Talks: Reflections on the Path

Listening to the Song – Part 1

Listening to the Song – Part 1

Listening is more than a communications skill, it is a capacity that awakens our awareness. As we learn to listen inwardly, we begin to understand and care for the life that is here. And as we listen to others, that same intimacy emerges. In this two-part series we examine the...

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Being Truthful

Being Truthful

  CC   ~ The grounds of happiness, loving relationships and a just and flourishing society is honesty. And yet our current times are characterized by a plethora of deception - both societally, and often in more subtle ways, in our personal lives. This talk examines the deep...

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Trusting Our Awakening Heart

Trusting Our Awakening Heart

The more we trust that our awareness and heart are awakening, the more we find ease, grace and true empowerment in our lives. This talk explores two pathways of deepening our sense of belonging and trust: direct presence with the pain of separation, and turning toward the...

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Love, and Death (Retreat Talk)

Love, and Death (Retreat Talk)

To live our lives fully, we need to embrace the natural unfolding of birthing and dying. Yet we are deeply conditioned to resist loss, to pull away from fear and grief. Through a powerful Inuit story, Skeleton Woman, shared by Clarissa Estes, this talk explores how our...

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Your Awake Heart Is Calling You

Your Awake Heart Is Calling You

As individuals and societies, we are pulled by both the insecurity of our evolutionary past, and by our awake heart, our capacity for mindfulness and compassion. This talk explores the ways we can listen to and respond to the call of our awake heart, by training ourselves to...

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Dissolving Trance with RAIN

Dissolving Trance with RAIN

One of the pervasive expressions of trance is identifying with a limited and separate sense of self.  This talk contrasts the self-trance to our intrinsically open, awake and loving awareness. We then explore how the mindfulness and self-compassion in the RAIN practice can...

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Refuge in Truth, Love and Awareness

Refuge in Truth, Love and Awareness

The three archetypal refuges of truth, love and awareness are interweaving pathways home found in most spiritual traditions. This talk looks at our habitual pursuit of substitutes to feel happy, and reflects on how we awaken through each true refuge. The talk ends with a living...

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Don’t Know Mind – Stepping Out of the Trance of Thinking

Don’t Know Mind – Stepping Out of the Trance of Thinking

Don't Know Mind ~ (a talk from June 10, 2009) Thoughts, and more broadly, conceptual knowledge, cannot lead to the direct realization of truth, of reality. While thoughts are an essential part of surviving and thriving, spiritual awakening only becomes possible when we step out...

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The Revolution of Tenderness – Part 2

The Revolution of Tenderness – Part 2

These two talks explore our capacity to be tender - sensitive and responsive to ourselves and others. This capacity marks a radical evolutionary shift from a self-centered existence shaped by fear, to a life lived from the realization of our collective belonging and the...

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The Revolution of Tenderness – Part I

The Revolution of Tenderness – Part I

The Revolution of Tenderness - Part I ~ A two-talk series explores our capacity to be tender - sensitive and responsive to ourselves and others. This capacity marks a radical evolutionary shift from a self-centered existence shaped by fear, to a life lived from the realization...

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Spiritual Reparenting

Spiritual Reparenting

CC  ~ When we are not sufficiently nurtured in childhood, we are inclined toward anxiety, depression, addiction and other forms of suffering. In a deep way, we do not feel at home with others. We are disconnected from our own body, heart and spirit. This talk explores how...

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Trusting the Gold (retreat talk)

Trusting the Gold (retreat talk)

When we are unaware of the emotions and beliefs that shape our experience, we are in a trance characterized by an identity as a separate, incomplete self. Trance obscures the awareness and love that is our deepest essence. This talk explores the two key pathways of awakening...

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The Wings of Awakening – Self-Honesty & Love (retreat talk)

The Wings of Awakening – Self-Honesty & Love (retreat talk)

We evolve our consciousness by bringing a clear and kind attention to the tangles of suffering. This talk explores how the "second arrow" of self-judgment imprisons us in emotional reactivity, and the pathways of awakening awareness that reconnect us with our full human...

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Awakening Consciousness in Shadowy Times – Part 2

Awakening Consciousness in Shadowy Times – Part 2

Awakening Consciousness in Shadowy Times - Part 2 - The shadow is the unfaced, unlived fears and emotional pain in our individual and collective psyche. When not brought into awareness it expresses as “no” - the anger, aggression, hopelessness and cynicism that is resisting and...

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Awakening Consciousness in Shadowy Times (Part 1)

Awakening Consciousness in Shadowy Times (Part 1)

Awakening Consciousness in Shadowy Times - Part 1 On both individual and societal levels, suffering arises from the unseen, unfelt parts of our psyche. This talk looks at two interrelated ways of practice that help us to awaken from a limiting self-sense characterized by...

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