InsightLA: Recent Episodes
InsightLA
Recent Dharma talks given at InsightLA by senior teachers. Find more at http://insightla.azurewebsites.net.
Grieving is hard work -- even physically in a way we don’t anticipate. When my wasband George and I got divorced, there was real pain in my chest. My heart was literally aching, like a broken bone.
The time it takes to recover from intense grief can be longer than most people expect. Other people get impatient with the process and don’t want to talk about it anymore, while for the bereaved the pain of loss and impermanence are always front and center.
Compassion is feeling the pain of another with the wish to alleviate their suffering. The most important thing we can do to help is to be able to sit quietly and simply bewith the grieving, holding the grief in the tender arms of loving awareness. Offering kindness, company, and caring helps heal great sadness. Then, moments of joy can emerge in the midst of sorrow, along with poignant appreciation for the life and love of the person who is now gone.
Before she became a Zen nun, Rengetsu buried two husbands and all five of her children. She expressed her feelings in poetry:
The impermanence of this floating world I feel over and over It is hardest to be the one left behind. This talk is also presented in video here: http://insightla.azurewebsites.net/Talks/Talk/TalkID/150
Please join InsightLA's founding teacher, Trudy Goodman, for 12 minute guided meditation on forgiveness.
Please join InsightLA founding teacher, Trudy Goodmam, for a 12 minute guided meditation on forgiveness. This talk is also presented in video here: http://insightla.azurewebsites.net/Talks/Talk/TalkID/149
Learn to be present in the here and now in this short, simple and clear guided meditation. Perfect for those struggling in their practice with maintaining focus on the breath, as well as for those who suffer chronic pain.
"Discover a way of being with experience that really helps."
Connect with the Earth and realign your energies in this brief but powerful grounding practice. A natural way to build and develop self-confidence and an unshakable sense of your place in the family of things.
"Anytime, no matter what's going on, you can take a moment to feel your feet on the ground, to feel where you body is in space and to check in."
"Taking these few minutes to be grounded in the present moment can actually open the door to feeling even better than you already were before you gave yourself the gift to of these moments."
Calming the monkey mind can sometimes feel impossible, but this ten minute introductory practice will teach you how to do just that. Get the tools you need to find balance, focus, steadiness, and peace in the midst of life's little setbacks and learn how to show up for your life with resilience, kindness, and heart.
"Listen to the sound of the bell all the way to its vanishing point as a bridge from...noise and busyness into a feeling of quiet, of stillness."
"Being with the breath is a way to connect, deeply, with your own aliveness."
Breathe confidence into your practice and courage into your life by learning to be with whatever experience life brings you. This fifteen minute offering to yourself is the perfect way to tap into your own aliveness in an energizing and inspiring way.
"And when you follow the out-breath all the way to the end, it can draw you into a moment of stillness...by practicing in this way, over and over again, the breath can become a rudder to navigate the ups and downs of life with just a little bit more peacefulness, trust, and clarity."
"Clearly knowing how it is for you right now -- and that however it is, it's not a mistake -- this is the truth of the moment. It couldn't be any other way. You couldn't be any other way than how you are right now. There is no right or wrong way to be; the beauty of this practice is what's happening right now, who and how you are, is exactly the way it was meant to be simply because it is...simply because it's so."
Dharma Talk by Senior Teacher Beth Sternlieb at InsightLA's Spring Retreat.
The redwood tree is the Dharma, we plant the redwood next to our house, suddenly the Dharma overtakes ourselves and we become Dharma centered instead of self-centered. What is the quality of the mindstates? Within the Four Noble Truths and the Eighfold Path is Wise Effort. Beth Sternlieb discusses the 4 Wise Efforts that the The Buddha taught for guide us in our practice toward the end of suffering.
Surprise guest George Mumford stops by to lead a dharma talk about joy. Not just appreciative joy, but the joy of discovery; how things work.
Trudy Goodman leads a dharma talk about the Maitreya Buddha; being selfless love and compassion and how that plays a part in our lives.
Senior Teacher leads a dharma talk about the legend of the buddha in relation to him meeting the 'Heavenly Messengers'.
Trudy Goodman, Sydney Reece, and Joslyn Hitter lead a dharma talk on the topic of power. Trudy describes the importance in the power of presence.
Before we can extend love and compassion towards others, we need to be able to offer it to ourselves. This 20 minute guided meditation offers several strategies for including ourselves in our field of kindness and caring.
Joslyn Hitter leads a dharma discussion on the topic of race; reflecting on the meaning of white privelage.
Joslyn Hitter leads a dharma discussion on the topic of race; reflecting on the meaning of white privelage.
This is topic 2 of the 4 part series, The 4 Unmentionables: Sex. Money, Power & Race Series. Trudy Goodman and Sydney Reece lead this Sunday's dharma talk discussion, the topic of sex.
Sex isn't spiritual, or is it? Mindfulness can be aware of anything, no matter what the content.
This is part 1 of the 4 part series, The 4 Unmentionables: Sex. Money, Power & Race Series led by Trudy Goodman, Joslyn Hitter, and Sydney Reece. This dharma talk is the morning portion of the discussion of money.
As Trudy mentions, the topic of money almost alwasy makes people squeamish, but if we look at it through the lens of the Buddha, we may be able to shift our perspective.
