Joy is both a Factor of Enlightenment and one of the four Divine Abodes. Today, as we are bombarded with news that heightens our fear and sadness about the world, more than ever it’s vital to understand the importance of joy as a central aspect of spiritual practice. We need to remember how to stay connected to that place inside that makes life worth living. In this session we explore principles and practices from the teachings to incline the mind towards true well-being.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of October 2, 2023
This week’s topic is “Wholehearted Presence”. Meeting experience as it unfolds with presence and interest, we uncover the wellbeing and freedom available to us on the Dharma path. Through this week’s exploration we will open to what supports a wholehearted approach to practice, and understand what is nourished and cultivated when we relate to experience in this way.
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Joy is Always Available
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July 13, 2025 On autopilot, our mind often resists opening to joy with: “But right now in my life, there is …” So we explore what stands in our way of the unexpected ordinariness of joy. We’ll discover how the awakening factor of meditative joy (piti) illuminates our capacity to open to delight and rapture, allowing our hearts…
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The Unguarded Heart: Meeting Anger and Resentment with Love and Forgiveness
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April 1, 2018 In this talk, we explore anger, resentment, jealousy, and other difficult emotions – learning how to see clearly and meet anger with true love and acceptance. We explore our misunderstandings about anger and learn how to cultivate the compassionate presence that offers a vast and courageous expression of love. Compassion’s perception of anger is more…
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The Joy of Letting Go: Simplicity and Renunciation
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July 6, 2025 In our consumer culture, we fall for the illusion that more choice-in things, work, people, even spiritual paths-leads to more freedom, when often the opposite is true. As Jack Kornfield says, we live “in an era of unlimited desires but limited resources, when we think it’s the opposite.” More mindful awareness of our consumption isn’t…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of June 7, 2021
This week’s theme is: Mudita – Celebrating Aliveness. Our hearts possess infinite capacities: they can express friendship in the most surprising circumstances and turn with tenderness and care to those who suffer. But aside from kindness and compassion, there is also the potential for deep appreciation, ease, delight and joy within us. While such perspectives are always available, the access might be blocked by voices of doubt, shame or negativity. In the upcoming weekly sessions, we strengthen our capacity to find nourishing perspectives and to rejoice in the beauty within and around us with the help of guided meditations and practices for everyday life.
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Muditā: Appreciative Joy
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November 20, 2022 Of the four traditional heart qualities in Buddhism, appreciative joy – muditā – gets less attention than lovingkindness (mettā), compassion (karuṇā), or equanimity (upekkhā). But the cultivation of sincere joy at the success of another greatly enriches our well-being and happiness. We will explore this powerful form of joy together, as well as what blocks…
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Mindfulness and the Four Noble Truths
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July 16, 2023 Across all Buddhist lineages and traditions, the four noble truths hold the utmost importance. They are the Dharma’s most fundamental teaching. In modern society, the focus of Buddhism often shifts to meditation, particularly mindfulness, as the practice continues to be integrated into contemporary culture. How can we bring the teachings of the four noble truths…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Gail Aylward – Week of 09 March, 2026
This week’s theme is: Kindness Begins Within
This week, we will explore kindness as a gentle strength of body, heart and mind where we can learn to meet our thoughts and feelings, meet ourselves and others with warmth rather than judgment. As this inner kindness deepens, it naturally flows outward, shaping how we speak, listen, and move through the world.
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