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Dharma Talks given at Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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2013-07-26 Introducción a la Meditación Parte 1: El Arte y Ciencia de la Meditación (translation from 2010-10-13) 1:24:22
Tara Brach
La primera sesión define la meditación y describe las enseñanzas budistas que le dan contexto al camino de la practica. Exploramos las dos formas básicas de meditación - concentración y conciencia plena - y luego nos enfocamos en el entrenamiento de conciencia plena: trayendo atención de conciencia plena a la respiración y sensaciones corporales. Las meditaciones guiadas incluyen el establecimiento de una intención y la pausa sagrada; aprendiendo a "regresar" usando la respiración como un ancla; y "estando aquí" con una presencia encarnada.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-07-24 Three Gestures of Love 1:22:25
Tara Brach
If we inquire "what is between me and presence" we usually find we've been caught inside a limiting story of self, contracted by wants and fears. This talk explores a simple yet powerful way of arousing loving presence and dissolving the narrow identification that keeps us from inhabiting our awakened heartmind.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-07-17 Absolute Cooperation With the Inevitable 1:22:59
Tara Brach
This talk addresses common misunderstandings about acceptance (allowing, "letting be") and explores the challenges and blessings of opening to the raw emotions that we habitually avoid.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-07-03 Part 2: Hope and the Spiritual Path 1:24:38
Tara Brach
In this talk we further define the nature of mature or spiritual hope as part of a trinity that includes trust and love, and explore what blocks its unfolding. We then review how different people have "hit bottom" and found their way to the energy, receptivity and openness of hope.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-06-26 Part 1: Hope and the Spiritual Path 1:23:19
Tara Brach
This talk looks at the difference between egoic hopes and fears, and the quality of hopefulness ("holy hope") that is an essential dimension in spiritual experience. We reflect on the three components of hope that serve awakening: Aspiration, Trust and Dedication of energy.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-05-29 Practicing Meditation: "Getting Out Of Your Own Way" 1:16:31
Tara Brach
The depth and vitality of a meditation practice depends on our sincerity, and an attitude of curiosity and friendliness. With this as the grounds, our practice will cultivate the clear seeing and openheartedness that expresses our deepest nature. This talk covers basic ingredients in a meditation practice, and includes a half hour of questions and responses.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-05-22 Being to Being - Loving Beyond the Trance 1:22:52
Tara Brach
We have strong conditioning to relate to each other from a sense of separateness--persona to persona. This talk looks at what traps us in egoic relating and how several simple yet powerful reflections can open us to pure, unconditioned loving.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-05-15 Releasing the Barriers to Unconditional Love 1:23:24
Tara Brach
We long for love and habitually armor our hearts. This talk explores the aggression and clinging that protect our wound of feeling unlovable, and the ways that mindfulness can dissolve our defenses and reveal our inner refuge of pure loving presence.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-05-08 Remembering Being 1:14:51
Tara Brach
Our fear-based doings block us from realizing the formless dimension of our Being, and living from that source of wisdom and love. This talk explores the habitual control strategies that keep us from presence; and the role of mindfulness and lovingkindness in reconnecting with the ground of Being.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-05-01 Cultivating Practice in the Space Between Craving and Desire for Liberation 1:20:16
Trudy mitchell-gilkey
There is a space between craving and its fulfillment, and that space is the altar of our practice. This talk explores how the practice of mindfulness bridges that space and expands our capacity to stay in the present moment. For it is there, only there, that we can fully comprehend suffering, realize its end and cultivate the Eightfold Path.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-05-01 Guided Meditation - Flower Metta 25:27
Pat Coffey
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy With Life

2013-04-29 The Art of Paying Attention 59:06
Jonathan Foust
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy With Life

2013-04-29 Guided Metta Meditation and Question/Response 52:21
James Baraz
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy With Life

2013-04-29 Morning Meditation and Instructions 39:55
Pat Coffey
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy With Life

2013-04-28 Loving Ourselves 59:03
Tara Brach
The greatest truths we forget, and one of them is that if we don't love the life that is right here--what we perceive as self--we are unable to embrace our world. This talk explores the suffering of turning on ourselves and the deep freedom that arises when we commit to relating to our inner life with loving presence.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy With Life

2013-04-27 Transforming Suffering into Happiness 60:55
James Baraz
The magic of mindfulness is how it weakens unwholesome (akusala) states of suffering and strengthens wholesome (kusala) states of well-being. This talk explains this process of alchemy: how greed, hatred and delusion are transformed into generosity, loving-kindness and wisdom.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy With Life

