Videos Archives - Tara Brach: Recent Episodes
Videos Archives - Tara Brach
What does it truly mean to say Namaste?
In this talk, we’ll look at the deeper invitation behind this ancient greeting—not merely as a gesture, but as a living practice of recognizing the sacred essence within ourselves and one another. When we learn to look beyond fear, judgment, and the stories we carry about ourselves and others, we begin to remember our shared basic goodness. When we pause long enough to truly see one another, we nourish the possibility of compassion—not only in our relationships, but in the collective heart of humanity.
Together, we’ll explore:
– The deeper meaning of Namaste
– Seeing beyond the “small self” and conditioned identity
– Awakening to our shared basic goodness
– Transforming judgment through mindful awareness
– Bringing compassion into difficult relationships
– Living with greater reverence, belonging, and love
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What is the difference between having goals and living from aspiration? How do we respond when fear takes over? What if self-compassion feels impossible? How do we forgive ourselves, navigate profound grief, heal from trauma, or rediscover joy in practice?
In this first Ask Me Anything session, Tara responds to heartfelt questions from our global community, exploring many of the challenges that touch us most deeply. Together we investigate how mindfulness and compassion help us meet fear, shame, loss, trauma, illness, and uncertainty—not by escaping our experience, but by discovering the awareness and love that can hold it all.
These reflections are offered as practical guidance and as an invitation to trust the innate wisdom and tenderness that live within each of us.
The post Ask Me Anything (Part 1): Fear, Self-Compassion, Grief, Trauma & Awakening appeared first on Tara Brach.
The stories we believe shape the life we experience—but they are not the truth of who we are.
In this talk, the second of a two-part series, we explore how fear-based narratives create separation, anxiety, and suffering, and how mindfulness allows us to recognize these stories without becoming trapped inside them. When we learn to meet the vulnerable feelings beneath our thoughts with compassionate awareness, we begin to rediscover the freedom, wisdom, and love of our true nature.
In this talk you’ll discover:
-Why our thoughts are maps of reality—not reality itself
-How fear-based stories create suffering in our relationships and inner life
-The practice of recognizing limiting narratives with mindfulness
-Why healing comes from meeting the emotions beneath our stories with compassion
-How presence reveals the innate goodness and belonging that no story can diminish
Drawing on psychology, neuroscience, contemplative practice, and moving stories from teachers including Desmond Tutu, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Hafez, this talk offers practical guidance for loosening the grip of self-judgment and awakening to the spacious awareness that is our deepest home.
Listen to Part 1 Here
The post Stories That Imprison Our Heart – Part 2 appeared first on Tara Brach.
Much of our suffering begins not with reality itself, but with the stories we believe about ourselves, others, and the world. In this first talk of a two-part series, I explore how unconscious narratives—shaped by fear, conditioning, and past experience—can imprison the heart and keep us feeling separate, defensive, or unworthy. Through mindfulness and compassion, we can begin to recognize these stories, loosen their grip, and awaken to the freedom of our true nature.
In this talk, Tara explores:
– How fear-based stories shape our identity and relationships
– Why the “storytelling mind” is both essential and limiting
– Recognizing the unconscious beliefs that create suffering
– The healing power of mindful awareness and self-compassion
– How love helps us release old narratives and rediscover belonging
This teaching offers practical reflections for anyone longing to move beyond self-judgment, heal old conditioning, and live with greater freedom, authenticity, and connection.
May this exploration support you in seeing beyond the stories that keep the heart small, and in remembering the boundless awareness and love that are your deepest nature.
Listen to Part 2 Here
The post Stories That Imprison Our Heart – Part 1 appeared first on Tara Brach.
Physical pain is part of being human—but suffering arises from how we relate to it. In this talk, we’ll explore how mindfulness and compassion can transform our relationship with pain, helping us move from fear and resistance toward freedom, presence, and peace.
Whether you’re living with chronic pain, recovering from illness, navigating emotional suffering, or simply meeting the inevitable challenges of life, this teaching offers practical guidance for discovering greater spaciousness and resilience. Rather than waiting for life to be free of discomfort, we can learn to inhabit this moment with an open heart.
In this talk we’ll look at:
– The difference between pain and suffering
– How resistance intensifies physical and emotional pain
– The Buddhist teaching of the “second arrow”
– Mindfulness practices for working with chronic pain
– How awareness, kindness, and spaciousness reduce suffering
– Practical ways to meet discomfort with compassion instead of fear
– Ways that pain can become a portal to presence, healing, and freedom
When we stop fighting our experience and begin meeting it with mindful presence, we discover a larger awareness that can hold even life’s greatest challenges. In that openness, pain no longer defines us—it becomes part of the dance of being fully alive.
Resource: Meditation on Working with Pain
Find more: Resources: Working with Pain – Mindfulness Strategies
The post The Dance with Pain appeared first on Tara Brach.
Many of us carry a deep sense that something is wrong with us—that we are not enough, not lovable, or somehow disconnected from belonging. Yet beneath these conditioned beliefs lives a natural capacity for healing, wisdom, and love.
In this talk, I explore the practice of Spiritual Reparenting—bringing the qualities of mindful awareness and compassion to the wounded places within us. Through stories, reflections, and practical guidance, we discover how to meet our fears, shame, loneliness, and unmet needs with the same presence and care that every child longs to receive.
Together we’ll explore:
✨ Why feeling truly seen and loved is essential for healing and awakening
✨ How early wounds create patterns of separation, self-judgment, and reactivity
✨ The transformative question: “Where does it hurt?”
✨ How mindfulness and compassion help us reconnect with our deepest belonging
✨ Ways to offer ourselves the loving presence that allows healing to unfold naturally
This talk is an invitation to move beyond the trance of separation and remember the truth of who we are: connected, awake, and held within a larger field of love. As we learn to meet ourselves with understanding and kindness, we become more able to bring that same healing presence to our relationships and to our world.
photo: Janet
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Most of us know what it is like to feel emotionally reactive—hurt by others, overwhelmed by circumstances, horrified by what is unfolding in our world, betrayed by our own body, hijacked by our mind. In those moments, we can become identified with a small and vulnerable self—a victim self who feels at the mercy of forces larger than us.
In this talk, we will examine how we become trapped in this often unconscious pattern, personally and collectively, and how it leaves us fearful, isolated, and cut off from our natural power. We’ll then explore how the wings of mindfulness and compassion can carry us beyond that trance, revealing the freedom, love, and aliveness of our true nature.
The post Waking Up from the Victim Trance appeared first on Tara Brach.
Pick up your copy of The Courageous Heart Workbook at your favorite bookseller, or order online here.
In a recent conversation on Tami Simon’s podcast Insights at the Edge, Tara and Tami reflected on themes from The Courageous Heart Workbook: Choosing to Love in Perilous Times. As many know, Tami is an exceptional interviewer, and the dialogue opened into questions that feel deeply relevant for these times.
What does it mean to be bodhisattvas—to be awakening beings and caring beings—in a world marked by uncertainty and division? What is being asked of us now?
The conversation touched on the deeper meaning of courage, the relationship between spiritual practice and engagement with the world, and the ways spirituality can sometimes become a means of avoiding what most needs our attention and care. It also explored how we can actively choose love, recognize our shared basic goodness, and shift from the busyness of the mind into a more awake and connected heart.
It was a rich and heartfelt exploration, offering reflections and practices to support a more open, courageous, and engaged way of being in our world.
The post Living with a Courageous Heart: Tami Simon in Conversation with Tara Brach appeared first on Tara Brach.
