Entering a new year is a wonderful opportunity to clarify our purpose. In this guided visualization, we are invited to attune to the state of our heart and our deepest aspiration. Flute: Jonathan FoustPhoto: Donna...
This brief meditation is a version of the Tibetan Tonglen practice: With the support of the breath we allow ourselves to open to the realness of suffering, and then offer it into a boundless heartspace…a shared and compassionate awareness. This clip was recorded...
Most of us have spent a lifetime fixating our desires on external objects. But if we learn to really trace them back, we discover that they are the voice of loving awareness calling us home. We begin the meditation by briefly scanning through the body and sensing...
In this short reflection, we explore how we can bring mindfulness and self-compassion to the habits of obsessing, over-consuming and hurting ourselves and others that keep us from true happiness, connectedness and peace. The happiness we seek is available in the...
One of the greatest roots of suffering is being at war with ourselves. This meditation, based on the acronym RAIN (recognize-allow-investigate-nurture), guides us in releasing the armoring of blame, and relating to our inner life with greater understanding and...
Our hearts awaken as we express and receive love in an embodied, conscious way. This guided practice brings our attention to dear ones in our life, and explores how we discover deep communion through offering and letting in love. NOTE: This meditation is a favorite...
We open the door to healing by bringing a mindful and kind attention to inner vulnerability and fear… “Learning to stay opens up the space that gives us our life. That’s when it becomes real with our inner life… with others. Let’s do a brief...
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...
It is radical and transformative to pause and sense the goodness that is right here in this moment. When we experience gladness for simple things, we know we really can be happy for no reason. I hope you enjoy this short reflection on how savoring our moments can help...
This guided practice awakens a relaxed and friendly attention that rests in the breath and opens to whatever is arising. We deepen that presence with the intention to truly say “Yes” to experience, allowing life to be just as it is. photo: Suzanne...
This guided practice invites us to identify a situation where we habitually become anxious or fearful, and then to explore bringing mindfulness and self-compassion to where we feel most vulnerable. By engaging fear with an embodied and caring presence, we discover the...
Reflection: Cultivating a Loving Heart – Love is an innate capacity, and when we intentionally cultivate it, love shifts from a state to a trait. This meditation offers guidance on how to access love, and open ourselves to it in a way that serves this awakening...
[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...
We open to our full naturalness as we awaken the senses. This brief meditation guides us to open all the sense gates, and in that openness, experience the pure aliveness and awareness that is our essence. NOTE: listen to the full talk: Part 2: Refuge in the Wilderness...
Given the first morning of the 2017 IMCW Spring Retreat, this meditation guides you through a body scan, opens to sounds, then expands to the body as a field of sensation. With no closing bells, it can serve as a way to start a longer meditation sit, or to start your...
