Opening the Lotus of Your Heart (retreat talk)
Our reaction to life’s stress is to contract, and we live many moments with a tight body, clenched heart and narrowed mind. This talk explores how deepening attention can reconnect us with our natural openness and radiance (from the 2012 Women’s Retreat on 2/3/2012).
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 compassion guide us in the midst of difficulty to our inner sanctuary of...
Our True Nature – Emptiness Dancing (retreat talk)
Our True Nature – Emptiness Dancing – The most profound question in spiritual life is “who (or what) am I?” This talk explores ways of inquiring into the nature of awareness, and the blessings of embodying the realization of our radiant, empty essence....
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. (Retreat Talk – IMCW Fall Retreat at Reisterstown, MD)
Retreat Talk: Minting Gold – Embodying the Awakened Heart
Our core conditioning expresses as both a longing for love and the pain of not trusting we are loveable. This talk explores how we create the experience of separation, and the key meditative heart- trainings that lead us to realizing and living from the truth of our...
Retreat Talk: The Path of Transformation
Awakening arises out of presence with the changing ground of our lives. This talk explores three key gateways to liberating presence: forgiveness, inner fire (aspiration) and a deep inquiry into the nature of our own mind.
Soul Retrieval (retreat talk)
In many shamanistic cultures, it is believe that when a person is traumatized, the soul leaves the body as a way of protecting itself form intolerable pain. In a ceremony called “soul retrieval,” the traumatized person is held in the love and safety of community as...
Freedom from Trance
We live in the story of being a separate entity, and often, with the felt sense that something is wrong. This talk investigates the genesis of this trance, and the awakening that is possible when our thoughts, feelings and sense of presence itself are recognized by...