2013-07-24 - Guided Meditation: A Listening, Receptive Presence

2010-10-13 - Introducción a la Meditación Parte 1: El Arte y Ciencia de la MeditaciónLa 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. Transcriptora: Sashi Gabrielle ([email protected])Traductora: Lara Cozzo ([email protected])Editora: Diana Bermudez ([email protected]) Voz: Diana María Holguín ([email protected])

2013-07-17 - Absolute Cooperation with the Inevitable - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-07-17 - Guided Meditation: Letting Life Be, Just As It Is

2013-07-10 - Skeleton Woman: Embracing This Living and Dying World - Based on a wonderful myth told by Clarissa Estes, this talk looks at the way we run from "lady death" and the blessings of opening our arms and heart. It is a repeat from 2009-10-07 and fits in well with Tara's topic for next week. If we can embrace the whole of our nature with unconditional presence - including the inevitability of change and loss--we discover deep wisdom and enduring love. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-09-19 Guided Meditation: Embodied Spirit

2013-07-03 - Part 2: Hope and the Spiritual Path - 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.

2013-07-04 - Guided Meditation: Beingness and Aliveness

2013-06-26 - Guided Meditation: The Dance of Aliveness

2013-06-26 - Part 1: Hope and the Spiritual Path - This talk looks at the difference between egoic hopes and fears, and the quality of hopefulness ("holy hope") that is an essential demension in spiritual experience.  We reflect on the three components of hope that serve awakening: Aspiration, Trust and Dedication of energy.

2009-05-07 - Bodhisattva Path - Widening Circles of Compassion - A bodhisattva (awakened being) is committed to relieving suffering and living life from an all inclusive loving presence. This shift of identity from a self centered focus to one of realizing our radical interdependence is a natural part of our spiritual evolution and represents the hope for healing our world. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

Tara is away this week. Enjoy a favorite talk from 12/9/2009. Spiritual practice reveals our belonging through bringing presence to three gateways: the aliveness of the present moment, loving relatedness, and the openness and lucidity of awareness itself. This talk includes guided meditations in exploring each gateway. Note: poem, "She Dreamed of Cows" is by Norah Pollard.

2013-05-29 - Practicing Meditation: "Getting Out Of Your Own Way" - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-05-22 - Being to Being - Loving Beyond the Trance - 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.

2013-05-15 Guided Meditation: Open, Wakeful Presence

2013-05-15 - Releasing the Barriors to Unconditional Loving - 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.

2013-05-08 - Meditation: Coming Home to Being - Enjoy the meditation prior to the talk at Tara's Wednesday night's class at RRUUC.

2013-05-08 - Remembering Being - 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.

2013-04-28 - Retreat Talk: Loving Ourselves - 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.

2013-04-24 - Letting Go Into Living and Dying - 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.

2013-04-17 - Entering the Mystery - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-04-10 - Heavenly Messengers - Tara interviews Frank Ostaseski, founder of Zen Hospice, on a contemplative approach to death and dying. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-04-03 - Part 3: Three Blessings - Looking In the Mirror - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-03-27 - Part 2: Three Blessings - Inner Fire - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2009-10-26 - (retreat talk) Self Compassion - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-03-13 - Part 1: Three Blessings of Awakening Consciousness - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2010-12-31 - Minting Gold - Embodying the Awakened Heart - Our core conditioning expresses as both a longing for love and the pain of not trusting we are loveable. This talk explores how we create the experience of separation, and the key meditative heart- trainings that lead us to realizing and living from the truth of our connectedness. NOTE: Snowed out on Wednesday, so offering a retreat talk from 2010. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2010-06-16 - The Fires of Loss - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-02-20 - Beyond the Interpreted World - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-02-13 - The Wings of a Liberating Presence - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-02-06 - Embodying True Refuge--Serving and Savoring Life - 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 Kirtan band with Guru Ganesha. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-01-30 - Remembering What Matters - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-12-29 - (retreat talk) The God Whom I Love is Inside - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-01-16 - Stepping Out of the Cave - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-01-09 - The Barriers to Loving Presence - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2013-01-02 - Finding True Refuge - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-12-31 - Meditation - Awakening Compassion - Our deepest wisdom and purest actions arise out of open-hearted presence. This meditation is drawn from the Tibetan tradition and carries us home to the vastness of loving presence. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-12-19 - Turning Toward the Light - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-12-12 - A Forgiving Heart - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-12-05 - A Forgiving Heart - Embracing our Inner Life - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-11-28 - Guided Meditation - A Forgiving Heart - Forgiveness is the letting go of armor we have erected around our heart. While forgiving is a life-long process, it can be engaged and deepened by practices such as the one offered here. The best attitude in approaching this meditation is one of gentleness and clear intention. Reflect on what matters to you, and then let go of any judgments or expectations as to how the meditation "should" unfold. Blessings! Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-11-21 - Gratitude and Generosity - Markings of Inner Freedom - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-11-14 - Hands Off the Controls - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-11-07 - Practical Dharma for Stressful Times - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-10-27 - Loving the Life Within Us (retreat talk) - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-10-17 - Question and Response with Tara - Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-10-10 - Part 2 - Wise Intention--Living in Truth - 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!

2012-10-03 - Part 1 - Wise Intention--the Compass of our Hearts - One of the most powerful spiritual practices in the world is to reflect on your hearts 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. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donations allow us to continue to freely offer the teachings!