2013-04-27 Guided Heart Meditation - Forgiveness 30:03
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy With Life

2013-04-27 Morning Instructions 19:16
Tara Brach
Morning Instructions - with RAIN, standing and walking explanation
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy With Life

2013-04-27 Morning Guided Meditation 39:19
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy With Life

2013-04-24 Letting Go Into Living and Dying 1:19:51
Tara Brach
Our capacity to live and love fully is directly related to our acceptance of change and loss. This talk explores how we avoid the pain of loss, ways of practicing that open us to this changing world, and the gifts of letting go into the flow.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-04-17 Entering the Mystery 1:19:10
Tara Brach
John O'Donahue writes, "We are so busy managing our lives, we forget this great mystery we are involved in." This talk looks at the ways we pull away from the mystery and the path of "beginners mind" that enables us to encounter this living world with freshness, courage and wonder.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-04-10 Heavenly Messengers 1:25:22
Tara Brach
Tara interviews Frank Ostaseski, founder of Zen Hospice, on a contemplative approach to death and dying.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-04-03 Part 3: Three Gifts - Looking in the Mirror 69:51
Tara Brach
The third gift on the journey of awakening is the mirror. In this talk we explore how to look back into our own minds and discover the timeless, radiant presence that is our essence. It is this realization of our Beingness that enables us to live these lives with wisdom, love and wonder.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-03-27 Part 2: Three Blessings - Inner Fire 1:11:06
Tara Brach
Each of us has the longing to manifest our full potential--to realize and live from loving, awake awareness. This longing is our inner fire, and when conscious and vibrant, it energizes the spiritual path. In this talk we reflect on how fear obscures and redirects our inner fire, and how practices of presence and wise reflection awaken the power and purity of our longing.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-03-20 Self Compassion (retreat talk) 0:00
Tara Brach
We can only find love and peace in this life if we are able to hold our inner life with compassion. This talk explores the subtle and therefore often unseen ways that we turn on ourselves, and the pathways to a forgiving heart.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-03-13 Part 1: Three Blessings of Awakening Consciousness 69:39
Tara Brach
Part 1: In this two part series we explore the evolution of consciousness through the lens of three key capacities: A forgiving heart, inner fire (conscious aspiration toward freedom) and self-inquiry.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-02-27 The Dharma of Relationships 1:45:26
Jonathan Foust
Unless you live in a cave and have concierge service, you most probably interact with people each day. Wisdom teachings tell us to 'see self in other and other in self.' But how? This talk explores some practical strategies for cultivating empathy, compassion and skill in how you relate to others and use your relationships to wake up.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-02-27 The Fires of Loss 60:52
Tara Brach
We all encounter the great losses of our own health and life, and of cherished others. We are conditioned to resist opening to the rawness and grief that comes with loss. This talk describes the refuge of presence in the face of loss, and the gift of timeless love that arises as we make peace with the reality of this living, dying world. [NOTE: Tara was traveling this week, so offering a well-loved talk from 2010.]
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-02-20 Beyond the Interpreted World 1:20:51
Tara Brach
Hildegard of Bingen writes, "An interpreted world is not a Home." This talk explores the suffering that arises from believing in an interpreted reality, and the love, aliveness and freedom that becomes accessible as we challenge beliefs and awaken into living presence.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-02-13 The Wings of a Liberating Presence 1:17:07
Tara Brach
No matter what is happening in our lives, if we relate to our experience with mindful recognition and an allowing presence, it becomes a portal to freedom. In this talk we explore how the cultivation of these wings of presence awakens us from the identification with an egoic self, and reveals the awareness and love that is our true nature.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-02-06 Embodying True Refuge - Serving and Savoring Life 1:31:18
Tara Brach
This talk traces the story of the Buddha's awakening, and reflects on four key archetypal elements that are relevant for each of us as we come home to our true nature. There is a particular emphasis on how these elements enable us to encounter challenges in relationships and find our way to openhearted presence. Includes music honoring the launch of Tara's new book, True Refuge: vocal by La Sarmiento and Guru Ganesha with his Kirtan band.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-01-30 Remembering What Matters 1:25:28
Tara Brach
Our conscious aspiration toward awakening is what energizes the spiritual path. This talk reviews the main characteristic of a vital aspiration, the conditioning that obscures our deepest intentions and offers guided reflections to connect us with what most matters.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-01-20 Closing with Dharma Songs 20:57
La Sarmiento
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-20 Closing 7:36
Cheri Maples
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-19 Encountering the Shadow Deities 62:57
Tara Brach
When we forget who we are, we are living in a trance that is characterized by suffering. This talk explores the genesis of this trance, and the transformation that is possible as we bring forgiveness and mindful presence to the afflictive emotions that naturally arise.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-19 Lovingkindness and Tonglen 39:48
Cheri Maples
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-19 Morning Question/Response 21:10
Cheri Maples
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-19 Morning Instructions 22:16
Cheri Maples
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-18 True Freedom 59:24
Cheri Maples
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-18 Guided Metta Meditation 38:21
La Sarmiento
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-18 Walking Meditation Instruction 7:48
La Sarmiento
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-18 Mindfulness Meditation 26:45
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-17 The Precepts 24:04
Cheri Maples
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-17 The Three Refuges 15:06
La Sarmiento
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2013 IMCW Women's Retreat: The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