Equanimity unfolds as we find a wise balance and spaciousness in the midst of this living, dying world.
This series reflects on four primary expressions of an awake, wise heart: lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. In each talk we explore the habitual patterning that blocks our full realization of these innate capacities, and the understandings and practices that nurture their unfolding.
In this talk, Tara explores how equanimity—the spacious, awake presence that can hold life just as it is—is an essential foundation for love, compassion, and joy to fully flourish.
Drawing from Buddhist teachings on the Brahmaviharas, we reflect on how equanimity is not indifference or passivity, but a courageous openness that allows us to stay present with pain without hardening into blame or fear. Through stories, poetry, guided reflection, and practical meditation instruction, she invites us to discover the freedom of becoming “the ocean” that can hold all the changing waves of experience with compassion and care.
In this talk, you’ll discover:
- How equanimity creates the inner balance that allows love, compassion, and joy to mature and deepen
- The difference between true equanimity and emotional withdrawal or indifference
- How mindfulness and kindness help us move from reactivity into wise, compassionate presence
- The practice of “being the ocean, not the waves” when facing fear, conflict, or uncertainty
- How equanimity supports healing, courageous action, and a heart that is “ready for anything”
- A guided meditation for working with difficult emotions and relationships with awareness and compassion
This talk is especially supportive for anyone seeking emotional balance, mindfulness, self-compassion, spiritual awakening, healing relationships, and finding peace in uncertain times.
The post Present Heart: The Universal Expressions of Love, Part 4 – Equanimity appeared first on Tara Brach.
In this guided meditation, we explore the healing power of embodied presence—awakening through the living intelligence of the body and relaxing into the spacious awareness that is always here. Together, we gently soften habitual tension, reconnect with the aliveness flowing through the heart and body, and rediscover the stillness that holds all experience with tenderness and care.
Through mindful attention to sensation, breath, and sound, this meditation invites you to step out of the trance of thinking and return to the fullness of the present moment. As awareness opens, we begin to sense the deep peace, compassion, and belonging that emerge when we say “yes” to life just as it is.
This meditation is a supportive practice for:
✨ Stress relief and nervous system regulation
✨ Cultivating mindfulness and present-moment awareness
✨ Relaxing anxiety and overthinking
✨ Deepening self-compassion and inner peace
✨ Reconnecting with the body and awake heart
✨ Spiritual awakening and resting in true nature
The post Meditation: The Space and Aliveness of Presence (22:25 min.) appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 several meditation practices that reconnect us with our natural aliveness, openheartedness and awareness. They empower us to develop our inner resources, energize us to awaken, free us from rumination and remind us that we are not our depressive thoughts and feelings. The growing realization of the loving awareness that is our home heals the very roots of depression.
NOTE: This site is not intended to diagnose or treat any physical or mental health condition. If you are in crisis, or in need of immediate assistance, find help here: https://yourlifecounts.org/find-help/#
The post Part 1: Healing Depression with Meditation appeared first on Tara Brach.
In this rich and heartful conversation, I join two dear Buddhist monks — Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho — who are in the process of founding Clear Mountain Monastery, a new Buddhist community in the Seattle area. Their bright, warm spirit brings a lighthearted and sincere presence to our dialogue, making this exchange a true joy to share.
Together, we explore many dimensions of the spiritual path — including my own journey of finding refuge during a dark time, the teachers who’ve inspired me, and the teachings that most deeply call to my heart.
We also reflect on the practice of RAIN, the dance between directing attention and opening to what’s here, and how compassion and equanimity intertwine to support us in these challenging times.
Along the way, we touch into the Pali word sanook — meaning fun or lightheartedness — which beautifully captures the spirit of our time together.
May this conversation nourish your own trust in the path and remind you of the goodness and joy that are always here, waiting to be discovered.
In this talk, we’ll look at:
- how trusting our basic goodness becomes the foundation for intimacy, creativity, and awakening compassion in a suffering world.
- Tara’s own journey through illness and fear, and how softening around pain opens the heart to freedom and love.
- the power of the RAIN meditation to transform judgment and reactivity into mindful presence and self-acceptance.
- how taking a sacred pause helps us step out of the virtual trance and re-enter embodied awareness and connection
- trusting Buddha-nature — the radiant goodness that shines through all beings — as the ultimate refuge in an unraveling world.
*Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho are part of Clear Mountain Monastery Project, an aspiring Buddhist forest monastery in the Seattle area.
Website: https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ClearMountainMonastery*
The post Trusting the Path: A Conversation on Refuge, Compassion, and Joy, with Tara Brach, Ajahn Kovilo and Ajahn Nisabho appeared first on Tara Brach.
Trust in our basic goodness directly effects our capacity for intimacy with others, creativity and living fully. This talk explores the ways that our caregivers and culture undermine that trust, primarily by giving us messages that we are “not enough” or flawed. We then explore the meditation practices that remind us of our loving hearts, and of the goodness that expresses through others. This remembrance is what nourishes a liberating quality of trust in ourselves and in our life.
Click Here to Listen to Part 1
The post Awakening Trust in a Fractured World, Part 2 appeared first on Tara Brach.
Desire is intrinsic to all living forms – the urge to exist and flourish. It turns to suffering when, due to unmet needs, it contracts, intensifies and separates us from our full aliveness and awareness. These two talks guide us in awakening from this trance, and discovering how within desire is the longing that can carry us to true belonging.
In this talk, Tara explores:
- how the “wanting mind” pulls us away from presence and freedom.
- how unmet needs fuel craving and why substitutes never bring lasting joy.
- the suffering of identifying with desire and how mindfulness offers release.
- using the RAIN practice to recognize, allow, and soften the wanting mind.
- tracing back desire to discover love, belonging, and freedom already here.
All you need is already within you, only you must approach yourself with reverence and love. Self-condemnation and self-distrust are grievous errors. Your constant flight from pain and search for pleasure is a sign of the love you bear for yourself. All I plead with you is this – make love of yourself perfect. Deny yourself nothing. Give yourself infinity and eternity and discover you do not need them. You are beyond. ~ Sri Nisargadatta
Enjoy also – Desire and Addiction (Part 1): Voices of Longing Calling You Home
The post Desire and Addiction: Voices of Longing Calling You Home, Part 2 appeared first on Tara Brach.
This guided meditation invites you to gently come home to the aliveness of the body. Through mindful awareness, you’ll learn to soften tension, release mental agitation, and rest in the simplicity of presence. As you bring a compassionate attention to sensations, you discover a refuge that is always here—an embodied wholeness that allows you to meet life with greater ease and tenderness.
The post Meditation: In the Body (20:29 min.) appeared first on Tara Brach.
Desire is intrinsic to all living forms – the urge to exist and flourish. It turns to suffering when, due to unmet needs, it contracts, intensifies and separates us from our full aliveness and awareness. These two talks guide us in awakening from this trance, and discovering how within desire is the longing that can carry us to true belonging.
In this talk, Tara explores:
- how the “wanting mind” pulls us away from presence and freedom.
- how unmet needs fuel craving and why substitutes never bring lasting joy.
- the suffering of identifying with desire and how mindfulness offers release.
- using the RAIN practice to recognize, allow, and soften the wanting mind.
- tracing back desire to discover love, belonging, and freedom already here.
I want a lot.
Perhaps I want everything
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.
…You have not grown old, and it is not too late
To dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret.”Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God
The post Desire and Addiction: Voices of Longing Calling You Home, Part 1 appeared first on Tara Brach.
