Short Talk & Meditation: Forgiving and Freeing Our Hearts (36:53 min)
Forgiveness for others becomes possible when we’ve held our own being with great compassion. This short talk and guided meditation brings forth our most awake and tender presence as we ask for forgiveness, offer care to the woundedness within us, and then extend...
Short Talk & Meditation: Tonglen – Radical Compassion (32:43 min)
We are conditioned to avoid suffering – our own and others. By pulling away, we also contract our heart and disconnect from our innate capacity for compassion. This short talk and meditation is a training in touching vulnerability, and discovering the boundless...
New Year’s Meditation: Awakening Loving Presence (22:27 min.)
Loving presence is an innate capacity, and it can be cultivated. This meditation begins with a scan arousing a relaxed tender presence in the body, then brings loving attention to our inner life, and in widening circles, to our world. photo: Bess-Hamiti –...
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. First we connect with the vulnerable tender place within us that longs to feel loved, and...
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 in Transforming Suffering – a transcription] There is power and potential in a time...
Instruction & Meditation: A Forgiving Heart (36:04 min) (retreat)
A forgiving heart clears the way for giving and receiving love freely. This talk and meditation explores where we have become habituated in blame towards ourselves and others, and a classic three part reflection that can loosen and release the armoring around our...
Guided Heart Meditation: Loving Presence (from retreat) (34 min)
This meditation introduces the loving-kindness (metta) heart practice. After brief instruction, it begins with scanning the body, filling it gradually with the image of a smile. The meditation continues with a loving-kindness practice – sensing loving presence...
Heart Meditation: Awakening Loving Presence (35:24 min)
We each have an intrinsic capacity for loving presence, and there are powerful ways of paying attention that bring this potential alive. This meditation uses the image and felt sense of a smile to bring a relaxed receptivity to the body. We then engage with our future...
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 loving and to turn in that direction. It begins with a lovingkindness practice that...
Meditation: Awakening Compassion (11:35 min)
Meditation: Awakening Compassion with Tonglen ~ Our hearts awaken as we let ourselves be touched by the suffering within and around us. They shine as we respond with care to what has touched us. This meditation uses the breath to guide us in letting in and contacting...
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 telling. Listen to the full talk here: Seeking What’s True – Within Ourselves, Beyond Our...
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, evolved consciousness. The more we practice this pathway, the more we realize and trust the...
Meditation: Guided Heart Forgiveness (28:50 min)
Tara gives brief instructions on the forgiveness practice, then guides us through a process of forgiveness of ourselves and others. “Forgiving is a movement of your heart not to carry aversive hatred or blame. That you can care about someone and still create...