2013-01-16 Stepping Out of the Cave 1:15:58
Tara Brach
If we are suffering it is because we are believing something that is not true. This talk explores the genesis of our core beliefs and the investigation, mindfulness and compassion that can release their grip.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-01-09 The Barriers to Loving Presence 1:15:18
Tara Brach
You might reflect on someone important to you, and ask: "What is between me and loving fully?" Notice what happens. This talk explores the ways we create separations from others, and the power of inquiry and presence to awaken an unconditionally loving heart.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2013-01-02 Finding True Refuge 1:31:30
Tara Brach
This talk explores the three classic gateways to peace and freedom and includes a living ritual that invites us to bring a conscious, sincere dedication to our awakening on the spiritual path.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-12-31 I'm a Child of Light - by Rapper Jonathan 6:24
Jonathan Foust
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-31 Aligning Your Life with Your Heart 58:07
Jonathan Foust
Spiritual practice is a blend of willful effort and conscious surrender. When the sense of "I" and "mine" drops away, compassion arises effortlessly. Sometimes your capacity to live with an open heart is effortless. Sometimes it requires a clear intention.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-31 Guided Meditation: Awakening Compassion - Tonglen 29:52
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-30 The Nature of Mind 62:19
Pat Coffey
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-30 Guided Meditation: The Freedom of a Forgiving Heart 36:00
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-30 Morning Meditation and Instruction 41:58
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-29 The God Whom I Love is Inside 59:15
Tara Brach
Our suffering arises from unlived life--the fears and loneliness and hurt that we have been unable to digest and include in our heart. This talk explores our conditioning to become dis-embodied and the blessings of spiritual realization that arise as we inhabit our aliveness fully.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-29 Meditation: Lovingkindness 42:43
Hugh Byrne
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-28 The Transforming Power of Mindfulness 67:49
Hugh Byrne
What we accept we go beyond: when we bring a kind and non-judging awareness to our experience we align ourselves with the truth of how things are and open to liberating insights that lead to release from suffering.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-28 Lovingkindness - Instruction and Meditation 33:46
Pat Coffey
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-28 Instruction: Walking Practice 7:46
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-28 Instruction/Question/Response 11:09
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-28 Morning Instruction in Meditation 29:48
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW New Year's Retreat: Awakening the Heart of Compassion