When our hearts open to the life that is here, just as it is, we discover vast loving presence. This meditation engages the smile as we scan through and awaken to our body and senses. Then we practice meeting the changing flow of life with a full allowing, wakeful and open awareness.
love is a place
& through this place of
love move
(with brightness of peace)
all placesyes is a world
& in this world of
yes live
(skilfully curled)
all worldse.e. cummings, Love is a Place
The post Meditation: The Blessings of Yes (20:10 min.) appeared first on Tara Brach.
In an age of polarization, conspiracy thinking, and deepening mistrust, how can we cultivate a trust that is wise and healing –for our own heart and the world? This talk explores the personal and collective forces that foster mistrust, and through reflection and applied practices, we’ll explore how to nurture a trust in basic goodness and a felt sense of belonging, even in the most divided times.
Click Here to Listen to Part 2
The post Awakening Trust in a Fractured World, Part 1 appeared first on Tara Brach.
As our societies unravel in fear and reactivity, we are called to live from our most awake and wise heart. This talk and meditation was first offered to Satyam, a community of Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals devoted to creating a future of justice, safety, freedom, and dignity for all. It invites us to move beyond the conditioning of “bad-othering,” and to cultivate clarity, compassion, and the capacity to respond in ways that seed healing.
Learn more about Satyam here: https://theirhungerisours.satyamhome.org/
Find additional resources for how you can help to support Palestinians in Gaza at this link.
In this talk, Tara explores:
- how the trance of “bad othering” fuels division and how compassion can free us from blame.
- the practice of the U-turn—turning inward with kindness to transform anger, fear, and grief into care.
- the balance of a “strong back and soft front,” cultivating courage and tenderness in times of violence.
- how seeing the suffering beneath harmful actions allows us to meet others with wise compassion.
- how presence, RAIN practice, and shared belonging can guide us toward healing and peace.
The post Presence and Compassion in a Violent World appeared first on Tara Brach.
If we are suffering, we are believing an interpretation of reality that is limiting and untrue. At these times we are imprisoned in a painful looping of fear-driven thoughts and feelings. This talk explores the ways our practices of mindfulness, compassion and loving presence can guide us from addictive thinking to perceiving life with a wise heart.
In this talk, Tara explores:
- how fear-based thoughts create suffering and keep us locked in cycles of insecurity and separation.
- the pathway of moving from the prison of looping thoughts to the freedom of open-hearted presence.
- Ihow recognizing thoughts as “real but not true” opens the door to compassion and release.
- three pathways—returning to presence, awakening the heart, and resting in awareness—that guide us from head to heart.
- how mindfulness and loving awareness reconnect us with our wholeness and the joy of simply being.
The post From Head to Heart appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 love. I went on to read her collection All the Honey, and now her new one, The Unfolding. These books are filled with Post-its: I didn’t realize how much I needed Rosemerry’s words to remind me of what most matters. In our interview, we talk about the key themes in her poems: grief, love, opening to what’s difficult and what’s beautiful… saying yes to life. Here’s a link to order her new book!
The post The Courage to Say Yes – A Conversation with Tara and poet, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer appeared first on 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 imagination. Each lead short reflections that help us bring our own hearts and spirit into this sacred work.
The post The Sacred Work of Bridging Divides – Teachings from Roshi Joan Halifax and Tara Brach appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 navigating this terrain. We explore how to come into a healing relationship with unhealthy thoughts; forgiving ourselves for bias (it’s impersonal); the inner freedom that arises from releasing bias; and how to awaken compassion and deep respect for those we have habitually dehumanized. The interview closes with Tara leading a brief reflection on undoing bias.
Anu’s recent book is: Breaking Bias – Where Stereotypes and Prejudices Come From – and the Science-backed Method to Unravel Them – 2024. Also available on Anu’s website at: https://www.bemorewithanu.com.
The post Waking up from Bias: A Conversation with Tara and Anurag (Anu) Gupta appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 communications, belonging and realization of the greater good.
The post Inner and Outer Democracy: The Practice of True Inclusion appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 compassion and engaged spirituality in responding to the oppression and trauma experienced by the Palestinian and Israeli people.
This conversation is an invitation to examine our own spiritual practices and to consider how we can embody the Bodhisattva spirit in today’s world, breaking the silence and standing in solidarity with all who are suffering. It was offered as part of a series of conversations that accompany a poignant and heartbreaking film – “Where Olive Trees Weep” – about the struggles and resilience of Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. Access to the full program and the film is by donation – link here.
The post What is Love Asking from Us? A Conversation between Tara Brach & Gabor Maté appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 the space and tenderness – the formless dimension – that is indivisible and whole.
“How can we trust basic goodness, what lets us trust?”
“…imagine how might your life change if you dedicated yourself to realizing and trusting this basic goodness sometimes called Buddha nature or loving presence that’s within.”
Enjoy Part 1: Basic Trust
The post Trusting Your Basic Goodness: Part 2 appeared first on Tara Brach.
One of the expressions of an awakened heart-mind is a basic trust in reality. These talks explore the severed belonging that gives rise to mistrust, and two primary pathways to realizing and trusting the indivisible field of loving awareness that is our source (a favorite from the archives).
“To love without holding back – to really sense with the wisdom, the reality, that it’s right here – to live from wholeness. We have this capacity.”
“Who would you be if you trusted the basic goodness and beauty is living through you? How would your life be different if you trusted that spirit, love, awareness is what you are?”
Photo by: Jonathan Foust
The post Basic Trust – Part 1 appeared first on Tara Brach.
Desire is intrinsic to all living forms – the urge to exist and flourish. It turns to suffering when, due to unmet needs, it contracts, intensifies and separates us from our full aliveness and awareness. These two talks guide us in awakening from this trance, and discovering how within desire is the longing that can carry us to true belonging.
All you need is already within you, only you must approach yourself with reverence and love. Self-condemnation and self-distrust are grievous errors. Your constant flight from pain and search for pleasure is a sign of the love you bear for yourself. All I plead with you is this – make love of yourself perfect. Deny yourself nothing. Give yourself infinity and eternity and discover you do not need them. You are beyond. ~ Sri Nisargadatta
Enjoy also – Desire and Addiction (Part 1): Voices of Longing Calling You Home
Photo by: Tara Brach
The post Desire and Addiction (Part 2): Voices of Longing Calling You Home appeared first on Tara Brach.
Desire is intrinsic to all living forms – the urge to exist and flourish. It turns to suffering when, due to unmet needs, it contracts, intensifies and separates us from our full aliveness and awareness. These two talks guide us in awakening from this trance, and discovering how within desire is the longing that can carry us to true belonging.
Practice with the final meditation from Part 1: Meditation on Bringing RAIN to the Wanting Mind (11:01 min.)
I want a lot.
Perhaps I want everything
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.
…You have not grown old, and it is not too late
To dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret.”Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God
Enjoy also: Desire and Addiction (Part 2): Voices of Longing Calling You Home
The post Desire and Addiction (Part 1): Voices of Longing Calling You Home appeared first on Tara Brach.
One expression of suffering is forgetting that we are intrinsically lovable and worthy. This talk looks at the pathway to trusting our belonging, and focuses on the healing that comes from letting in love and mirroring others goodness.Painting: Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal Son”
Talk includes quotes from Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming
You might also explore Tara’s book, Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha.
The post Love is Always Here appeared first on Tara Brach.
