Prayer is a communing with our enlarged being. This talk examines less conscious forms of prayer, and how we can evolve the power of our prayers by opening into the depth of our longing, and reaching toward our true belonging.
You’ll be guided through a reflection on spacious awareness (open focus meditation) and a reflection on the immeasurable qualities of the heart. From the IMCW Spring Retreat.
Awake awareness includes both the foreground of bodily sensations, thoughts, feelings and sounds, and the background of open, still presence. In this meditation we explore discovering interior space and aliveness, and the continuous space that all existence arises and passes in. Resting as a boundless sea of awareness, we are fully open to the changing waves of experience.
This talk explores how you can naturally integrate the paradox of the ‘doing’ and ’surrender’ practices in meditation.
You’ll learn how concentration practice dramatically cultivates not only your capacity to observe all that changes without judgement, but also how you can intimately investigate challenges that arise and ultimately, how to surrender into effortless awareness.
Tara gives brief instructions on the forgiveness practice, then guides us through a process of forgiveness of ourselves and others.
“Forgiving is a movement of your heart not to carry aversive hatred or blame. That you can care about someone and still create boundaries… Each of you has this wisdom, heart, being place that intuits that there really isn’t freedom in the moments that you’re carrying blame and judgment.”
Question and Response from Retreat ~ After morning meditation, Tara responds to questions on deepening our meditation practice, working with unpleasant and pleasant thoughts, and forgiveness from the IMCW 2016 Spring Residential Retreat.
Shifting our relationship with fear is central to the evolution of consciousness. Our suffering arises when our thoughts, feelings and sense of identity are shaped by fear. As we learn to attend to fear with mindfulness and care, we discover the vast tender presence that has room for the waves, and can fully cherish this life.
Life’s waters flow 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…
The moon appears for night travelers, be watchful when the moon is full.
- rumi
- from the first morning of the IMCW 2016 Spring weeklong retreat, Tara offers a short introductory meditation with a body scan, bringing focus to the breath, sounds, then resting in awareness.
