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Tara Brach's Dharma Talks at Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
Tara Brach
A pervasive but often invisible source of suffering in our culture is self-aversion. We are a busy culture, and we move through our life feeling anxious and dissatisfied, but not fully conscious of how we neglect or judge our inner experience. We suffer from a lack of belonging: to our own bodies, to each other and to the earth. When we practice Buddhist meditation, we learn how to listen deeply and hold our life tenderly.
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2024-10-09 Timeless Heart Wisdom for our Times – Tara Brach and Dan Harris 1:11:29
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How do we meet the violence and suffering in our world with a quality of openheartedness and wisdom? In this interview Dan and Tara look at the teachings from the Bodhisattva path (path of awakening beings), Tara’s early draw to this path, and the perspectives and practices that can help us all in responding to our world with as much clarity, equanimity and love as possible. Learn more about Dan Harris and subscribe to his new substack platform at https://www.danharris.com
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
2024-10-02 Meditation: Embodying Acceptance and Care 15:33
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This guided meditation helps us cultivate a friendly relationship with our experience. Using the image of a smile, we bring a gentle presence alive in our bodies, and then open to the heartspace that includes all facets of life. The meditation closes with a verse from poet, Dorothy Hunt, “Peace is this Moment Without Judgment.”
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
2024-10-02 The Courage to Say Yes – A Conversation with Tara and poet, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer 62:23
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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. The Unfolding, by Rosemerry Wahtola Tromer, will help you remember the loving that most matters, and to say Yes to this precious life. This is a wonderful gift to your own spirit, and for dear ones in your life! Order Rosemerry’s books, here!
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
2024-09-25 Guided Meditation: Resting in Knowing 20:57
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Behind the activity of thinking, and the ever-changing flow of sounds, sensations and feelings, there is a great and awake silence that holds all that unfolds. This space of awareness is our formless essence. Learning to open and rest into this alert, knowing vastness has the blessings of homecoming.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
2024-09-25 The Sacred Work of Bridging Divides – Teachings from Roshi Joan Halifax and Tara Brach 64:50
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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.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
2024-09-18 Meditation: Collecting, Unifying and Opening the Mind 25:05
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Collecting, unifying and opening the mind, we begin with a listening attention, noticing sounds that are here. Relaxing open and letting sounds wash through. With the same receptivity to sounds, listen to and feel the aliveness of the body. Listening to the breath as if you’re listening to the voice of a quiet loved one – really close in, tender attention – and including the background sounds. Not pushing away anything – a very open and relaxed, receptive attention.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
2024-09-18 Waking up from Bias: A Conversation with Tara and Anurag (Anu) Gupta 55:15
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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.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
2024-09-11 What is Love Asking from Us? A Conversation between Tara Brach & Gabor Maté 61:04
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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.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
2024-09-11 Meditation: A Witnessing, Kind Presence 19:52
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Starting with scanning through the body and awakening the senses, we then rest in presence, with the breath as a home base. The meditation invites an openness to whatever arises, and a gentle kind attention if we encounter physical or emotional pain. We end with a prayer that includes our own being and all beings.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
2024-09-11 Inner and Outer Democracy: The Practice of True Inclusion 52:25
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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.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC

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