If we are suffering, we are believing an interpretation of reality that is limiting and untrue. At these times we are imprisoned in a painful looping of fear-driven thoughts and feelings. This talk explores the ways our practices of mindfulness, compassion and loving presence can guide us from addictive thinking to perceiving life with a wise heart.
The post From Head to Heart appeared first on Tara Brach.
In describing our human predicament and dis-ease, D.H. Lawrence says we are like a great tree with our roots in the air. We need to replant ourselves—in our bodies, hearts and spirit – to live from embodied presence. These two talks are guides to replanting ourselves. In Part 1, we explore how we are so often dissociated from the life of our body, and the pathways home. Part 2 looks at the challenges of pain, fear and trauma, and how we can gradually and skillfully reconnect with a wholeness of being.
May we be blessed to live from embodied presence… to realize the love and creativity and freedom that are our essence. ~ Tara
This very body that we have, that’s sitting right here right now… with its aches and it pleasures… is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive. ~ Pema Chödron
Go with the pain, let it take you. Open your palms and your body to the pain. It comes in waves like the tide and you must be open as a vessel lying on the beach, letting it fill you up and then, retreating, leaving you empty and clear… with a deep breath – it has to be as deep as the pain – one reaches a kind of inner freedom from pain, as though the pain were not yours but your body’s. The spirit lays the body on the altar. ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Listen to Part 1 here
Video – Part 2 below:
The post Embodied Presence (Part 2) – Planting Our Roots in the Universe – Working with Pain appeared first on Tara Brach.
In describing our human predicament and dis-ease, D.H. Lawrence says we are like a great tree with our roots in the air. We need to replant ourselves—in our bodies, hearts and spirit. These two talks are guides to replanting ourselves. In Part 1, we explore how we are so often dissociated from the life of our body, and the pathways home. Part 2 looks at the challenges of pain, fear and trauma, and how we can gradually and skillfully reconnect with a wholeness of being.
One of the realizations I keep coming back to is that the portal to presence is through awareness of this living body. ~ Tara
Within the body you are wearing, now
inside the bones and beating in the heart,
lives the one you have been searching for so long.But you must stop running away and shake hands,
the meeting doesn’t happen
without your presence . . . your participation.The same one waiting for you there
is moving in the trees, glistening on the water,
growing in the grasses and lurking in the shadows you create.You have nowhere to go.
The marriage happened long ago.
Behold your mate.Within The Body You are Wearing ~ ROBERT HALL
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The pathway to presence does not involve efforts or striving. As you will find in this simple, gentle meditation, a vibrant and healing presence is possible as we wake up all our senses and intentionally relax with our changing experience. The gift is a true sense of homecoming, and with that openheartedness and peace.
Post photo: Gary Hillesland
The post Meditation: Relaxing Open into Full Presence (21:59 min.) appeared first on Tara Brach.
As we relax and awaken through our physical body, we discover the formless dimension of awareness or spirit that permeates all of life. This meditation includes a poem from Mary Oliver.
Poem (the spirit likes to dress up)
The spirit
likes to dress up like this:
ten fingers,
ten toes,shoulders, and all the rest
at night
in the black branches,
in the morningin the blue branches
of the world.
It could float, of course,
but would ratherplumb rough matter.
Airy and shapeless thing,
it needs
the metaphor of the body,lime and appetite,
the oceanic fluids;
it needs the body’s world,
instinctand imagination
and the dark hug of time,
sweetness
and tangibility,to be understood,
to be more than pure light
that burns
where no one is –so it enters us –
in the morning
shines from brute comfort
like a stitch of lightning;and at night
lights up the deep and wondrous
drownings of the body
like a star.Mary Oliver, Dream Work
The post Meditation: Body and Spirit (19:37 min.) appeared first on Tara Brach.
Three Blessings in Spiritual Life – Part 3: A Mirror – This 3- part series explores three capacities we all have, that when cultivated, bring spiritual awakening and serve the healing of our world. Drawing on an ancient teaching story from India, we explore together the power of a forgiving heart, the inner fire that expresses as courage and dedication, and the inquiry of “who am I” that reveals our deepest nature. The three qualities often described as the essence of awareness: wakeful, open, tender.”
From the talk: “And we close with that simple prayer: May all beings everywhere remember and trust the loving awareness that is our source. May all beings everywhere live in natural and great peace. May we touch true joy in living. May all beings everywhere awaken and be free. Namaste and blessings.”
photo: pixabay.com
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This 3-part series explores three capacities we all have, that when cultivated, bring spiritual awakening and serve the healing of our world. Drawing on an ancient teaching story from India, we explore together the power of a forgiving heart, the inner fire that expresses as courage and dedication, and the inquiry of “who am I” that reveals our deepest nature.
Listen to Part 1: Forgiveness
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Three Blessings in Spiritual Life – Part 1: Forgiveness – This 3-part series explores three capacities we all have, that when cultivated, bring spiritual awakening and serve the healing of our world. Drawing on an ancient teaching story from India, we explore together the power of a forgiving heart, the inner fire that expresses as courage and dedication, and the inquiry of “who am I” that reveals our deepest nature.
Explore more Resources on Forgiveness
Listen to Part 2: Inner Fire
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The pace of change is speeding up and much of the news we receive is alarming. More than ever, we need the inner reflections and meditations that help us connect with our capacities for clarity, bravery and openheartedness. This is what Tara explores with Oren Jay Sofer, in his book entitled: Your Heart Was Made For This: Contemplative Practices to Meet a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love (2023.)
Oren teaches mindfulness, meditation and non violent communication, and his prior book is bestselling Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication (2018.) Learn more about Oren Jay Sofer and order books at: https://www.orenjaysofer.com
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This guided meditation practice brings attention to the continuous space within and around the body, and the aliveness of sound, sensation and feeling that lives through us. While it’s natural for attention to get distracted, the pathway home is a relaxing back into presence – the awake space that is aware of this changing life.
The post Meditation: Open Awareness – Relaxing Back into Presence (19:23 min) appeared first on Tara Brach.
Many are familiar with the Dali Lama’s words “My religion is kindness.” In this conversation you will sense the gritty and real way that we struggling humans can learn to cherish one another. We talk about the relationship between boundaries and compassion; the unshakeable goodness at our core; how we belong to each other, and how judgments arise from delusion and blind us to the blessing of that belonging.
Father Greg Boyle is an American Catholic priest of the Jesuit order. He is the founder and director of Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program, author of several books, including Tattoos on the Heart; Barking to the Choir; and in 2023, The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness.
Father Greg’s life and work are a huge inspiration: he is dedicated to living from love and cultivating loving community with a marginalized population of ex inmates, gang members and their families. You can find out more about Father Greg and Homeboy Industries at: https://homeboyindustries.org/our-story/father-greg/
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Mindfulness and compassion, when brought to our wounded heart, have the capacity to rewire our brain and free our spirit. This talk explores the ways we get trapped in the trance of feeling unworthy and unlovable, and how, with a wise attention, we can profoundly transform our relationship with our inner life. NOTE: this talk was given at the 5-day “The Undivided Heart” residential retreat in April 2024.
The post Spiritual Reparenting: Loving Ourselves into Healing appeared first on Tara Brach.
Just as presence is the heart of meditation, so deep listening is at the center of all conscious, loving relationships. This talk explores how our wants and fears block listening, ways we can deepen our capacity for listening, and the healing that unfolds when we truly feel heard by another.
What happens when you’re really listening?
