Resources for Caregivers and Those Aging in Place
Currently, there are more than 43.5 million adults in the United States who have provided unpaid care to an adult or child within the last year…many more worldwide. While caring for our family members can be a deep, healing and rewarding experience, it can also be very challenging…and finding ways to care for ourselves is essential.
Mindfulness meditation is a way of paying attention, on-purpose and with no judgment, to whatever is arising within us. Self-compassion, arising from mindfulness, brings a tender and healing presence to the pain we are carrying. Together, these practices offer us refuge when we are overwhelmed by stress, and give us renewed access to our natural joy and aliveness.
The resources on this page have been selected to give you a taste of what’s possible when we slow down and take time to nurture our own hearts. I hope you will enjoy!
Working with Fear – article originally published in Modern Maturity Magazine.
Tara gives a weekly meditation class on Wednesdays from 7:30 to 9pm. Please join via webcast at Tara’s Facebook page and on her YouTube channel. The talks and meditations are later posted on her podcast and here on the website.
Talks for Caregivers and Those Aging in Place
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...
Fear of Aging: Finding Freedom in this Impermanent World – Part 2
While it’s natural to have fears of what’s ahead, when we learn to face the inevitability of change and loss without resistance, we discover true peace and freedom in the midst....
Fear of Aging: Finding Freedom in this Impermanent World – Part 1
While it’s natural to have fears of what’s ahead, when we learn to face the inevitability of change and loss without resistance, we discover true peace and freedom in the midst....
Heavenly Messengers: Tara Interviews Frank Ostaseski
Tara interviews Frank Ostaseski, founder of Zen Hospice, on a contemplative approach to death and dying.
For more information on the new “Heavenly Messengers: Awakening Through Aging, Sickness and Death” 2-year training program – a collaborative effort through Spirit Rock and the Metta Institute, go to https://www.spiritrock.org/heavenlymessengers
Meditations for Caregivers and Those Aging in Place
Meditation: A Practice of RAIN (20:00 min.)
The acronym RAIN - Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture - guides us in bringing mindfulness and compassion to difficult emotions. With practice, we can find our way home to...
Guided Meditation: Letting Go – 9 Magic Breaths (5:50 min.)
View or download the print-friendly PDF version. Take a pause from all activity, and either sit or stand in a way that allows you to be comfortable yet alert. It’s ideal, if...
Meditation: The Blessings of Love (11:17 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....
Meditation: Relaxing by Day, Sleeping at Night (no bell at end) (14:23 min)
More than one-third of adults in the U.S. don't get enough sleep, and studies have shown that mindfulness can make a positive difference. When we effectively quiet the mind and...
Heart Meditation: Taking In the Goodness (24:56 min)
Taking in the Goodness: Rumi said, “Whenever some kindness comes to you, turn that way – toward the source of kindness." This meditation guides us to look for the source of...
Ten-Minute Basic Meditation Practice (10 min)
Tara offers a short introductory meditation with a body scan, bringing focus to the breath and sounds, then resting in awareness in silence for the final 3.5 minutes ~ from the...
Guided Meditation: Body Scan – Living Presence – 11 min.
A key pathway to full presence is awakening through the body. This meditation guides us through a body scan, relaxing and receiving the play of sensations. We then deepen...
Meditation: Radical Acceptance of Pain (11:51 min)
As we learn to relax our resistance to unpleasant sensations, we discover an open and tender space of awareness that has room for living and dying. - from the CD set: Radical...
Other Resources for Caregivers and Those Aging in Place
Blog: Working with Fear – article in Modern Maturity Magazine
by Tara Brach (originally published in Modern Maturity Magazine) There’s an old joke about the Jewish mother who sends her son a telegram that reads, “Start worrying. Details to...
Additional Topics for Your Exploration:
- Working with Difficult Emotions/RAIN – (RAIN is an easy-to-remember tool for practicing mindfulness and compassion.)
- Self-Compassion and Compassion for Others
- Working with Fear and Trauma
- Working with Pain: Mindfulness Strategies
- Working with Grief and Loss
- Happiness and Joy: Cultivating Positive Emotions
- Resources to Help You Work with Stress
- Community Wisdom on Sleep
New to Meditation?
