Talks: Reflections on the Path
Three Blessings in Spiritual Life – Part 2: Inner Fire
Three Blessings in Spiritual Life – Part 2: Inner Fire - This 3- part series explores three capacities we all have, that when cultivated, bring spiritual awakening and serve the healing of our world. Drawing on an ancient teaching story from India, we explore together the power...
Three Blessings in Spiritual Life – Part 1: Forgiveness
Three Blessings in Spiritual Life - Part 1: Forgiveness - This 3-part series explores three capacities we all have, that when cultivated, bring spiritual awakening and serve the healing of our world. Drawing on an ancient teaching story from India, we explore together the power...
Awakening from the Landlocked Self
The Buddha taught that our suffering arises from forgetting who we are. This talk explores the trance of identifying as Somebody, and the compassionate witnessing that allows us to discover the freedom of our natural being. Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just...
Homecoming to Your True Nature: Awakening Beyond the Separate, Fearful Self
Homecoming to Your True Nature: Awakening beyond the separate, fearful self. Most of us unconsciously identify as a separate, threatened, deficient self. This talk shines a light on this conditioning and explores the ways that mindfulness, compassion and self-inquiry reveal the...
From Dragons to Schmoos – Meeting Life with Compassionate Presence
From Dragons to Schmoos – Meeting Life with Compassionate Presence - The trance of unworthiness is sustained by our aversion to the dragons – the difficult emotions and related behaviors that are a deeply conditioned part of the human experience. In this talk we explore the...
Navigating the Dark Ages
Navigating the Dark Ages - How do we process and respond to increasing societal oppression and violence? What helps us transform the energies of fear, hatred and delusion? This talk offers ways we can draw on our spiritual path to steady our heart and engage with presence,...
The Path of Spiritual Surrender: Part 2
Cultivating a surrendering presence allows us to release the identity of a small, separate self, and open to the truth and fullness of who we are. These two talks explore misunderstandings about surrender (such as the fear that we will become passive or condone injustice) and...
The Path of Spiritual Surrender: Part 1
Cultivating a surrendering presence allows us to release the identity of a small, separate self, and open to the truth and fullness of who we are. These two talks explore misunderstandings about surrender (such as the fear that we will become passive or condone injustice) and...
The Three Steps of Letting Go
The Three Steps of Letting Go: A wonderful inquiry is, “What is between me and openhearted presence?” This talk explores the profound healing and transformation that arises when we release the blocks to our natural and loving awareness. Let go of the ways you thought life would...
Cultivating a Courageous Heart – Part 2
Cultivating a Courageous Heart - Part 2: In the face of violence, hatred and loss, how do we handle the reactivity we feel? Our own anger, hatred and fear? These two talks offer guidance and practice in letting our own vulnerability be a portal to responding—to ourselves, each...
Cultivating a Courageous Heart – Part 1
Cultivating a Courageous Heart - Part 1: In the face of violence, hatred and loss, how do we handle the reactivity we feel? Our own anger, hatred and fear? These two talks offer guidance and practice in letting our own vulnerability be a portal to responding - to ourselves,...
Nourishing Our Spirit in Times of Collective Fear
Nourishing Our Spirit in Times of Collective Fear - We are living with the threat of increasing, dramatic suffering around the globe. This talk looks at the direct ways our meditation practices, supported by findings of neuroscience, can help us find resilience and an open...
Self-Forgiveness with RAIN
Our inability to forgive ourselves blocks healing and freedom. As we explore in this talk, the habit of judging and blaming ourselves traps us in fears, prevents intimacy with our world, and veils over the goodness and mystery of who we are. This talk includes several...
Equanimity – Part 4 of Present Heart: The Universal Expressions of Love
Part 4: Equanimity - unfolds as we find a wise balance and spaciousness in the midst of this living, dying world. This series reflects on four primary expressions of an awake, wise heart: lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. In each talk we explore the habitual...
Joy – Part 3 of Present Heart: The Universal Expressions of Love
Part 3: Joy - blossoms in the moments our hearts open boundlessly to reality, to the 10,000 joys and sorrows. This series reflects on four primary expressions of an awake, wise heart: lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. In each talk we explore the habitual...
Compassion – Part 2 of Present Heart: The Universal Expressions of Love
Part 2: Compassion - the tender resonance of heart - awakens as we allow ourselves to be touched by our shared vulnerability. This series reflects on four primary expressions of an awake, wise heart: lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. In each talk we explore the...
Lovingkindness – Part 1 of Present Heart: The Universal Expressions of Love
Part 1: Lovingkindness - We awaken our natural lovingkindness by learning to attend to and take in the goodness of this life. This series reflects on four primary expressions of an awake, wise heart: lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. In each talk we explore the...
Responding with Heart to Painful Times: A Conversation with Tara and Frank Ostaseski
Our world is changing faster than we can compute or process. Accompanying these changes are a growing violence, deepening divides, great loss and much uncertainty and fear. In this week's talk, I'm joined by Frank Ostaseski to explore teachings and practices that can support us...
Relationships – from Reactivity to Re-choosing Love
Most of us have habitual ways we create separation from others. This talk takes a look at the roots of our emotional reactivity and ways our meditation practice can foster more loving connection in our lives. https://youtu.be/wFyP5_qvEmI
Compassion toward Non-Human Animals
A Conversation between Konda Mason and Tara Brach The medicine our world most needs is compassion, and it is crucial that this include all living beings. Our societal conditioning blinds us to the horror of suffering experienced by non-human animals through our cruel system of...
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