Loving the Life Within Us (retreat talk)

2012-10-27 – Loving the Life Within Us (retreat talk) – If we don’t love the life we consider “self,” we will not realize or live from the loving awareness that is our essence. This talk guides us in bringing a kind, accepting presence to our inner lif…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Open Heart, Open Mind

2012-04-18 – Open Heart, Open Mind – Tsoknyi Rinpoche with Tara Brach – In talking about his new book, Tibetan teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche describes the layers of self that cover over our “essence love,” and the way that mindfulness reconnects us to our t…

Alchemy of Wise Effort in Spiritual Life

2012-03-21 – Alchemy of Wise Effort in Spiritual Life – The ground of wise effort is our sincere intentionality toward presence, love and freedom. Yet our habit is to go into trance, and latch on to narrowed intentions of self-enhancement or defense. W…

Flowering, From Within, of Self-Blessing

2012-03-14 – Flowering, From Within, of Self-Blessing – This line from poet Galway Kinnell reminds us of the possibility of meeting our inner life with a loving, healing presence. When we do, we loosen the trance of unworthiness and reconnect with our …

Freedom in the Midst of Difficulty

2012-03-07 – Freedom in the Midst of Difficulty – We suffer when we forget who we are and get caught in a limited sense of self. This talk explores how we become identified with a sliver of what we are, and the pathway to remembering our wholeness. Whe…

The Blessings of Embodied Presence

2011-12-29 – The Blessings of Embodied Presence (retreat talk) – All that we cherish – love, creativity, wisdom and aliveness – becomes available when we come home to an embodied presence. This talk looks at how the two wings of mindfulness and compas…

The Backward Step

2011-12-07 – The Backward Step – Our habit is to think we are on our way someplace else, and that our happiness is to be found outside ourselves. Yet realization becomes possible when we take the backward step into the formless dimension of our own bei…

Mindful Speech

2011-11-16 – Mindful Speech – Deception, gossip and aggressive speech are pervasive in our culture. This talk looks at the roots of these forms of communication, and the way they entrap us in a contracted and separate sense of self. We then explore the…

Divine Abodes: Equanimity

2011-11-02 – Divine Abodes: Equanimity – Equanimity is the mental state of balance and non-reactivity that arises when we are resting in open, wakeful presence. This talk reviews the key pathways to equanimity in the face of difficulty. We also explor…

Unconditional Love for the Life Within

2011-10-08 – Unconditional Love for the Life Within – (Retreat Talk) The tyranny of “should” prevents us from living and loving fully. This talk explores how we get trapped in the identity of a flawed self and the ways a wise attention can free us. Ple…

Divine Abodes: Lovingkindness

2011-10-05 – Divine Abodes: Lovingkindness – Love is the most basic expression of who we are, and yet it is often obscured by the trance of separation and fear. This talk explores how we habitually armor our hearts, and the training of attention that …

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