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Relating Wisely to our Inner Life: In this conversation, recorded for the acclaimed podcast, No Small Endeavor, award winning theologian, Lee C. Camp, interviews Tara about radically accepting and loving our being, just as we are. The conversation includes an unpacking of the RAIN meditation, and stories of navigating difficulty from Tara’s life.
No Small Endeavor, produced by Great Feeling Studios and PRX, brings you thoughtful conversations with artists, theologians and philosophers about what it means to live a good life. You can find the No Small Endeavor Podcast on your favorite podcast app or listen to more episodes here.
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An Invitation to Freedom: A conversation between Tara and Connirae Andreas: Connirae Andreas was one of the first trainers in neurolinguistic programming (NLP). She developed and wrote a book on the Core Transformation Process, and more recently, the Wholeness Process. Her new book, The Wholeness Work Essential Guide: Level I—Healing and Awakening is the focus of our conversation.
Connirae’s teachings and practices are deep and impactful. She is gifted in communicating and guiding our inner unfolding in a way that makes accessible the domains of deep awakening and freedom pointed to by great mystics, poets and teachers over the centuries. And as this conversation reveals, the Wholeness Work can be transformational for new and seasoned meditators alike.
Learn more about Connirae Andreas and The Wholeness Work here.
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Stress and overwhelm are spiking around the globe. This talk explores how we can practice with the arising of stress in ways that calm our body and tap our capacity for full presence, wisdom and love.
Photo: Shannon Lavery
The post Do You Feel Overwhelmed? Turning Stress into a Gateway of Awakening. appeared first on Tara Brach.
How do we process and respond to increasing societal oppression and violence? What helps us transform the energies of fear, hatred and delusion? This talk offers ways we can draw on our spiritual path to steady our heart and engage with presence, wisdom and care.
The post Navigating the Dark Ages appeared first on Tara Brach.
This meditation calls on the image and felt sense of a smile as we scan through the body, and invites a receptive and caring presence, as we open our attention to the changing flow of life.
“Our freedom comes not from what is happening, but from how we are relating to it. See if you can relate with the spirit of ‘yes,’ allowing whatever arises to be here. And if it feels difficult, painful, then bringing some real kindness – a ‘yes’ with gentleness and kindness.” ~ Tara
Post Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash
The post Meditation: Cultivating a Gentle, Kind Attention (19:27 min.) appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 several meditation practices that reconnect us with our natural aliveness, openheartedness and awareness. They empower us to develop our inner resources, energize us to awaken, free us from rumination and remind us that we are not our depressive thoughts and feelings. The growing realization of the loving awareness that is our home heals the very roots of depression.
THE WELL OF GRIEF
Those who will not slip beneath
the still surface on the well of grief,turning down through its black water
to the place we cannot breathe,will never know the source from which we drink,
the secret water, cold and clear,nor find in the darkness glimmering,
the small round coins,
thrown by those who wished for something else.The Well of Grief, River Flow, New & Selected Poems
Many Rivers Press © David Whyte
Listen to Part 1: Healing Depression with Meditation
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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 several meditation practices that reconnect us with our natural aliveness, openheartedness and awareness. They empower us to develop our inner resources, energize us to awaken, free us from rumination and remind us that we are not our depressive thoughts and feelings. The growing realization of the loving awareness that is our home heals the very roots of depression.
NOTE: This site is not intended to diagnose or treat any physical or mental health condition. If you are in crisis, or in need of immediate assistance, find help here: https://yourlifecounts.org/find-help/#
Listen to Part 2: Healing Depression with Meditation here.
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We long for soul friends, and yet often engage with each other in reactive ways – caught inside the experience of a wanting, guarded, fearful self. This talk explores practices […]
The post Path of Sacred Relatedness – Undoing the Blocks to Loving Presence appeared first on Tara Brach.
Most of us value honesty yet are not aware of how regularly we avoid facing what’s difficult inside us, and how we are less than truthful with others. This talk […]
The post The Honesty Challenge – Getting More Truthful with Ourselves and Our World appeared first on Tara Brach.
The capacity to witness what is happening inside us with a non-judging attention allows us to respond to life from our full intelligence and heart. This talk looks at the […]
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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 […]
The post Part 2: Rewiring for Happiness and Freedom appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 […]
The post Part 1: Rewiring for Happiness and Freedom appeared first on Tara Brach.
Zen master Dōgen teaches that enlightenment is intimacy with all things. These two talks explore teachings and practices that cultivate intimacy – a liberating experience of relatedness and oneness with […]
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Zen master Dōgen teaches that enlightenment is intimacy with all things. These two talks explore teachings and practices that cultivate intimacy – a liberating experience of relatedness and oneness with […]
The post Intimacy with Life (Part 1) appeared first on Tara Brach.
We awaken a present heart by relaxing with the breath, and bringing the kindness of a smile into our bodily experience. This meditation ends with an offering of blessings to […]
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“Ask Me Anything” – Tara responds to your questions, with Jonathan Foust, her husband and known meditation teacher, as interviewer. Photo: Jonathan Foust
The post Ask Me Anything with Tara and Jonathan (Part 2) appeared first on Tara Brach.
While we might not directly love what is, there is a pathway to this inner freedom. As we explore in this meditation, we begin with allowing the changing sensations and […]
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This talk explores three powerful ways you can direct your attention when you find yourself emotionally stuck: Wake up from thoughts; feel your feelings and remember love. We explore both […]
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“Ask Me Anything” – Tara responds to your questions, with Jonathan Foust, her husband and known meditation teacher, as interviewer. Photo: Jonathan Foust
The post Ask Me Anything with Tara and Jonathan (Part 1) appeared first on Tara Brach.
Anxiety is spiking around the world and we need the radical medicine of awareness to unwind it. In this two-part conversation, Tara and Dr. Judson Brewer look at how anxiety […]
The post Unwinding Anxiety with Awareness: A conversation with Tara and Dr. Judson Brewer (Part 2) appeared first on Tara Brach.
Anxiety is spiking around the world and we need the radical medicine of awareness to unwind it. In this two-part conversation, Tara and Judson Brewer look at how anxiety is […]
The post Unwinding Anxiety with Awareness: A conversation with Tara and Dr. Judson Brewer (Part 1) appeared first on Tara Brach.
Fear is a natural and universal part of our incarnation, and, when it goes on overdrive, we get imprisoned in the suffering of separation. These two talks explore how the RAIN meditation can help us face fear, and discover the boundless loving awareness that includes but is not contracted by currents of fear.
Life’s water flows from darkness.
Search the darkness don’t run from it.Night travelers are full of light,
and you are, too; don’t leave this companionship. ~ Rumi
Photo credit: Shannon Lavery – in Alaska
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Fear is a natural and universal part of our incarnation, and, when it goes on overdrive, we get imprisoned in the suffering of separation. These two talks explore how the RAIN meditation can help us face fear, and discover the boundless loving awareness that includes but is not contracted by currents of fear.
How did the rose ever open up its heart and give to this world all of its beauty? It felt the encouragement of light against its being, otherwise we all remain too frightened. ~ Hafez (Daniel Ladinsky, translation)
Image by Aravind kumar from Pixabay
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Addictions of all levels of intensity arise from disconnection and are spiking globally. Humans are experiencing epidemic levels of loneliness, and this combined with engineered products and substances that are highly addictive leads to great suffering. In these two talks, we explore how we get hooked on behaviors that we know cause harm, and how mindfulness and self-compassion can serve our freedom. Key to this process is reconnecting with our inner life, and remembering we are in this together, awakening together.
