Self – Accessing the Wisdom of Your Heart (7:17 min)
When we are cut off from our natural love and wisdom, there’s a way home. This meditation guides us to a visit with our future self, and reveals a pathway to our awakened,...
Meditation: Invitation to Practice (no bell at end) (3 min)
Take 3 minutes to listen to a brief and beautiful Japanese flute passage from "A Touch of Grace" - an album by Tara’s husband, Jonathan Foust. Then Tara will guide you into...
Brief Meditation: Arriving in Mindful Presence – (5 min)
This brief meditation can support you in pausing and arriving again in the life that’s right here. photo: Susan Reviere
Brief Meditation: Arriving in Mindful Presence (1 min)
This brief meditation can support you in pausing and arriving again in the life that's right here. photo: Shell Fischer
Reflection: Waking Up from Limiting Beliefs (8 min.)
A guided reflection meditation that addresses limiting beliefs surrounding interpersonal conflict - from the ending of the "Real but Not True" talk. Listen to the full talk, Real...
Reflection: This Living Body – Our Portal to Freedom (12:30 min)
Our habit is to leave home - the aliveness of our body - and seek happiness through avoiding unpleasantness and chasing after pleasure. This short talk and reflection point to...
Reflection: RAIN – A Guide for Embodied Presence (8:13)
We have deep conditioning to disconnect from our body’s awareness and, in so doing, leave the site of our creativity, love and vitality. This short meditation uses the acronym...
Guided Reflection: Awakening Through Conflict (13:06 min)
A guided reflection on "Awakening Through Conflict" ~ “We live in a field where our emotions are an open loop – we affect each other. When we’re with someone who’s blaming, we...
Reflection: RAIN – Entering the Wilderness (10:10 min)
This short reflection, guided by the acronym RAIN, engages mindfulness and compassion as we open to life that we’ve been pushing away. By including unlived life, we reconnect...
Meditation: Awakening the Heart – Giving and Receiving Loving Blessings (11:21 min)
Our hearts awaken as we express and receive love in an embodied, conscious way. This guided practice brings our attention to dear ones in our life, and explores how we discover...
Reflection: The Power of Inquiry – Untangling Emotional Tangles using RAIN (10:30 min)
This short meditation helps us get unstuck from emotional difficulty with the practice of Inquiry. We use the acronym RAIN as a guide, starting with Recognizing and Allowing what...
Reflection: Learning to Stay (4:33 min.)
We open the door to healing by bringing a mindful and kind attention to inner vulnerability and fear. "Learning to stay opens up the space that gives us our life. That's when it...
Walking Meditation – Instructions (Audio and PDF) (6:19 min)
Meditation is a practice of presence that you can bring alive in all settings and activities. The formal training in walking meditation can be particularly valuable for helping...
Guided Meditation: Stand Still (standing meditation with instructions included) (25:04 min.)
Walking Meditation – Instructions (audio) (6:19 min.)
Tara gives instructions on standing and walking meditation. Meditation is a practice of presence that you can bring alive in all settings and activities. The formal training in...
Brief Inquiry – Intention in Meditation Practice (2:23 min.)
Brief Inquiry - Intention in Meditation Practice (2:23 min.)
Reflection: The Three Refuges
• View or download the print-friendly PDF version The three facets of true refuge – awareness, truth, and love – come alive as we dedicate our presence to them. As we open...
