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.”
The Courage to Say Yes – A Conversation with Tara and poet, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
I ran across acclaimed poet, Rosemerry Trommer, several years ago in a volume where she shares about the loss of her son, Finn, who took his life at age 16. I had never read anything on grieving that touched me so deeply, that held so much wisdom, such a deep affirmation of...
The Sacred Work of Bridging Divides – Teachings from Roshi Joan Halifax and Tara Brach
There is no more relevant exploration than how we awaken to our connection as family, as belonging to this precious web of life. In their talks, Tara and Roshi Joan look at the cause of divides and their healing through wise contemplation, courageous engagement and the power of...
Waking up from Bias: A Conversation with Tara and Anurag (Anu) Gupta
Given how our biases create separation and unfold into violence and suffering, this is a crucial domain for each of us to explore. In this interview, author and teacher Anurag Gupta offers his wise perspectives and invites Tara to share some of what she has learned in...
Donations
Please consider a donation of any size—your generosity allows us to offer these talks and meditations freely.
Inner and Outer Democracy: The Practice of True Inclusion
Happiness and freedom arise as we include all parts of our being in a loving awareness. In this talk we explore how this inner work of inclusion is the grounds of democracy, and how it enables us to participate in our relationships and society in a way that fosters...
What is Love Asking from Us? A Conversation between Tara Brach & Gabor Maté
In this conversation, Tara Brach and Gabor Maté come together to explore the heart-wrenching situation in Gaza through the lens of the Bodhisattva path. Drawing from the Bodhisattva path - the commitment to alleviate suffering for all beings - they explore the importance of...
Trusting Your Basic Goodness: Part 2
This talk continues the exploration of what causes our distrust of ourselves, others and life, and the pathways to realizing and trusting who we are. We explore the steps of awakening from limiting beliefs, dissolving the resistance to direct embodied presence, and discovering...
Free 40-Day Program
Create a life-changing meditation practice.
Ready to Nourish Your Practice?
Check out Tara’s “8 Essentials” Tipsheet
Trusting the Gold (retreat talk)
This talk looks at how our upbringing and culture lead us to mistrust who we are and become identified as a separate, deficient self. We then explore the practices of presence and self-inquiry that turn us toward the openness, tenderness and wakefulness of our Being. Our trust...
Compassion Towards All: Moving toward a Plant Based Diet
For most of human history it’s been “normal” to eat non-human animals. This is now changing. We are awakening to the massive suffering of the billions of animals killed each day for food, the horrors of the animal-food industry, and the impact it has on climate change (second...
Conscious Prayer – Finding Refuge in Loving Awareness (retreat talk)
Prayer is a communing with our enlarged being. This talk examines less conscious forms of prayer, and how we can evolve the power of our prayers by opening into the depth of our longing, and reaching toward our true belonging (from the 2016 IMCW Spring Retreat). How I yearn to...
Forgiveness: Releasing Ourselves and Others from Aversive Blame – Part 2
Rumi invites us to find the barriers we’ve erected against love, and a universal one is blame. These three talks are an invitation to relax those barriers, and to open our hearts to our inner life and to all beings. Part I focuses on chronic self-judgment; Part 2 on the places...
Equanimity: A Heart That is Ready for Anything (Duck Meditation)
Equanimity is the quality of presence that is open, balanced and non-reactive. As this talk explores, when equanimity is lacking, we become easily lost in trance, identified as a defended and controlling egoic self. When present, the solidity and constriction of egoic self...
Forgiveness: Releasing Ourselves and Others from Aversive Blame – Part 1
Rumi invites us to find the barriers we’ve erected against love, and a universal one is blame. These three talks are an invitation to relax those barriers, and to open our hearts to our inner life and to all beings. Part 1 focuses on chronic self-judgment; Part 2 on the places...
Beyond the Controlling Self – Part 2
It’s natural that we do what we can to ward off danger and further ourselves. While our control strategies – such as aggression, judging, planning, seeking approval, pretending – have a developmental role, they are not a recipe for happiness, intimacy and freedom. An essential...
Beyond the Controlling Self – Part 1
It’s natural that we do what we can to ward off danger and further ourselves. While our control strategies - such as aggression, judging, planning, seeking approval, pretending - have a developmental role, they are not a recipe for happiness, intimacy and freedom. An essential...
The Four Remembrances
When we attune to the reality of impermanence and death, we remember what most matters to us. But in daily life we can lose precious swaths of time in a reactive trance, on our way somewhere else, and lost in problem solving, judgment and worry. This talk reflects on four...
Embodied Presence: Portal to the Sacred – Part 2
This two part series explores how we regularly leave our body and skim life’s surface in a mental trance, and the ways we can train our attention to come home again. We look at working with physical and emotional pain, and the gifts of love, wisdom, creativity and aliveness...
Embodied Presence: Portal to the Sacred – Part 1
This two part series explores how we regularly leave our body and skim life’s surface in a mental trance, and the ways we can train our attention to come home again. We look at working with physical and emotional pain, and the gifts of love, wisdom, creativity and aliveness...
Tara Talks: Compassion toward Non-Human Animals (11:39 min.)
Tara Talks: Compassion for Non-Human Animals For thousands of years humans have become accustomed to de-valuing, exploiting and violating non-human animals. This unseen bias of speciesism continues to create horrific suffering for billions of sentient beings each year, and...
Navigating Conflict with a Wise Heart – Part 2
Navigating Conflict with a Wise Heart – Part 2 This series of talks offers guidance in transforming conflict into a portal for awakening your understanding, flexibility and compassion. We look at how to heal our own unmet needs and not be dependent on others changing; and how...
Navigating Conflict with a Wise Heart – Part 1
This series of talks offers guidance in transforming conflict into a portal for awakening your understanding, flexibility and compassion. We look at how to heal our own unmet needs and not be dependent on others changing; and how to engage with another person when both are...