Tara Brach

2011-05-11 - The Buddha's Spiritual Awakening: A Myth For Us All! - In this telling of the Buddha's story, we find archetypes that reveal a universal path of awakening and freedom. We explore how each of us has the potential to realize the loving and radiant awareness that is our source. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donation makes a difference! Thank you!

2011-05-01 - Remembering Love (from IMCW Spring Retreat) - The habit of self-judgment not only causes emotional pain, it creates a trance that obscures the purity and vastness of our Being. This talk explores how a wakeful and forgiving heart can heal and free us. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donation makes a difference! Thank you!

2011-04-27 - The Blessings of Embodied Awareness - One expression of our suffering is homelessness--feeling cut off from the presence and aliveness that is our source. This talk explores the existential and cultural forces that foster disconnection from our physical and energetic being, the practices that enable us to embrace our unlived life and the gifts of homecoming. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donation makes a difference! Thank you!

2011-04-20 - Part 2 -- Realizing True Well-being - Buddhist psychology and the Western oriented field of positive psychology agree: How we pay attention determines whether we live primarily in fear and judgment, or happiness and peace. This two part series explores the teachings, practices and attitudes that enable us to live a meaningful life with a heart that is "happy for no reason." Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donation makes a difference! Thank you!

2011-04-13 - Part 1 -- Realizing True Well-being - Buddhist psychology and the Western oriented field of positive psychology agree: How we pay attention determines whether we live primarily in fear and judgment, or happiness and peace. This two part series explores the teachings, practices and attitudes that enable us to live a meaningful life with a heart that is "happy for no reason." Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donation makes a difference! Thank you!

2011-03-30 - Part 2: The Healing Power of Self-Compassion - Learning to hold our own lives with a gentle compassion is a key element in all emotional healing and spiritual awakening. This two part series explores the suffering of being at war with ourselves and the pathway to freeing our hearts. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donation makes a difference! Thank you!

2011-03-23 - Part 1: The Healing Power of Self-Compassion - Learning to hold our own lives with a gentle compassion is a key element in all emotional healing and spiritual awakening. This two part series explores the suffering of being at war with ourselves and the pathway to freeing our hearts. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Your donation makes a difference! Thank you!

2011-03-16 - Impermanence: the Gifts of Facing Reality - Only by opening our hearts to change and loss can we live and love fully. Yet much of our life is organized around finding ground-- avoiding the insecurity of change, loss and death. This talk explores how our ways of grasping and resisting remove us from the spontaneity and aliveness, the love and wisdom, that is our human potential. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2011-03-09 - Trusting Our Secret Beauty - When caught in emotional suffering, we sense that we are living from a reactive, contracted place, and don't trust or like ourselves. This talk explores the severed belonging that is the genesis of that doubt, and the two wings of mindful presence and love that carry us home to our natural wholeness and goodness of Being. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2011-03-02 - Healing into Life and Death - Given the universal truth that these bodies get sick and they die, what allows us to find freedom, happiness and peace in the midst? This talk explores how, when we get caught in the suffering that arises from physical sickness, we can take refuge in presence and love. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2011-02-23 - When We are Lost - It's part of our make up to get lost in the trance of thinking-- to believe our thoughts to be real and to live in the story of a separate, endangered self. It is also our capacity to recognize our trance and choose presence. This talk explores how the practice of pausing and arriving in the aliveness of our senses opens us to our natural compassion and wisdom, and enables us to experience the great mystery we are part of. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2011-02-16 - The Sure Heart's Release - Our longing is to realize and embody loving presence, yet we each have deeply conditioned habits that bind our hearts. This talk reflects on these habits, and explores how we can free ourselves by bringing a mindful, compassionate attention to places where we are most trapped in feeling separate, fearful and unworthy. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2011-02-09 - The Sure Heart's Release - Our longing is to realize and embody loving presence, yet we each have deeply conditioned habits that bind our hearts. This talk reflects on these habits, and explores how we can free ourselves by bringing a mindful, compassionate attention to places where we are most trapped in feeling separate, fearful and unworthy. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