Trudy Goodman talks about celebrating the incredible mystery of our birth and how we all come here. We all come in to this world blessed with the gift of life; how do we hold it and how do we appreciate it?
We were joined by NY Times bestselling author and intuitive psychiatrist, Dr Judith Orloff along with author and psychotherapist, Dr. Ronald Alexander for an evening discussion on how emotions, intuition, empathy and creativity can awaken a mindful inner voice allowing you to harness your sensitivities without becoming drained or going on overload.
Allow the breath to breath itself in this soothing exercise and explore different ways to warm up your experience and practice. A perfect way to experience, afresh, the silence, simplicity, and loving affection at your radiant core.
Feed yourself the love you need. In this creative guided visualization. Dr. Christiane Wolf teaches you how to fine tune your practice to provide the precise soul-medicine to heal whatever it is you are going through. This meditation will be particularly powerful for those who have been struggling with keeping their attention on their breath, or for those who could use a fresh infusion of vitamin C for their spirit.
“Imagine a quality that would feel lovely to receive…Now imagine that quality all around you in the air. Feed yourself this quality on the breath the way you feed yourself oxygen…this quality rides along the oxygen molecule. Soak it up.”
Find a nice, quiet space to get comfortable, lie on your back, and sink into the floor as your are invited to send healing waves of warmth and kindness flowing to each part of your body. In this guided experience, you will learn how to shine your awareness like a flashlight and to anchor yourself right where you are. This Lovingkindness Body Scan will be particularly powerful for those who need a little extra attention to an area that may be in pain.
“May your foot be happy. May your foot be at ease.”
Tap into the natural brightness and buoyancy at the center of your being by practicing loving kindness for yourself. This brief -- and deeply personal -- guided experience will help to anchor yourself in a glowing present.
“May I know that I am good enough.”
Jack Kornfield joins Trudy Goodman during this Sunday Sitting Group to talk more about quieting the mind and tending the heart. He goes on to say that with very simple training, we are able to shift our identity from being caught in the contents of our thought and the reactivity in our habits and unconsciousness, that guide a lot of the world.
Jon spent the day drawing on his revolutionary work in health, education, science, business and the arts, Jon's teachings offer guidance and inspiration for experienced practitioners and those new to Mindfulness alike.
John Lockley joins us to discuss humanity, mindfulness, and love. He goes on to say that life isn't "I, my, me", we are all in this together. John's beliefs are grounded in ubuntu, a word from the Nguni language meaning a quality that includes the essential human virtues; compassion and humanity.
In this inspired teaching on metta, Senior Teacher Beth Sternlieb explores the architecture of lovingkindness through the cartography of starlight, likening the generation of metta to the light from long-dead stars that still illuminate the Heavens. A moving portrait of the universe and both the inner and outer space that comprise it, this combined talk and guided practice will reframe your understanding of the power of thought and good intention.
“It is actually the wisdom of the intention - NOT the feeling — that is the beauty of the practice.”
“The circles of being that we pray for have their own circles who depend on them and upon whom they are dependent widening out in every direction, all beings, everywhere without exception."
Special guest Larry Yang joined the Sunday Sitting Group this day and discussed his new book, "Awakening Together: The Spiritual Practice of Inclusivity and Community."
He goes on to talk about beauty being that which leads to freedom. Beautiful is not alwasy pleasant or easy. Beautiful is that which leads to less suffering.
The Buddha teaches friendship is the whole path. This includes friendship with our self.
What is friendship? What is the nature of the path? Being friends with ourselves is at the heart of our practice.
In this somatically balancing guided meditation, Senior Teacher Diana Gould expertly guides your attention to the plurality of subtle body sensations percolating beneath the level of conscious contemplation. A powerful way of bringing awareness to the energetic field of your body, this practice will help deepen and broaden your experience of the Now….and is a technique you can take with you and practice anytime, anywhere.
Through telling the story of Buddha's wife, Tere reminds us that we are not alone, we are all interconnected.
In this Dharma talk, Jack describes mindfulness as a way to feel and see both the sorrows and the beauties in the world. Mindfulness isn't a way to not feel. He says, that sometimes not speaking up is more harmful than anything you could do.
Christiane Wolf discusses the thought and hypothesis that everything that we are doing is a reaction to something. She raises the question, “how do I want to show up in this life?”
Experience the body beyond the breath in this powerful guided meditation. This creative and invigorating practice invites you to re-experience your subtle anatomy as a shimmering field of sensation — a radically new way to anchor yourself in the immediate experience of the here and now.
“There is an immediate experience of sensation - this river of sensation -- and that immediate experience of sensation is where we learn to rest our attention when we are practicing mindfulness of the body.”
Reset your clock and recharge your battery with this soothing lovingkindness meditation. This practice is designed to guide your awareness inward and teach you to tap into the limitless inner reserves of freedom and ease at the center of your being.
Tuck your To-Do List away and press pause on your day by turning your attention inward for twenty five minutes of contemplative calm. No matter how wild the winds, this gently guided meditation will help you soften the rough edges of your present situation, resting in this moment, using your breath as an anchor.
“Sit up straight right in the midst of experience unfolding…moment to moment.”