Would you like the support of others in working with harmful habits? Cloud Sangha has a Mindful Friends Group forming now that can help! Learn more about Mindful Friends Groups at Cloud Sangha.
Listen to Part 1: Releasing the Habits That Imprison Your Spirit – Part 1
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Addictions of all levels of intensity arise from disconnection and are spiking globally. Humans are experiencing epidemic levels of loneliness, and this combined with engineered products and substances that are highly addictive leads to great suffering. In these two talks, we explore how we get hooked on behaviors that we know cause harm, and how mindfulness and self-compassion can serve our freedom. Key to this process is reconnecting with our inner life, and remembering we are in this together, awakening together.
Would you like the support of others in working with harmful habits? Cloud Sangha has a Mindful Friends Group forming now that can help! Learn more about Mindful Friends Groups at Cloud Sangha.
Listen to Part 2: Releasing the Habits That Imprison Your Spirit – Part 2
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Acceptance is radical because it undoes our resistance to reality. This talk explores how our meditation practice can cultivate a liberating acceptance, a heartspace that includes all of life and enables us to respond to our world with deep intelligence and compassion. all life.
The post Radical Acceptance – Gateway to Love, Wisdom and Peace appeared first on Tara Brach.
The ground of loving kindness is seeing the basic goodness in ourselves, each other and our world. This is what gives rise to pure appreciation, friendliness, love and the felt-sense of belonging. In this talk we explore what obscures and contracts our perceptual field, and the pathway of purposefully awakening this transformational capacity of cherishing all life.
Photo credit: Janet Merrick
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Hameed Ali is an author, spiritual teacher and founder of the Diamond Approach to Self-Realization. In this interview we explore ways of approaching awakening to who we are, and look at the importance of befriending the experience of separate self, and actively investigating the blocks – our contracted sense of identity – that obscure the goodness and love of our true nature. Our time weaves in the inspiration of Hameed’s most recent book, Nondual Love, (his pen name A.H. Almaas is listed as author.)
For more information: Diamond Approach homepage
And Nondual Love book talk.
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This week, I began a two-part series inspired by Pema Chödron’s newest offering, How We Live is How We Die. It’s a powerful book that I highly recommend! (Here’s where you can learn more about it and pick up a copy)
One of our deepest inquiries is how to find happiness and peace in an inherently insecure world. In these talks, we’ll explore the ways we habitually try to control our lives, and the practices of presence that allow us to cherish this living world and find freedom in the midst of change and loss.
Photo: Shannon Lavery
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One of our deepest inquiries is how to find happiness and peace in an inherently insecure world. These two talks explore the ways we habitually try to control our lives, and the practices of presence that allow us to cherish this living world and find freedom in the midst of change and loss.
Photo: Janet Merrick
The post Finding True Refuge in This Living Dying World – Part 1 appeared first on Tara Brach.
Listening deeply is the gateway to realizing connection. It’s what allows us to move through life with a wise, loving and healing presence. These two talks explore our blocks to true listening, and offer teachings and practices that can directly cultivate this invaluable capacity.
Photo Credit: Jonathan Foust
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Listening deeply is the gateway to realizing connection. It’s what allows us to move through life with a wise, loving and healing presence. These two talks explore our blocks to true listening, and offer teachings and practices that can directly cultivate this invaluable capacity.
Photo: Merrick
The post The Power of Deep Listening – Part 1 appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 includes a talk including some reflections, and a Q&A session.
Act for Climate Today, ACT!
https://uucf.org/social-justice/climate/Act for Climate Today! mailing list or information
actforclimatetoday@gmail.comFaith Alliance for Climate Solutions, FACS
https://faithforclimate.orgNOVA Chapter The Climate Reality Project
https://climaterealitynova.comStrands of Compassion Concert
https://www.rruuc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Strands-of-Compassion-2.pdf
Photo credit: Shannon Lavery
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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 potential. (This talk was given at the 2016 IMCW fall retreat.)
photo: Jonathan Foust
The post The Wings of Awakening – Self-Honesty & Love (retreat talk) appeared first on Tara Brach.
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.
The post Making the Whole World Your Friend appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 then explore the teachings and practices that guide us to reconnect to our senses, and the sacred presence that underlies all lived experience.
Listen to Part 1 here: Part 1: Refuge in the Wilderness – Coming Home to Embodied Presence
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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 then explore the teachings and practices that guide us to reconnect to our senses, and the sacred presence that underlies all lived experience.
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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: Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture
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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 deal with your own self-hatred and cultivate a forgiving heart. (Note: This was initially created as an episode for 10% Happier Podcast)
In this episode:
- Why Tara says self-hatred “divides us from our ourselves”
- The benefits of learning the habit to stop kicking our own asses
- Simple meditations to help us with self-forgiveness
- Questions that can help us understand what really matters to us, and what we really want
- The power of seeing the profundity in mundane experiences
- A refresher on a fan favorite meditation technique: RAIN
- How to start trusting reality more than we believe the beliefs about ourselves
- Forgiveness vs accountability
View this episode at the 10% Happier Podcast here:
https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/tara-brach-534
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Download the free PDFWhile 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 experience of shame. We look at the ways meditation can be adapted to cultivate sufficient safety for the full transformational healing of mindfulness to unfold.
The gift of processing trauma is that the place of woundedness becomes a gateway into profound love, healing, and freedom.
More Resources: Working with Fear and Trauma
Watch the video: https://youtube.com/live/LBG3K4nHRb4
The post Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness – The Power of Self-Nurturing appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 incurable stage 4 Colon Cancer. This conversation explores the relationship between meditation and psychedelics, and how they both can serve profound spiritual awakening and deep inner freedom in the face of mortality.
The Wednesday Night Meditation Class is webcasted to Tara’s Facebook, and Tara’s YouTube starting at 7:30pm ET (New York time). The class is pre-recorded to maximize broadcast quality and is available later each week on this page and on Tara’s Facebook, and Tara’s YouTube.
Video and audio will be available here soon after the event.
The post ANNOUNCING: Meditation, Psychedelics, Mortality: A conversation with Tara Brach and Roland Griffiths (Wednesday – 1/18/2023 – 7:30pm EST) appeared first on Tara Brach.
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, how the trance of separateness blinds us to our basic goodness, and then explore the practices that open our eyes to the larger truth of our shared belonging.
Links to order Tara’s latest book here: Trusting the Gold. (US, UK, AU and Audible editions available)
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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. This talk explores ways that when we are stuck in reactivity, we can become aware of intention, and find our way to the aspiration that expresses our most awake and loving heart.
“Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?”― Mary Oliver, from “The Summer Day”
Link to more talks on intention.
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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 identity from me to what Dan terms “Mwe” (me plus we.) The principles they touch on come from indigenous wisdom, the contemplative or wisdom traditions, neuroscience and quantum physics.
Dan Siegel’s new book: IntraConnected: MWe (Me + We) as the Integration of Self, Identity, and Belonging
NOTE: “Namaste and welcome. What follows is an interview I did with Dr. Dan Siegel. It focuses on his new book, “IntraConnected.” I had intended this to be a one-podcast session, but we got so into the content that it became too long, too full. So, I’m offering it to you in two parts. I want to say in advance that I learned a lot. I found a lot of inspiration in this conversation and I trust you will, as well. Enjoy!” ~ Tara
Also listen and watch: IntraConnected – Part 1: Conversation with Tara and Dan Siegel
The post IntraConnected – Part 2: Conversation with Tara and Dan Siegel appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 identity from me to what Dan terms “Mwe” (me plus we.) The principles they touch on come from indigenous wisdom, the contemplative or wisdom traditions, neuroscience and quantum physics.
