Dharma Seed - Tara Brach's Dharma Talks at Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC

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Tara Brach's Dharma Talks at Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC

Tara Brach

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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.

The open space of compassion allows us to realize that our thoughts and emotions are not who we are; they are waves in our ocean. This gives us the freedom to live more wisely and love more fully.

For over thirty-five years, I've been exploring the awakening of awareness with yoga, meditation, a clinical psychology practice and relationships in spiritual community (sangha). Since the untying of emotional knots is an essential part of "waking up," it is natural for me to weave these elements into my Buddhist practice and teaching. With formal practice, and a genuine engagement in sangha, we can cultivate the qualities of heart and awareness that allow for deep emotional healing and spiritual freedom.

Buddhism guides us in slowing down, quieting and paying attention in an honest and caring way. Through our mindfulness and compassion practices, we establish a sense of intimacy and belonging to our life. We discover that there is no Buddha "out there." Rather, we realize that our true refuge is the wakefulness, openness and love of our own natural awareness.

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2018-01-31 Meditation: Beyond the Veil of Thinking 20:25	Download Listen
This meditation awakens us to the space and aliveness in these bodies, and to resting in wakeful openness. When we get lost in thought, we practice relaxing open, and exploring the gap between thoughts. By opening beyond the veil of thinking, we discover the Beingness that is home.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC : IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2018-01-31 Part 3 of 3 – Freedom from Othering: Undoing the Myths that Imprison Us 52:20	Download Listen
A primary source of our suffering is the conditioning to create “bad other,” or “inferior other.” This same conditioning leads us to creating a bad self and turn on ourselves. These three talks explore how we subscribe to societal myths and beliefs that perpetuate this “bad othering,” and “bad selfing.” They then guide us in bring a healing attention that can reveal the goodness that lives through all beings, and our innate connectedness. A core teaching is, “the boundary to who we include in our hearts is the boundary to our freedom.”
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC : IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2018-01-24 Part 2 of 3 – Freedom from Othering: Undoing the Myths that Imprison Us 48:52	Download Listen
A primary source of our suffering is the conditioning to create “bad other,” or “inferior other.” This same conditioning leads us to creating a bad self and turn on ourselves. These three talks explore how we subscribe to societal myths and beliefs that perpetuate this “bad othering,” and “bad selfing.” They then guide us in bring a healing attention that can reveal the goodness that lives through all beings, and our innate connectedness. A core teaching is, “the boundary to who we include in our hearts is the boundary to our freedom.”
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC : IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2018-01-24 Meditation: Resting in Reality 23:00	Download Listen
This guided practice awakens attention to sensations, sounds, space and aliveness, and encourages a continued “relaxing open” from thoughts into the living stream of experience. We are learning to recognize and rest in the moment to moment flow, “being reality,” at home in what we are.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC : IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2018-01-17 Meditation: Receiving Life with an Open Awareness 20:44	Download Listen
We begin with listening and then bring a receptive attention to experience the life of the body. We then open the attention to the whole field of sensations and sound, and rest in the openness and presence that includes all the changing currents of experience.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC : IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2018-01-17 Freedom from Othering: Undoing the Myths that Imprison Us – Part 1 46:54	Download Listen
A primary source of our suffering is the conditioning to create “bad other,” or “inferior other.” This same conditioning leads us to creating a bad self and turn on ourselves. These two talks explore how we subscribe to societal myths and beliefs that perpetuate this “bad othering,” and “bad selfing.” They then guide us in bring a healing attention that can reveal the goodness that lives through all beings, and our innate connectedness. A core teaching is, “the boundary to who we include in our hearts is the boundary to our freedom.”
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC : IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2018-01-10 Meditation: Space and Aliveness and Awareness 21:36	Download Listen
This meditation engages the breath in a way that it connects us with our energetic aliveness and the space that holds and is intrinsic to all life. A body scan using this breath opens us to the body as a field of aliveness. We then rest in the changing flow of experience, and the still presence that is our essence.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC : IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2018-01-10 Winds of Homecoming: How Intention Frees Our Heart 50:41	View Download Listen
The Buddha taught that we live our lives on the tip of intention, it is the seed of our future. This talk explores the difference between “limbic” intentions driven by grasping or fear, and intentions that are the call of our awakening heart. You will learn how to identify and shift from a “limbic” to wise intention, and several different ways you can more readily and regularly access your deepest aspiration.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC : IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2018-01-03 Three Gateways to Peace and Freedom 55:07	Download Listen
This talk explores the three archetypal refuges of truth, love and awareness. We look at the outer and inner aspects of each refuge, and then through guided reflections and a Refuge Ritual, deepen our commitment to the pathways that awaken our minds and free our hearts. NOTE: Includes a Refuge Ritual at the end of the talk – if you’d like to participate, you’ll need some red string. We use “Classic crochet thread, size 10 in red” about 36 inches per person – available at craft stores. Sing along with The Three Refuges Chant sheet (www.tarabrach.com/three-gateways-peace-freedom/)
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC : IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

2018-01-03 New Year’s Meditation: Awakening Loving Presence 22:26	Download Listen
Loving presence is an innate capacity, and it can be cultivated. This meditation begins with a scan arousing a relaxed tender presence in the body, then brings loving attention to our inner life, and in widening circles, to our world.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC : IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

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