Talks: Reflections on the Path

2018 Winter Solstice Ceremony
La Sarmiento and Alli Mosehauer perform dharma spoof songs for the 2018 IMCW Solstice Celebration, followed by a candle light ceremony with Tara and the Insight Meditation Community of Washington (IMCW) community.

Part 2 – Healing Anxiety – How Meditation Frees Us
Anxiety and the fear of failure is a pervasive suffering around the world. It is also increasing—along with the pace of life, over-consuming, addiction, noise, polarization and fears for our planet. How do we calm ourselves in a way that brings inner freedom and serves the...

Three Attitudes that Nourish a Liberating Practice
CC ~ A key spiritual inquiry is, “In this moment, what most serves awakening?” Rather than a particular style of meditation practice, it is our way of relating to our experience – our attitude – that frees our hearts. This talk explores the attitudes that are an expression of...

Part 1 – Healing Anxiety – How Meditation Frees Us
Anxiety and the fear of failure is a pervasive suffering around the world. It is also increasing—along with the pace of life, over-consuming, addiction, noise, polarization and fears for our planet. How do we calm ourselves in a way that brings inner freedom and serves the...

Authentic Thanks Giving
CC ~ How do we awaken our natural capacities for gratitude and generosity? This talk explores the pathways of honest presence and purposeful cultivation, and offers several reflections that guide us in contacting and expressing our love. On cold evenings my grandmother,...

Survival of the Nurtured – Our Path to Belonging
“We are not the survival of the fittest. We are the survival of the nurtured.”— Louis Cozolino [CC] ~ We flourish when nurtured with love and understanding. Yet for so many, the violence of our society and lack of attuned caretakers has severed trust and belonging. This talk...

Part 2 – The Jewel in the Lotus: Cultivating Compassion
The compassion that arises from mindful awareness can heal our inner wounds, interpersonal conflict and the suffering in our world. These two talks focus on cultivating self-compassion and compassion for others. They look at the blocks to compassion and accessible powerful...

Worrier Pose – Finding Freedom from the Body of Fear (retreat talk)
While fear is a natural part of our make up, many of us suffering when the “on” button gets jammed. This talk looks at how our fears generate habitual patterns of physical tension, anxious thinking, emotions and behaviors; and how this constellation prevents us from inhabiting...

Part 1 – The Jewel in the Lotus: Cultivating Compassion
The compassion that arises from mindful awareness can heal our inner wounds, interpersonal conflict and the suffering in our world. These two talks focus on cultivating self-compassion and compassion for others. They look at the blocks to compassion and accessible powerful...

Part 2: Rewiring for Happiness and Freedom
The Buddha said, “I would not be teaching this (a path of awakening) if genuine happiness and freedom were not possible.” While this is our potential, we each have deep conditioning to get stuck in feelings of fear, deficiency and separation from others. These talks explore the...

Part 1: Rewiring for Happiness and Freedom
The Buddha said, “I would not be teaching this (a path of awakening) if genuine happiness and freedom were not possible.” While this is our potential, we each have deep conditioning to get stuck in feelings of fear, deficiency and separation from others. These talks explore the...

The Sacred Pause
Transcript now available: The Sacred Pause CC ~ When we are lost in the trance of doing, our lives are on automatic, and contracted by sense that something’s wrong or missing. This talk explores the challenges of learning to pause, and the blessings that arise when step out of...

Part 2: Impermanence – Awakening Through Insecurity
From the view of the separate self, this existence is inherently uncertain, and we are profoundly vulnerable. Our habitual reaction to insecurity fuels separation, and limits our capacity to live and love fully. These two talks explore the blessings of wisdom, love and freedom...

Part 1: Impermanence – Awakening Through Insecurity
From the view of the separate self, this existence is inherently uncertain, and we are profoundly vulnerable. Our habitual reaction to insecurity fuels separation, and limits our capacity to live and love fully. These two talks explore the blessings of wisdom, love and freedom...

Part 2: Awakening through Anger – The U-Turn to Freedom (from archives)
While we have strong conditioning to react to aggression with more aggression, we have the capacity to pause, and instead deepen attention and connect to our natural wisdom and empathy. This talk looks at how we can directly engage in this evolutionary adaptation when we...

Part 1: Awakening through Anger – The U-Turn to Freedom (from archives)
Anger is naturally triggered when we feel an obstacle to meeting our needs. How do we honor the intelligence within anger, but not get hijacked into emotional reactivity that creates suffering in our individual and collective lives? This talk explores the U-turn that enables us...

Part 2: Vulnerability, Intimacy, & Spiritual Awakening
We each live with uncertainty and the fear of rejection and loss, and we each are conditioned to avoid feeling or expressing that vulnerability. Yet intimacy with this unlived life is the gateway to connecting authentically with others, full aliveness and spiritual realization....

Part 1: Vulnerability, Intimacy, & Spiritual Awakening
We each live with uncertainty and the fear of rejection and loss, and we each are conditioned to avoid feeling or expressing that vulnerability. Yet intimacy with this unlived life is the gateway to connecting authentically with others, full aliveness and spiritual realization....

Discovering the Power of Prayer
We all know the pain of separation and have a longing for connection. When we silently listen to and contact the depth of that longing, we are at the root of transformational prayer. This talk looks at what prayer is, who/what we are praying to, the shadow side of prayer, and...

Part 2: Healing Depression with Meditation
Most people get depressed at times, and many suffer greatly from bouts of major depression. At the heart of the suffering is the experience of severed belonging—of being imprisoned in the pain of separation, unworthiness, unlovability and hopelessness. These two talks explore...
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