2012-12-19 Turning Toward the Light 1:12:34
Tara Brach
This solstice talk explores how, in the face of darkness - unconsciousness, ignorance, violence - we can call on the light that is within us. The two pathways are to courageously look directly into the places of suffering, and to include in our gaze, the intrinsic goodness in all beings, in life.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-12-12 Forgiving Our Way to Freedom 1:11:13
Tara Brach
Living with chronic blame or resentment is a trance that confines us to a limited fragment of what we are. This talk looks at the ways this trance is fueled and the process by which we release the armoring around our hearts.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-12-05 A Forgiving Heart - Embracing our Inner Life 1:15:43
Tara Brach
Self-aggression, whether it's low key blame or deep condemnation, prevents us from intimacy with others and discovering the truth and wholeness of our Being. This talk explores how we can release self-blame, and free ourselves to access our natural warmth and creativity in responding to our world.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-11-21 Gratitude & Generosity: Markings of Inner Freedom 1:28:48
Tara Brach
Those who are genuinely happy, are also naturally grateful for life and generous in living. This Thanksgiving Eve talk explores key ways we block the arising of gratitude and generosity, and practices of mindful presence and direct cultivation that awaken these expressions of the liberated heart.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-11-14 Hands Off the Controls 1:16:18
Tara Brach
We are deeply conditioned to respond to impermanence and inevitable loss by trying to control our experience. Our egoic reactivity prevents us from responding wisely to our life, and living the moments fully. This talk looks at how we can let go of controlling, open to the groundlessness we run from, and reconnect with the deep intelligence and love that flows through our being.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-11-07 Practical Dharma for Stressful Times 1:20:31
Tara Brach
When we are caught in a stress reaction, we are in a trance that cuts us off from our creativity, full intelligence and capacity to be loving. This talk explores the flags of the stress-trance and three meditative strategies for shifting from fight/flight to attend/befriend. (at end is a cut from "Love the One You're With" by Steven Stills)
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-11-02 Closing - Question/Response - all teachers 46:43
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-11-02 La's Dana Song 2:00
La Sarmiento
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-11-01 Empathy as a Practice 57:34
Jonathan Foust
In the absence of the eight worldly winds, the heart awakens and a new path emerges. The final talk from the 2012 Fall IMCW Retreat.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-11-01 Guided Heart Meditation 22:24
Pat Coffey
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-10-29 Embodied Presence and Liberation 55:21
Jonathan Foust
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-10-29 Guided Meditation: A Forgiving Heart 29:07
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-10-29 Guided Heart Meditation: Forgiveness Practice 29:07
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-10-28 Tranquility and Calm 60:52
Pat Coffey
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-10-28 Guided Heart Meditation with Body Scan 29:28
Jonathan Foust
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-10-28 Morning Question/Response 13:46
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-10-27 Loving the Life Within Us 66:31
Tara Brach
If we don't love the life we consider "self," we will not realize or live from the loving awareness that is our essence. This talk guides us in bringing a kind, accepting presence to our inner life, and discovering the vastness of what we really are.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-10-27 Guided Heart Instruction and Meditation 37:37
Luisa Montero-Diaz
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2012 IMCW Fall Residential Retreat: Intimacy with Life

