2012-09-05 – Trance of the Unreal Other – We are conditioned to perceive people as unreal others- two dimensional characters who lack sentience, vulnerability and goodness. This is often most insidious when we filter people through demeaning culturally…
Tara Brach
Intimacy with Our Inner Life
2012-08-29 – Intimacy with Our Inner Life – Jung wrote that our suffering arises from the unseen, unfelt parts of our psyche. This talk explores ways we can establish a healing presence by recognizing and communicating with the parts of our being that …
Part 2 – 1000 Serious Moves
2012-08-22 – Part 2 – 1000 Serious Moves – We easily habituate to feeling stressed, leaning forward, trying to figure things out and get things done. The undercurrent is we are living reactively–resisting unpleasant experience, seeking out more comfor…
1000 Serious Moves
2012-08-15 – 1000 Serious Moves – We easily habituate to feeling stressed, leaning forward, trying to figure things out and get things done. The undercurrent is we are living reactively–resisting unpleasant experience, seeking out more comfort and ea…
Real But Not True
2012-08-08 – Real but not True – One of the most liberating realizations is that we don’t have to believe our thoughts. In this talk we look at the suffering caused by limiting beliefs–“I am unworthy, unloveable, unsafe”–and the process by which we …
Back to the Garden
2012-08-01 – Back to the Garden – The suffering of perceiving ourselves as separate selves expresses as fear, aggression, shame and a host of other afflictive emotions. This talk examines how, by taking refuge in the present moment, and taking refuge i…
Listening with an Awake Heart
2012-07-25 – Listening with an Awake Heart – Listening to our inner life and each other is the grounds of healing, intimacy and love. This talk explores the challenges to offering a listening presence, and the qualities of open receptivity and interes…
(retreat talk) Our True Nature–Emptiness Dancing
(retreat talk) 2011-10-12 – Our True Nature–Emptiness Dancing – The most profound question in spiritual life is “who (or what) am I?” This talk explores ways of inquiring into the nature of awareness, and the blessings of embodying the realization of …
(from Retreat) Introduction to the Heart Practices
2012-04-28 – Introduction to the Heart Practices – These instructions on the heart practices were given at the IMCW 2012 Spring Retreat. A guided lovingkindness or “metta” meditation to open the heart and come home to presence follows. Please support t…
Part 2 – Freedom: Taking the Backward Step
2012-07-04 – Part 2 – Freedom: Taking the Backward Step – This talk investigates the core conditioning that creates and sustains trance. We then explore two gateways to realizing and inhabiting our true nature – inquiry and letting go. Please support t…
Part 1 – Freedom: Seeing Who is Looking Through the Mask
2012-6-27 – Part 1 – Freedom: Seeing Who is Looking Through the Mask – We suffer when we are identified with our egoic conditioning and unable to recognize the spirit – the love and awareness – that animates our own and all beings. In this talk we expl…
Cultivating Equanimity (Duck Meditation)
2012-06-20 – Cultivating Equanimity (Duck Meditation) – Equinimity, the mindful presence that neither grasps nor resists experience, is the grounds for unconditional love and wise action. This talk explores the conditioning that entraps us in reactivit…
Committing to Joy
2012-06-13 – Committing to Joy – What makes joy rare? How do we awaken this beautiful capacity to embrace life? In this talk we explore the obstacles to joy and the attitude and practices that free us to “love what is.” Please support this podcast by d…
Cultivating Compassion
2012-06-06 – Cultivating Compassion – We each have the potential to live with a compassionate, open heart. In this talk we explore the conditioning that closes us off to authentic caring, and the ways of deepening our attention that help us live to inc…
Cultivating Compassion
2012-06-06 – Cultivating Compassion – We each have the potential to live with a compassionate, open heart. In this talk we explore the conditioning that closes us off to authentic caring, and the ways of deepening our attention that help us live to inc…
Intimacy with Life – Awakening Love
2012-05-30 – Intimacy with Life – Awakening Love – The Buddha taught about four Divine Abodes–dwelling places of the awakened heart mind: lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. In this four-part series, we will explore the ways our conditioni…
Training for Intimacy with Life
2012-05-23 – Training for Intimacy with Life – “Enlightenment is intimacy with all things” teaches Zen Master Dogen. While we long for this intimacy, we are conditioned to avoid the vulnerability and fear that an intimate presence can arouse. This tal…
Part 2: The Lion’s Roar
2012-05-16 – Part 2: The Lion’s Roar – The Buddha taught that faith–trust in our true nature–is intrinsic to the spiritual path and the expression of wisdom. These two talks investigate the practices of presence that awaken our faith and the freedom …
Part 1: The Lion’s Roar
2012-05-09 – Part 1: The Lion’s Roar – The Buddha taught that faith–trust in our true nature–is intrinsic to the spiritual path and the expression of wisdom. These two talks investigate the practices of presence that awaken our faith and the freedom …
Be Who You Are (Retreat Talk)
2012-05-02 – (Retreat Talk) Be Who You Are – By bringing a surrendering presence to mental, emotional and physical domains, we undo the trance of separation and discover our true nature. This talk explores the practices that cultivate the non-resisting…
