Wise Investigation: Dissolving the Trance

Wise Investigation: Dissolving the Trance

If we are suffering, it is because we are believing something that is not true and caught in emotional reactivity. A key tool in meditation is investigation–actively inquiring into what is happening inside us. When we investigate with sincere interest and care, the light of our attention untangles difficult emotions and nourishes intimate relationships. As this light is turned toward awareness itself, it reveals the radiance and emptiness of our true nature.

Part 2: Wise Intention: Living In Truth

Part 2: Wise Intention: Living In Truth

Evolution has conditioned us to identify as an egoic self and to protect that identity. A key strategy is trying to control how others perceive us through pretense and deception. This talk explores the ways we disarm though dedicating ourselves to truthfulness,...
Blog: Meditating Daily…”No Matter What”

Blog: Meditating Daily…”No Matter What”

Even after practicing and teaching meditation for more than 35 years now, I truly understand that sustaining a regular practice can be challenging. During the twelve years I lived in an ashram, for instance, I had others to practice with each day. With that kind of...
Part 1: Wise Intention: The Compass of Our Hearts

Part 1: Wise Intention: The Compass of Our Hearts

One of the most powerful spiritual practices in the world is to reflect on your heart’s deepest intention. These two talks look at the way that ego-based intentions perpetuate thoughts, feelings and actions that keep us imprisoned in feeling separate and...
Part 1: Embodied Spirit

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

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”

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...
Wise Investigation: Dissolving the Trance

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.

Wise Investigation: Dissolving the Trance

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...
Wise Investigation: Dissolving the Trance

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...
Wise Investigation: Dissolving the Trance

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.

Wise Investigation: Dissolving the Trance

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.

Wise Investigation: Dissolving the Trance

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.