Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

An Open Heart in Hell

With Martin Aylward recorded on September 4, 2022.

Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.

After a summer of extreme heat, drought and fire, we may well enter the autumn wondering how to manage the grief at our fragile and collapsing ecology. Taking the title An Open Heart in Hell from Nick Mulvey’s recent song “Prayer of my Own“, we’ll use this session to honour the pains of the heart without getting swallowed up by them, and will reflect on wisdom, fearlessness and love amidst the deepening crises of our world.

Listen to the audio version below, or click here to download the mp3.

Discussion

One thought on “An Open Heart in Hell”

  1. Thank you Martin.. This practice has been helpful. . Opening the heart ……today, I experienced my own decomposition… Embracing imperfection..Rosie

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Daigan Gaither

    Precepts as Orientation

    The 5 precepts often given to lay practitioners are (with positive instructions in parenthesis): I vow not to kill (Love and support all beings)I vow not to steal (generosity)I vow not to misuse sexuality (contentment)I vow not to lie (compassionate truthfulness)I vow not to intoxicate self or other (staying mindful) We can think of precepts…

    Read More

  • This Messy, Gorgeous Love: Buddhist Wisdom for Real Relationships

    Join Buddhist teachers Devon and Nico in exploring how ancient wisdom meets modern love. Drawing from their new book “This Messy, Gorgeous Love”, they’ll share practical insights on bringing mindfulness and compassion into the beautiful complexity of intimate relationships. “You have everything you need to thrive in the midst of difficulty – together, right now.”

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of 06 October, 2025

    We’re honored to have Martin Aylward offering our Daily Meditation sessions this week. We hope they are nourishing for your practice.

    This week’s theme is: Embracing Complexity and Contradiction

    A week of exploring and cultivating a life and practice of radical open-heartedness

    Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.

    Read More

  • Zohar Lavie

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of 01 June, 2026

    This week’s theme is: Joy in Practice; gladdening the heart in service of awakening

    Joy, gladness and delight are important factors on the path. They arise as fruits of the practice, but they are also skills that can be cultivated and developed. This week, we will reveal, align with and nourish these liberating qualities. Tasting for ourselves their impact on experience, in service to the wellbeing of all beings.

    Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.

    Read More

  • Vimalasara Mason-John

    The Wheel of Life

    Understanding the mental states that we cycle through moment to moment. Links referred to during the session: The Wheel of Life Five Basic Needs of the Heart meditation

    Read More

  • Relationship to time.

    Worldwide Insight talk from Christopher Titmuss: “Relationship to Time”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.

    Read More