Dan Siegel’s new book: IntraConnected: MWe (Me + We) as the Integration of Self, Identity, and Belonging
NOTE: “Namaste and welcome. What follows is an interview I did with Dr. Dan Siegel. It focuses on his new book, “IntraConnected.” I had intended this to be a one-podcast session, but we got so into the content that it became too long, too full. So, I’m offering it to you in two parts. I want to say in advance that I learned a lot. I found a lot of inspiration in this conversation and I trust you will, as well. Enjoy!” ~ Tara
Also listen and watch: IntraConnected – Part 2: Conversation with Tara and Dan Siegel
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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 intrinsic awareness. They also talk about compassion for our world, the evolution of consciousness, and the value of hope.
About Mingyur Rinpoche and his community:
https://tergar.org/about/mingyur-rinpoche/
More references:
– Meditation Community of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche: https://tergar.org/
– Joy of Living (and related course) https://joy.tergar.org/
Book links:
– The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness
– In Love with the World: A Monk’s Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying
– As It Is, Volume I: Essential Teachings from the Dzogchen Perspective
by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche (Author), & 3 more
The post Tara and Mingyur Rinpoche in Conversation: Embracing Life and Realizing the Nature of Awareness appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 […]
The post A Grateful, Giving, Happy Heart appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 […]
The post The Calling of These Times – Part 2 appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 […]
The post The Calling of These Times – Part 1 appeared first on Tara Brach.
Mind Our Democracy Together: Spiritual Action for the Midterms and Beyond [streamed 2022-11-03] Are you feeling distressed about the future of our democracy? Are you ready to engage with others […]
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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, […]
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What gives us the inner strength to meet life’s challenges with resilience, heart and wisdom? Drawing on themes in Lori’s new book, “The Tiny Buddha’s Inner Strength Journal,” Tara and […]
The post Cultivating Inner Strength – A Conversation with Tara Brach and Lori Deschene appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 […]
The post Beyond the Controlling Self – Part 2 appeared first on Tara Brach.
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 […]
The post Beyond the Controlling Self – Part 1 appeared first on Tara Brach.
The Liberating Power of Conscious Intention – Part 2 While we can’t change our past, we have the capacity in this moment to remember our deepest intention and seed the […]
The post The Liberating Power of Conscious Intention – Part 2 appeared first on Tara Brach.
The Liberating Power of Conscious Intention – Part 1 While we can’t change our past, we have the capacity in this moment to remember our deepest intention and seed the […]
The post The Liberating Power of Conscious Intention – Part 1 appeared first on Tara Brach.
Our capacity to realize the truth of who we are and to love fully, arises from moments of true acceptance. This means meeting our unfolding life with an unconditional, open […]
The post Radical Acceptance – Our Gateway to Love and Freedom appeared first on Tara Brach.
This mindful body scan leads us into a practice of relaxing back into awareness, and recognizing the changing waves of sensations, sounds and feelings in the foreground. As we let […]
The post Meditation: Resting in a Sea of Presence (20:49 min.) appeared first on Tara Brach.
Concern for All Beings: Plant-Based Eating – A conversation with Tara Brach and Tricycle‘s editor-in-chief, James Shaheen. A vegetarian diet, while encouraged in most schools of Buddhism, isn’t a requirement […]
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“We are not the survival of the fittest. We are the survival of the nurtured.”— Louis Cozolino We flourish when nurtured with love and understanding. Yet for so many, the […]
The post Survival of the Nurtured – Our Path to Belonging appeared first on Tara Brach.
Most of us know the pain of getting stuck in fear, anxiety, anger or shame. This exploration looks at how the emotion that takes over, when we attend with mindfulness […]
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Three Blessings in Spiritual Life – Part 3: A Mirror – This 3- part series explores three capacities we all have, that when cultivated, bring spiritual awakening and serve the […]
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Three Blessings in Spiritual Life – Part 2: Inner Fire – This 3- part series explores three capacities we all have, that when cultivated, bring spiritual awakening and serve the […]
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Three Blessings in Spiritual Life – Part 1: Forgiveness – This 3-part series explores three capacities we all have, that when cultivated, bring spiritual awakening and serve the healing of […]
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The Buddha taught that our suffering arises from forgetting who we are. This talk explores the trance of identifying as Somebody, and the compassionate witnessing that allows us to discover […]
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Homecoming to Your True Nature: Awakening beyond the separate, fearful self. Most of us unconsciously identify as a separate, threatened, deficient self. This talk shines a light on this conditioning […]
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From Dragons to Schmoos – Meeting Life with Compassionate Presence – The trance of unworthiness is sustained by our aversion to the dragons – the difficult emotions and related behaviors […]
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Navigating the Dark Ages – How do we process and respond to increasing societal oppression and violence? What helps us transform the energies of fear, hatred and delusion? This talk […]
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Cultivating a surrendering presence allows us to release the identity of a small, separate self, and open to the truth and fullness of who we are. These two talks explore […]
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Cultivating a surrendering presence allows us to release the identity of a small, separate self, and open to the truth and fullness of who we are. These two talks explore […]
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The Three Steps of Letting Go: A wonderful inquiry is, “What is between me and openhearted presence?” This talk explores the profound healing and transformation that arises when we release […]
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Cultivating a Courageous Heart – Part 2: In the face of violence, hatred and loss, how do we handle the reactivity we feel? Our own anger, hatred and fear? These […]
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Cultivating a Courageous Heart – Part 1: In the face of violence, hatred and loss, how do we handle the reactivity we feel? Our own anger, hatred and fear? These […]
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Nourishing Our Spirit in Times of Collective Fear – We are living with the threat of increasing, dramatic suffering around the globe. This talk looks at the direct ways our […]
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This guided practice includes a body scan, and an opening to the awareness that includes all of life. From that wakeful openness we offer a relaxed attentiveness to the changing […]
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Our inability to forgive ourselves blocks healing and freedom. As we explore in this talk, the habit of judging and blaming ourselves traps us in fears, prevents intimacy with our […]
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Part 4: Equanimity – unfolds as we find a wise balance and spaciousness in the midst of this living, dying world. This series reflects on four primary expressions of an […]
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Part 3: Joy – blossoms in the moments our hearts open boundlessly to reality, to the 10,000 joys and sorrows. This series reflects on four primary expressions of an awake, […]
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Part 2: Compassion – the tender resonance of heart – awakens as we allow ourselves to be touched by our shared vulnerability. This series reflects on four primary expressions of […]
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Part 1: Lovingkindness – We awaken our natural lovingkindness by learning to attend to and take in the goodness of this life. This series reflects on four primary expressions of […]
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Our world is changing faster than we can compute or process. Accompanying these changes are a growing violence, deepening divides, great loss and much uncertainty and fear. In this week’s […]
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Especially when we’re stressed, we need pathways to an allowing, kind presence. This meditation guides us to relax and open through our bodies, and then meet changing waves of experience […]
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Most of us have habitual ways we create separation from others. This talk takes a look at the roots of our emotional reactivity and ways our meditation practice can foster […]
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A Conversation between Konda Mason and Tara Brach The medicine our world most needs is compassion, and it is crucial that this include all living beings. Our societal conditioning blinds […]
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All that we cherish—creativity, love, wisdom, realization—arises from an embodied presence. Yet as we know, the wounds and trauma of our society and individual lives leads toward dissociation. These two […]
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All that we cherish—creativity, love, wisdom, realization—arises from an embodied presence. Yet as we know, the wounds and trauma of our society and individual lives leads toward dissociation. These two […]
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Our deepest wisdom and purest actions arise out of open-hearted presence. This meditation, a compassion practice or tonglen, is drawn from the Tibetan tradition and carries us home to the vastness of loving presence (re-mastered from the 2013 IMCW fall 7-day silent retreat).
