Part 1: Embodied Spirit
Our body–this changing field of sensation–is a portal into pure Being. These talks explore the resistance we have to embodied presence, the pathways that enable us to awaken through our bodies, and the blessings of realization that arise as we let go over...
The Freedom of Yes
How do we accept ourselves or others when our actions are causing harm? Does acceptance mean passivity? Does it undermine our efforts towards change? This talk responds to these questions with a simple, illuminating and challenging principle about genuine...
Trance of the “Unreal Other”
We are conditioned to perceive people as unreal others- two dimensional characters who lack sentience, vulnerability and goodness. This is often most insidious when we filter people through demeaning culturally driven stereotypes. This talk explores the suffering of...
Intimacy with Our Inner Life
Jung wrote that our suffering arises from the unseen, unfelt parts of our psyche. This talk explores ways we can establish a healing presence by recognizing and communicating with the parts of our being that we habitually ignore or judge.
1000 Serious Moves – Part 2
We easily habituate to feeling stressed, leaning forward, trying to figure things out and get things done. The undercurrent is we are living reactively–resisting unpleasant experience, seeking out more comfort and ease–perpetually wanting life to be...
1000 Serious Moves – Part 1
We easily habituate to feeling stressed, leaning forward, trying to figure things out and get things done. The undercurrent is we are living reactively–resisting unpleasant experience, seeking out more comfort and ease–perpetually wanting life to be...
Real But Not True
One of the most liberating realizations is that we don’t have to believe our thoughts. In this talk we look at the suffering caused by limiting beliefs–“I am unworthy, unloveable, unsafe”–and the process by which we open into the full aliveness and potential of our being.
Back to the Garden
The suffering of perceiving ourselves as separate selves expresses as fear, aggression, shame and a host of other afflictive emotions. This talk examines how, by taking refuge in the present moment, and taking refuge in love, we reconnect with our wholeness, and the timeless presence that is home. This inquiry includes a guided meditation on the power of prayer to carry us back to our natural belonging.
Listening With an Awake Heart
Listening to our inner life and each other is the grounds of healing, intimacy and love. This talk explores the challenges to offering a listening presence, and the qualities of open receptivity and interest that nourish true communicating.
Part 2 – Freedom: Taking the Backward Step
This talk investigates the core conditioning that creates and sustains trance. We then explore two gateways to realizing and inhabiting our true nature – inquiry and letting go. Watch the video of “Part 2 – Freedom: Taking the Backward Step”
Part 1 – Freedom: Seeing Who Is Looking Through the Mask
We suffer when we are identified with our egoic conditioning and unable to recognize the spirit – the love and awareness – that animates our own and all beings. In this talk we explore how recognizing our vulnerability and basic goodness helps us to see through the mask and realize who is here.
Cultivating Equanimity (Duck Meditation)
Equanimity, the mindful presence that neither grasps nor resists experience, is the grounds for unconditional love and wise action. This talk explores the conditioning that entraps us in reactivity, and two primary pathways for coming home to this natural state of balance and presence.
Committing to Joy
What makes joy rare? How do we awaken this beautiful capacity to embrace life? In this talk we explore the obstacles to joy and the attitude and practices that free us to “love what is.”
Cultivating Compassion
We each have the potential to live with a compassionate, open heart. In this talk we explore the conditioning that closes us off to authentic caring, and the ways of deepening our attention that help us live to include widening circles of beings in our heart.