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. This talk was given at the IMCW New Year's Retreat. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2011-01-19 - Inviting Life's Difficulties to Tea - One of the most illuminating themes in the Buddha's life story was the regular appearance of Mara--god of selfishness and greed, anger and fear, doubt and shame. Each time Mara surfaced, the Buddha's response was to say "I see you Mara," and invite him to tea. This talk explores how such unconditional friendliness and wisdom can bring healing and freedom to our lives. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2011-01-12 - The flag of trance is identifying as a separate, deficient self. This talk explores how developmentally we can get fixated on fears and unmet needs and cut off from the wholeness of Being that is our true nature. We explore the power of mindfulness --seeking not to change but to understand--and the expression of that understanding as love. The talk includes guided reflections that can help us recognize and awaken from the confines of trance. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2011-01-05 - This talk invites a contemplation of three archetypal domains of spiritual awakening: Buddha-awareness, Dharma- truth (the way things are), and Sangha-loving relatedness. We explore our habit of turning toward false refuges, and the way we can find refuge in that which truely heals our hearts and frees our mind. The evening ends with a living ritual of dedicating ourselves to each of these three gateways to awakening. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-12-29 - Awakening arises out of presence with the changing ground of our lives. This talk explores three key gateways to liberating presence: Forgiveness, inner fire (aspiration) and a deep inquiry into the nature of our own mind. This talk was given at the IMCW New Year's Retreat. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2009-09-02 - A critical question on the spiritual path is how we can bring the loving presence awakened by meditation into every facet of daily life. This talk explores the conditioning that keeps us in reactive trance and the ways we can deepen our attention and align our lives with our hearts. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-12-15 - The source of our suffering is that we become identified with egoic roles and defenses that separate us from the truth of what we are. This talk explores some of the constricting identities that we take on, and the process of compassionate presence that reconnects us with our natural vitality, openheartedness and wisdom. We then enlarge our focus to seeing past the veil that obscures the sacred presence that shines through all beings. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-12-08 - Prayer, when cultivated consciously, energizes and guides us on the spiritual path. This talk investigates the difference between wanting, with it's narrow fixation, and the prayer that arises out of our deep heart's longing. We explore how living prayer, the prayer that arises from consciously inhabiting longing, can carry us home to loving presence. As John O'Donahue writes, prayer is the bridge between longing and belonging. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-12-08 - This guided meditation was given as a prelude to the December 8th talk on "Ask the Friend for Love." Find more of Tara's guided meditations on www.tarabrach.com. Sign up for her new email list there, too.

2010-11-17 - This guided meditation was given as a prelude to the November 17th talk on "A Listening Presence." Find more of Tara's guided meditations on www.tarabrach.com. Sign up for her new email list there, too.