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Engaged spirituality means responding to our world’s suffering with wisdom and deep care. This talk looks at three blocks to aligning our actions with our heart – “bad othering,” dissociation and overwhelm. We explore how we can awaken from each reaction to suffering by drawing on our practices of presence and remembering our larger belonging.
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If we want to bring our intelligence, creativity and love into our relationships and world, we need to be able to access an inner refuge of presence. This talk explores how, when we’re reacting from anger, clinging or fear, to pause, reconnect to the immediate experience of “just this” and remember the love and awareness that has room for the changing waves of life.
There is a secret place. A radiant sanctuary. This magnificent refuge is inside you. Be brave and walk through the country of your own wild heart. Be gentle and know that you know nothing. Be still. Listen. Keep walking. No one else controls access to this perfect place. Give yourself your own unconditional permission to go there. Waste no time. Enter the center of your soul.
― St. Teresa of Ávila
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Acceptance is radical because it undoes our resistance to reality. This talk explores how our meditation practice can cultivate a liberating acceptance, a heartspace that includes all of life and enables us to respond to our world with deep intelligence and compassion. all life.
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The ground of loving kindness is seeing the basic goodness in ourselves, each other and our world. This is what gives rise to pure appreciation, friendliness, love and the felt-sense of belonging. In this talk we explore what obscures and contracts our perceptual field, and the pathway of purposefully awakening this transformational capacity of cherishing all life.
Photo credit: Mojpe/pixabay.com
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The suffering in our world arises out of a sense of separation—from our own bodies and hearts, each other, and this living web. These two talks explore this trance of separation and how it’s led humans to destroying our larger body, Earth. We then look at the pathways of awakening to the truth of “interbeing” and responding to our precious world with love.
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The suffering in our world arises out of a sense of separation—from our own bodies and hearts, each other, and this living web. These two talks explore this trance of separation and how it’s led humans to destroying our larger body, Earth. We then look at the pathways of awakening to the truth of “interbeing” and responding to our precious world with love.
The post Love in Action: Realizing Interbeing appeared first on Tara Brach.
The suffering in our world arises out of a sense of separation—from our own bodies and hearts, each other, and this living web. These two talks explore this trance of separation and how it’s led humans to destroying our larger body, earth. We then look at the pathways of awakening to the truth of “interbeing” and responding to our precious world with love.
The post The Earth is Crying in Our Hearts appeared first on Tara Brach.
The essence of courage is to willingly feel our vulnerability; this is what allows us to respond to life with an undefended, wise heart. This talk explores the ways we resist opening to vulnerability, and three key steps in cultivating a courageous presence.
Ask, “What does it mean to be courageous at this moment?”
Everything is beautiful and I am so sad.
This is how the heart makes a duet of
wonder and grief. The light spraying
through the lace of the fern is as delicate
as the fibers of memory forming their web
around the knot in my throat. The breeze
makes the birds move from branch to branch
as this ache makes me look for those I’ve lost
in the next room, in the next song, in the laugh
of the next stranger. In the very center, under
it all, what we have that no one can take
away and all that we’ve lost face each other.
It is there that I’m adrift, feeling punctured
by a holiness that exists inside everything.
I am so sad and everything is beautiful.Mark Nepo, “Adrift”
Photo Credit: Shell Fischer
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Quieting our busy bodies and minds brings alive our heart and spirit. This practice begins with a reading on silence by Gunilla Norris, and then includes guidance in letting go of tension, opening to aliveness and resting in a caring and wakeful awareness.
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All of our actions, our entire life experience, arises from the energy of intention. While it’s natural that our intentions are shaped by egoic wants and fears, when we bring this into conscious, compassionate awareness, we can discover the deep aspiration that guides and energizes our awakening hearts and minds. This talk explores the movement from egoic intention to liberating intention…the movement from “my will” to “my heart’s will” (a favorite from the archives).
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This talk explores the three archetypal refuges of awareness (Buddha-nature), truth (Dharma) and love (Sangha) through stories, illustrations and reflections. We end with a Refuge ceremony that can be done by anyone who feels drawn. (To participate you will need a 20” red string.)
A verse from Ryokan, an eighteenth-century Zen poet, came to mind: “To find the Buddhist law, drift east and west, come and go, entrusting yourself to the waves.”
“So every day
I was surrounded by the beautiful crying forth
of the ideas of God,
one of which was you.”
― Mary Oliver
Photo Credit: Shell Fischer
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Entering a new year is a wonderful opportunity to clarify our purpose. In this guided visualization, we are invited to attune to the state of our heart and our deepest aspiration.
Flute: Jonathan Foust
Photo: Donna Russo
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Our healing and freedom unfolds as we bring radical acceptance – a mindful, allowing presence – to our moments. This interview looks at how we wake up out of the stories that keep us in fear and self-doubt and discover a true intimacy with ourselves and our world.
Photo Credit: Shell Fischer
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While the holidays can be times of loving celebration, they can also highlight relational conflicts and challenges. This talk explores how, given the stress of the season, we can bring grace and openheartedness to ourselves and others.
Tonight’s class closes with special music: “Love is the Answer” by Len Seligman (with his permission). You can learn more about Len and listen to his latest offerings at https://www.lenseligman.com
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Gratitude arises when we are in sacred relationship with life—present, open and receptive. This talk explores how central gratitude is to our physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing, and then looks at the ways we can directly gladden our minds with gratitude. We end with a guided meditation that includes sharings from the group. The audio includes a poem of blessing by John O’Donohue with a brief cut from Robert Gass – Om Namaha Shivaya (from the archives).
Photo Credit: Jonathan Foust
A Blessing for Beauty
May the beauty of your life become more visible to you, that you may glimpse your wild divinity.
May the wonders of the earth call you forth from all your small, secret prisons and set your feet free in the pastures of possibilities.
May the light of dawn anoint your eyes that you may behold what a miracle a day is.
May the liturgy of twilight shelter all your fears and darkness within the circle of ease.
May the angel of memory surprise you in bleak times with new gifts from the harvest of your vanished days.
May you allow no dark hand to quench the candle of hope in your heart.
May you discover a new generosity towards yourself, and encourage yourself to engage your life as a great adventure.
May the outside voices of fear and despair find no echo in you.
May you always trust the urgency and wisdom of your own spirit.
May the shelter and nourishment of all the good you have done, the love you have shown, the suffering you have carried, awaken around you to bless your life a thousand times.
And when love finds the path to your door may you open like the earth to the dawn, and trust your every hidden color towards its nourishment of light.
May you find enough stillness and silence to savor the kiss of God on your soul and delight in the eternity that shaped you, that holds you and calls you.
And may you know that despite confusion, anxiety and emptiness, your name is written in Heaven.
And may you come to see your life as a quiet sacrament of service, which awakens around you a rhythm where doubt gives way to the grace of wonder, where what is awkward and strained can find elegance, and where crippled hope can find wings, and torment enter at last unto the grace of serenity.
May Divine Beauty bless you.
John O’Donohue, from Beauty – The Invisible Embrace
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