2012-10-24 Wise Investigation: Dissolving the Trance 1:20:25
Tara Brach
If we are suffering, it is because we are believing something that is not true and caught in emotional reactivity. A key tool in meditation is investigation--actively inquiring into what is happening inside us. When we investigate with sincere interest and care, the light of our attention untangles difficult emotions and nourishes intimate relationships. As this light is turned toward awareness itself, it reveals the radiance and emptiness of our true nature.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-10-17 Question and Response with Tara 1:15:58
Tara Brach
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-10-10 Part 2: Wise Intention: Living in Truth 1:19:16
Tara Brach
Evolution has conditioned us to identify as an egoic self and to protect that identity. A key strategy is trying to control how others perceive us through pretense and deception. This talk explores the ways we disarm though dedicating ourselves to truthfulness, forgiving our defenses and taking a chance to name and make room for the vulnerability we have been armoring.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-10-03 Part 1: Wise Intention: the Compass of our Hearts 67:42
Tara Brach
One of the most powerful spiritual practices in the world is to reflect on your heart's deepest intention. These two talks look at the way that ego-based intentions perpetuate thoughts, feelings and actions that keep us imprisoned in feeling separate and limited. In contrast, remembering our deeper intentions call us home to the freedom of our true nature.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-09-26 Part 2: Embodied Spirit 1:19:36
Tara Brach
Our body--this changing field of sensation--is a portal into pure Being. These talks explore the resistance we have to embodied presence, the pathways that enable us to awaken through our bodies, and the blessings of realization that arise as we let go over and over into the aliveness of our senses. NOTE: Part 2 specifically addresses the challenge of arriving in embodied presence when we are facing traumatic fear, and other intense and difficult emotions.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-09-19 Part 1: Embodied Spirit 1:15:43
Tara Brach
Our body--this changing field of sensation--is a portal into pure Being. These talks explore the resistance we have to embodied presence, the pathways that enable us to awaken through our bodies, and the blessings of realization that arise as we let go over and over into the aliveness of our senses.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-09-12 The Freedom of Yes 1:24:10
Tara Brach
How do we accept ourselves or others when our actions are causing harm? Does acceptance mean passivity? Does it undermine our efforts towards change? This talk responds to these questions with a simple, illuminating and challenging principle about genuine transformation: Acceptance is the prerequisite of true healing and awakening. Only when we've paused to recognize and allow this moment's experience to be fully as it is, can we respond from our intelligence and compassion to prevent future suffering.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-09-05 Trance of the Unreal Other 1:22:49
Tara Brach
We are conditioned to perceive people as unreal others- two dimensional characters who lack sentience, vulnerability and goodness. This is often most insidious when we filter people through demeaning culturally driven stereotypes. This talk explores the suffering of living in a trance that separates us from others, and how our practices of mindfulness and compassion enable us to experience what Thoreau calls the "miracle" of seeing through another's eyes, if only for a moment.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-08-29 Intimacy with Our Inner Life 1:18:49
Tara Brach
Jung wrote that our suffering arises from the unseen, unfelt parts of our psyche. This talk explores ways we can establish a healing presence by recognizing and communicating with the parts of our being that we habitually ignore or judge.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-08-22 Part 2: 1000 Serious Moves 1:21:27
Tara Brach
We easily habituate to feeling stressed, leaning forward, trying to figure things out and get things done. The undercurrent is we are living reactively--resisting unpleasant experience, seeking out more comfort and ease--perpetually wanting life to be different than it is. In response to this confined way of living, the Buddha invites us to discover our innate capacity for happiness, the well-being that arises in full presence. These two talks explore the ways we get caught in the trance of reactivity and grimness, and the pathways to unconditioned happiness.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-08-15 Part 1: 1000 Serious Moves 1:26:15
Tara Brach
We easily habituate to feeling stressed, leaning forward, trying to figure things out and get things done. The undercurrent is we are living reactively--resisting unpleasant experience, seeking out more comfort and ease--perpetually wanting life to be different than it is. In response to this confined way of living, the Buddha invites us to discover our innate capacity for happiness, the well-being that arises in full presence. These two talks explore the ways we get caught in the trance of reactivity and grimness, and the pathways to unconditioned happiness.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-08-08 Real But Not True 1:18:24
Tara Brach
One of the most liberating realizations is that we don't have to believe our thoughts. In this talk we look at the suffering caused by limiting beliefs--"I am unworthy, unlovable, unsafe"--and the process by which we open into the full aliveness and potential of our being.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-08-01 Back to the Garden 1:16:45
Tara Brach
The suffering of perceiving ourselves as separate selves expresses as fear, aggression, shame and a host of other afflictive emotions. This talk examines how, by taking refuge in the present moment, and taking refuge in love, we reconnect with our wholeness, and the timeless presence that is home. This inquiry includes a guided meditation on the power of prayer to carry us back to our natural belonging.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-07-25 Listening with an Awake Heart 1:15:48
Tara Brach
Listening to our inner life and each other is the grounds of healing, intimacy and love. This talk explores the challenges to offering a listening presence, and the qualities of open receptivity and interest that nourish true communicating.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-07-04 Part 2 - Freedom: Taking the Backward Step 57:54
Tara Brach
This talk investigates the core conditioning that creates and sustains trance. We then explore two gateways to realizing and inhabiting our true nature - inquiry and letting go.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-06-27 Part 1 - Freedom: Seeing Who Is Looking Through the Mask 1:12:19
Tara Brach
We suffer when we are identified with our egoic conditioning and unable to recognize the spirit - the love and awareness - that animates our own and all beings. In this talk we explore how recognizing our vulnerability and basic goodness helps us to see through the mask and realize who is here.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-06-20 Cultivating Equanimity (Duck Meditation) 1:14:14
Tara Brach
Equanimity, the mindful presence that neither grasps nor resists experience, is the grounds for unconditional love and wise action. This talk explores the conditioning that entraps us in reactivity, and two primary pathways for coming home to this natural state of balance and presence.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-06-13 Committing to Joy 69:04
Tara Brach
What makes joy rare? How do we awaken this beautiful capacity to embrace life? In this talk we explore the obstacles to joy and the attitude and practices that free us to "love what is."
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-06-06 Cultivating Compassion 1:15:00
Tara Brach
We each have the potential to live with a compassionate, open heart. In this talk we explore the conditioning that closes us off to authentic caring, and the ways of deepening our attention that help us live to include widening circles of beings in our heart.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-05-30 Intimacy with Life - Awakening Love 67:10
Tara Brach
The Buddha taught about four Divine Abodes--dwelling places of the awakened heart mind: lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. In this four-part series, we will explore the ways our conditioning blocks us from these expressions of inner freedom, and the understandings and practices that enable us to inhabit our full potential.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-05-23 Training for Intimacy with Life 69:00
Tara Brach
"Enlightenment is intimacy with all things" teaches Zen Master Dogen. While we long for this intimacy, we are conditioned to avoid the vulnerability and fear that an intimate presence can arouse. This talk explores how our mindfulness and heart practices cultivate the capacity to be intimate with our sensations of aliveness, our emotions and the beings in our life.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2012-05-16 Part 2 - The Lion's Roar 1:13:31
Tara Brach
The Buddha taught that faith--trust in our true nature--is intrinsic to the spiritual path and the expression of wisdom. These two talks investigate the practices of presence that awaken our faith and the freedom that arises when our faith becomes radiant and full.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

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