Talks: Reflections on the Path
“The intimacy that arises in listening and speaking truth is only possible if we can open to the vulnerability of our own hearts. Breathing in, contacting the life that is right here, is our first step. Once we have held ourselves with kindness, we can touch others in a vital and healing way.”
Compassion for All Living Beings
We often talk of widening the circles of compassion. This talk explores the qualities of mature compassion, what blocks us from this embodied and inclusive caring, and how each of us can awaken a heart that responds to our world’s suffering. This event was live-streamed and...
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...
Making the Whole World Your Friend
A wonderful translation of the Pali word Metta is friendliness. This talk looks at friendliness through an evolutionary lens, and explores ways we can cultivate a more open heart. https://www.youtube.com/embed/4VF44i1y95o
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Part 2: Refuge in the Wilderness – Coming Home to Embodied Presence
When we live from our mental control towers, we are in a trance that confines our life. These two talks look at the primary ways we are conditioned to leave embodied presence, and the consequence of unlived life—being cut off from our vitality, intelligence and compassion. We...
Part 1: Refuge in the Wilderness – Coming Home to Embodied Presence
When we live from our mental control towers, we are in a trance that confines our life. These two talks look at the primary ways we are conditioned to leave embodied presence, and the consequence of unlived life—being cut off from our vitality, intelligence and compassion. We...
The RAIN of Forgiveness
The capacity to release the armoring of hatred and blame is intrinsic to our evolving consciousness. This talk explores the process of authentic forgiveness, and how we can use the mindfulness-based tool of RAIN to heal and free our hearts. • More Resources on RAIN:...
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How to Stop the War Against Yourself – A conversation with Tara Brach & Dan Harris
It’s possible to actually be addicted to self-criticism, especially as a way to keep yourself safe. But evidence shows that rather than safety, this pervasive habit in our society creates deep suffering. This conversation between Tara and Dan Harris dives into strategies to...
Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness – The Power of Self-Nurturing
Download the free PDF: While we all need to customize meditation, this is particularly important for those living with PTSD or strong, potentially overwhelming emotions. This talk explores how trauma cuts us off from wholeness, and is accompanied by a deep and painful...
Meditation, Psychedelics, Mortality: A conversation with Tara Brach and Roland Griffiths
Roland is a long-term meditator, a psychopharmacologist and professor at Johns Hopkins, and a leader in researching the clinical effects of psychedelics, including their impact on those struggling with cancer, depression or addiction. At the end of 2021, he discovered he had...
Trusting the Gold – Realizing Our Basic Goodness
Can you imagine a world where humans are able to look at each other and all of life, and see the light of the sacred shining through? This talk explores our potential for trusting the love and awareness that animate our living world. We investigate the suffering of othering,...
Realizing Your Deepest Intention
The Buddha taught that this whole life - including our thoughts, feelings and actions - arise from the tip of intention. While our intentions are usually marbled with wanting and fear, when intention comes into the light of consciousness, it unfolds into its most pure essence....
Freedom Beyond Selfing
Freedom Beyond Selfing We spend many moments in a trance of selfing - preoccupied with the stories, wants and fears of what feels to be a separate self. The suffering is that this self-fixation obscures the depth and mystery of our being. In this talk we explore how to relate...
IntraConnected – Part 2: Conversation with Tara and Dan Siegel
IntraConnected – Part 2: Conversation with Tara and Dan Siegel - In this conversation, Tara interviews Dan about the themes in his new book, "IntraConnected." They explore how our identity gets formed, and the profound healing and freedom that come with widening our sense of...
IntraConnected – Part 1: Conversation with Tara and Dan Siegel
IntraConnected – Part 1: Conversation with Tara and Dan Siegel - In this conversation, Tara interviews Dan about the themes in his new book, "IntraConnected." They explore how our identity gets formed, and the profound healing and freedom that come with widening our sense of...
Emptiness Dancing: Inquiring into the Nature of Awareness (retreat talk)
Our True Nature - Emptiness Dancing (retreat talk) 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. This...
Tara and Mingyur Rinpoche in Conversation: Embracing Life and Realizing the Nature of Awareness
In this interview, Mingyur Rinpoche shares about his 4 1/2 years on a wandering retreat and the lessons he learned from a near-death experience. The two then talk about what it means to befriend panic as well as other strong emotions, and the qualities that express our...
A Grateful, Giving, Happy Heart
Gratitude is like breathing in - letting ourselves be touched by the goodness in others and in our world. Generosity is like breathing out - sensing our mutual belonging and offering our care. When we are awake and whole, breathing in and out happens naturally. But these...
The Calling of These Times – Part 2
The Dalai Lama invites us to trust in the power of heart and awareness to awake through all circumstances. What does that look like in the midst of our current global crises? These two talks explore what these times are drawing forward in us individually and collectively, and...
The Calling of These Times – Part 1
The Dalai Lama invites us to trust in the power of heart and awareness to awake through all circumstances. What does that look like in the midst of our current global crises? These two talks explore what these times are drawing forward in us individually and collectively, and...
Three Practices for Nurturing Wise Hope
Wise or spiritual hope includes the aspiration to manifest our full potential, individually and collectively, and the trust that this is possible. This talk explores how, especially in stressful times, this hope gets clouded over by fear; and how when it is alive, wise hope...