Our tension is a way of defending against the aliveness that is here and now. This meditation guides us in relaxing tension, awakening our senses and discovering the vitality and presence that express our natural being.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:32 — 12.7MB)
Subscribe: iTunes | Android | Stitcher | Overcast | Podbean | Pandora | Spotify | RSSAs a species, forgetting our belonging to our larger body of Earth is causing suffering for this entire living web. In this talk we look at what causes and sustains this trance of forgetting. We then explore the ways we each can awaken a sense of loving connectedness and active caring toward our natural world.
Photo Credit: Jonathan Foust
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:39 — 33.4MB)
Subscribe: iTunes | Android | Stitcher | Overcast | Podbean | Pandora | Spotify | RSSThis meditation guides us to awaken to sensation using the image of a smile and scanning through the body. We then open to sound and to the entire changing flow of experience. When we connect with the changing flow of sensations, feelings and sounds, we also discover the formless awareness that is our Source… and home. We end with a prayer that includes our own being and all beings.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:39 — 16.2MB)
Subscribe: iTunes | Android | Stitcher | Overcast | Podbean | Pandora | Spotify | RSSWhile 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. In a very direct way, our awareness of impermanence awakens unconditional loving. These two talks explore the ways we habitually deny or resist reality, and the three interrelated pathways—refuge in the present moment, love and awareness—that liberate us.
“All major spiritual paths guide us to look at this truth of living and dying and the vulnerability that’s here and to discover that refuge, that formless loving nature that’s beyond. And it’s entirely natural to get caught up in habits of avoiding vulnerability and avoiding impermanence. And like the Buddha there is something in you that wants to open to reality, that knows you’ll never be at peace unless you open to reality, there’s something in you that wants to find that happiness and freedom in the midst.”
from the talk…
Part 1: Fear of Aging: Finding Freedom in this Impermanent World
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:03 — 44.0MB)
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Meditation: The Return to Presence: Rest Your Mind In What Is (21:24)
Part 2 – Mindfulness of Emotions – Introduction to MeditationPart 1: Three Blessings on the Journey
Judgment, Acceptance and Freedom (Retreat Talk)
Meditation: Embracing Life with a Smile (Japanese) ~ 笑顔で人生を包む
Blessings of Soul RecognitionThere are two common fears that can block us from our full potential – fear of failure (FOF), and fear of missing out (FOMO). This talk explores how to meet these fears with mindful presence, and discover within them the essence energies of loving awareness and full aliveness (a favorite from the Archives).
Note – This talk is dedicated to Tim Ferriss, who turned me on to the phrase FOMO. Tim exemplifies the creative aliveness of FOMO energy when it’s living through someone who’s dedicated to being awake, caring and real. Check out his podcasted interview with Tara at: https://youtu.be/pXNEM4wjSmE and his podcast at fourhourworkweek.com/podcast/.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:03 — 35.1MB)
Subscribe: iTunes | Android | Stitcher | Overcast | Podbean | Pandora | Spotify | RSSLove is often abstract, and not fully alive. In this practice, with the supportive image and felt sense of a smile, we are guided to awaken loving in our body, mind and whole being.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:22 — 13.3MB)
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Bodhichitta – The Awakened Heart – Part 2
Part 1 of 3 – Freedom from Othering: Undoing the Myths that Imprison Us
Wise Investigation: Dissolving the Trance
Meditation: The Space and Aliveness of Presence (21:55 min.)
(Retreat Talk) Be Who You Are
Meditation: Reducing Anxiety and Getting to Sleep (12:00 min.)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. In a very direct way, our awareness of impermanence awakens unconditional loving. These two talks explore the ways we habitually deny or resist reality, and the three interrelated pathways—refuge in the present moment, love and awareness—that liberate us.
NOTE: The quoted prayer “And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well” is from 14th century mystic, Julian of Norwich, in her work “Revelations of Divine Love.”
Part 2: Fear of Aging: Finding Freedom in this Impermanent World
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:02 — 37.8MB)
Subscribe: iTunes | Android | Stitcher | Overcast | Podbean | Pandora | Spotify | RSSListening deeply is the gateway to realizing connection. It’s what allows us to move through life with a wise, loving and healing presence. These two talks explore our blocks to true listening, and offer teachings and practices that can directly cultivate this invaluable capacity.
Photo Credit: Jonathan Foust
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:52 — 34.9MB)
Subscribe: iTunes | Android | Stitcher | Overcast | Podbean | Pandora | Spotify | RSSDeep listening expresses the purity and presence of our true nature. This meditation guides us to come into a state of listening that is spacious, receptive and profoundly wakeful and present. We close with the poem “lost” by David Wagoner.
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
“Lost” by David Wagoner
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
Photo Credit: Donna JS Russo Dogfish Art
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:52 — 13.6MB)
Subscribe: iTunes | Android | Stitcher | Overcast | Podbean | Pandora | Spotify | RSSThis meditation guides us to wake up our senses and full aliveness through a body scan, and then to rest in the formless presence that is aware of this changing dance of life. We close with a poem by Robert Hall.
Within the body you are wearing, now
inside the bones and beating in the heart,
lives the one you have been searching for so long.But you must stop running away and shake hands,
the meeting doesn’t happen
without your presence . . . your participation.The same one waiting for you there
is moving in the trees, glistening on the water,
growing in the grasses and lurking in the shadows you create.You have nowhere to go.
Robert K. Hall
The marriage happened long ago.
Behold your mate.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:50 — 14.3MB)
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