2010-11-24 - Loving Life: Gratitude and Generosity - Love is innate, and blossoms as we intentionally cultivate it. This talk on two natural expressions of loving life--gratitude and generosity--includes several guided reflections that awaken the heart. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-11-17 - A Listening Presence - Three Domains of Training - Cultivating the capacity for listening is essential to loving well and to realizing the truth of who we are. This talk focuses on three key facets of deep listening--non-distractedness, not-controlling and seeking to understand-- that can awaken an intimacy with our inner life and others. Guided meditations on listening precede and are included within the body of the talk. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-11-10 - Releasing Karmic Patterns - We all have conditioned patterns of thinking and behaving that keep us identified as a separate, deficient self. This talk investigates the roots of this conditioning and ways that pausing and awakening mindfulness can free us to live from our inherent love and wisdom. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-11-03 - Part 4 - Living from Presence - Our human potential is to express the wings of presence--mindfulness and lovingkindness--through all facets of daiy living. This talk explores the practices that enable us to both serve and savor this precious life. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-10-27 - Part 3 - Mindfulness of Thoughts - The primary element in meditation is training to awaken from the trance of thoughts. This class explores two key ways that mindfulness supports this awakening. The first is using wise reflection to discern if thoughts are imprisoning us in fear or serving healing and freedom. The second is recognizing when we are in the virtual reality of thinking, and learning to "come back" to living presence. It is by inhabiting this non-conceptual presence that we have access to the love, wisdom and freedom that we cherish. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-10-20 - Part 2 - Mindfulness of Emotions - Our conditioning is to live in a reactive trance of either resisting or become possessed by strong emotions. This reactivity fuels a trance of being separate from others, and feeling defective and insecure. In this class we explore how to free ourselves from this suffering by bringing a mindful and kind awareness to the stories and feelings that make up our emotional life. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-10-13 - Part 1 - The Art and Science of Meditation - Introductory Series - The first session defines meditation and describes the Buddhist teachings that give a context to the path of practice. We explore the two basic types of meditation--concentration and mindfulness--and then focus on the ground of mindfulness training: bringing mindful attention to the breath and bodily sensations. Guided meditations include setting intention and the sacred pause; learning to "come back" using an anchor of the breath; and "being here" with an embodied presence. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2007-10-03 - The Path of Peace - Awakening from the Trance of Separation - We all have conditioning that can keep us at war with our inner life, and fuel violence in the world. These universal tendencies can block our natural attunement and capacity to respond with compassion to life. The practices of presence allow us to recognize this conditioning and awaken to the truth of our connectedness, to the wisdom and love that make peace possible. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-09-29 - Loving the Earth - How is it possible that we humans have wreaked such havoc on this planet, on the web of life that we belong to? This talk explores the ways that egoic consciousness can lead to violating life, and how evolving consciousness can move us toward healing this earth. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-09-15 - Be All That You Are - We are conditioned to live in stories that obscure the vastness, goodness and mystery of what we are. This talk explores the ways we construct a limited self-identity and the pathways to realizing and living from a fullness of our Being. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-09-08 - Equanimity - Cultivating equanimity means awakening our capacity to meet the winds of life with a non-reactive, open, balanced presence. The gift of this presence is that we can see clearly what is happening within and around us, and respond with wisdom, creativity and compassion. This talk looks at our habits of reacting, and the ways we can come home to equinimity in the midst of life's challenges. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-09-01 - Joy - Joy is an innate capacity, one of the primary expressions of an awakened heart and mind. Yet because of our conditioned patterns of thought and emotion, this capacity for openness, happiness and full aliveness can be obscured. This talk guides us in how to nurture joy through a commited presence that unfolds into "loving what is." Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-08-25 - Compassion - Responding to Suffering with Care - Our capacity to respond to ourselves and our world with compassion is the essence of all healing and spiritual awakening. This talk explores the trance of separation that blocks our natural compassion, and includes guided practices that enable us to directly cultivate a compassionate heart. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-08-18 - Metta - Lovingkindness - This talk explores what gets in the way of loving presence and the training that awakens and frees our hearts. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-08-11 - The roots of peace and war are within these very hearts. In the moments that we release blame, we reconnect with the compassionate presence that heals ourselves and others as well. This talk includes a meditation that guides us in awakening our capacity to forgive. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-08-04 - Holding ourselves with a compassionate, forgiving heart is the gateway to healing, and to intimacy with our world. This talk explores our deep conditioning to be at war with ourselves, and the insights and elements of forgiving that can carry us home to loving presence. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-07-28 - If we investigate, we will find that much suffering arises out of mistrust--of ourselves, others and life. This talk explores the genesis of the great challenges of doubt and mistrust, and the pathway to trusting the goodness that is our essence. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-07-21 - For many of us, the most apparent junctures of spiritual transformation are spurred on by challenging life situations. This talk looks at how our conscious aspiration for awakening, and our practice of mindful presence, can help us find peace, compassion and freedom when difficulties arise. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2007-12-19 - In Buddhism, lovingkindness is considered a divine abode, our true home. This talk explores how we can recognize the mask that covers insecurity, inhabit our essential goodness of Being, and let ourselves touch and be touched by love. This awakening into wholeheartedness is the true revolution. Please donate at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Thank you!

2010-07-07 - The Buddha taught that "Everything is based on mind, is led by mind, is fashioned by mind." This talk explores how our intention and attention can tap into the living awareness that is our source, and give rise to healing of body, heart and spirit.

2007-10-31 - We are designed to respond to stress with flight/fight/freeze and this can proliferate and then harden into our ongoing response to life. The practice of presence, of recognizing and relaxing with what is arising, can cut through this conditioning and gift us with the realization of our true nature and the capacity to love fully.

2008-02-06 While we all want to be happy, our habitual ways of pursuing happiness leave us dissatisfied. What prevents us from being happy? What is true happiness? How do we relax and open to the blessings of our life that are always and already here? Though these reflections we explore together our potential to live from a profound place of inner freedom, peace and happiness.

2010-06-09 - When we experience others through a conditioned lens of wants and fears, and of unexamined beliefs, we react in ways that cause distance and sometimes obvious injury. This talk explores how we create separation from others, and the ways we can awaken from this trance and live from genuine empathy and wisdom.

2010-06-02 - While fear is essential to survival, it can also strangle our capacity to live fully and awaken spiritually. These two talks explore how fear takes over our lives, and the ways we can train our attention to free ourselves from its grip.

2010-05-26 - While fear is essential to survival, it can also strangle our capacity to live fully and awaken spiritually. These two talks explore how fear takes over our lives, and the ways we can train our attention to free ourselves from its grip.

2010-05-19 - The Buddha taught that becoming identified with "wanting mind" obscures our true nature and binds us in suffering. This talk explores a wise attitude in relating to desire, and offers three pathways towards freedom: Mindfulness of "wanting mind," trancing back desire to its source, and radical non-clinging.

2010-05-12 - While desire is intrinsic to life, it can contract into the craving that traps us in suffering. This talk explores how we seek happiness yet become habituated to false refuges--substitutes like over- consuming food, dependent relationships, approval, achieving--that can never bring happiness. Our freedom becomes possible when we forgive the ways we get hooked, and offer a deep, mindful attention to the energies of craving and clinging.