|
Dharma Talks
given at Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
|
2018-05-16
Meditation – Resting in Breath, Relaxing into Life
21:21
|
|
Tara Brach
|
|
| This meditation invites us to collect our attention with a calming breath, and then with the senses as a home base, settle into presence. The reminders encourage a letting go of thoughts, shifting from virtual reality into the aliveness of moment-to-moment experience. In that letting go into life we find the stillness, wakefulness and openness of our true nature. |
|
IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
|
|
|
2018-05-16
Seeing Basic Goodness – Part 1
52:37
|
|
Tara Brach
|
|
| Most of us long to trust our goodness, but get caught in stories of deficiency and striving to affirm we’re ok. These talks look at the block to realizing the loving awareness that is our essence, and the practices that help us see this essential goodness – in ourselves, dear ones and in those we might habitually consider different or “other.” Both talks include reflections that can help us appreciate the basic goodness that lives through these precious, changing forms.
“Saints are what they are, not because their sanctity makes them admirable to others, but because the gift of sainthood makes it possible for them to admire everyone else.” -Thomas Merton |
|
IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
|
|
|
2018-05-09
Meditation: Intimacy with Life
21:15
|
|
Tara Brach
|
|
| This guided meditation begins with a body scan, bringing the friendliness of a smile into the body, and waking up our awareness of aliveness. We widen the attention to include sound and then sense and rest in the awareness that holds all experience. Our reminders are to wake up from trance by reopening to our senses, allowing for a true intimacy with the life that lives through us. |
|
IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
|
|
|
2018-05-09
Eating Addiction: How Meditation Helps Free Us
54:01
|
|
Tara Brach
|
|
| Buddhist psychology views clinging as the source of suffering, and one of the great domains of clinging is compulsive overeating. For most of us the causes and conditions for compulsive overeating existed before we were born, during our early childhood, and in our surrounding society. We begin to release shame and self-aversion by realizing we are not alone in this suffering; and eating addiction is not “our fault.” The talk includes an exploration of how, through RAIN, we can bring mindfulness and self-compassion to compulsive eating, giving us more choice in our behavior. Ultimately we discover that this deep prison of suffering can become a portal to realizing the freedom our true nature. |
|
IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
|
|
|
2018-05-03
Disarming our Hearts: Letting go of Blame
63:29
|
|
Tara Brach
|
|
| Anger, judgment and blame create separation—from our inner life and our world. Only by releasing chronic blame can we free our hearts to truly give and receive love. This talk looks at the difference between healthy anger and the trance of blame, and through a set of reflections, teachings and stories, guides us in healing and freeing our hearts.
(from the Spring 2018 IMCW 7-Day Silent Retreat – previously unpublished) |
|
2018 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy with Life
|
|
|
2018-05-03
Meditation: The Silence That’s Listening
27:15
|
|
Tara Brach
|
|
| Listening to sounds is a powerful way to quiet the thinking mind and connect with the natural openness of awareness. In this guided meditation, we begin by opening to sound and then listening to and feeling the whole changing flow of life – allowing whatever is here to be just as it is. In the foreground, we notice the dance of sensations, thoughts, emotions…rising up and falling away. And in the background, a wakeful, receptive presence – the silence that is listening. When we let go of all doing and relax back into this alert stillness, we sense our true nature…our home.
In words from the Tibetan tradition: “Utterly awake, senses wide open. Utterly open, non-fixating, allowing awareness.” |
|
2018 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy with Life
|
|
|
2018-05-01
Meditation – Spring Morning on Retreat
33:46
|
|
Tara Brach
|
|
| In this guided meditation, we include an overview of different components of mindfulness practice. The reflection includes a body scan, establishing a home base for attention, and care in how to arrive in full presence after being lost in thought. We then explore opening mindfully to different experiences and the simple and liberating practice of “being here,” letting life be just as it is. |
|
2018 IMCW Spring Retreat: Intimacy with Life
|
|
|
