We’re fortunate that Martin Aylward has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK. To find out more about Martin, and to view his other contributions to Sangha Live, click here. Recordings will be posted by the end of the day of the live session.
Embodied and Awake: Meditations for Body, Heart and Mind.
Mind, body and emotion form a constant feedback loop. As the traditional teachings on mindfulness make clear, all three equally deserve our interested, caring attention. When mindfulness is balanced in this way our whole being benefits. Our practice this week will include some gentle movements and mindful breathing practices as a prelude to each day’s meditation. These can be done seated or standing, or adapted for lying down, according to your ability and levels of energy.
Each morning this week we’ll dive into one of the images from the natural world and daily life that the Buddha used to explain his teachings. Let’s see how how these similes and metaphors from the Buddhist texts can support our understanding and enrich our practice. We may also discover how practising with them can enhance our appreciation of the world around us.
Recorded :
Using the hagiography of the Bodhisattvas of Compassion, Wisdom, and Activity, let’s explore how to bring those ideals into our everyday life off the cushion. What can these perfections of compassion, wisdom and activity teach us about our own journey to practice-realization, and liberation.
This week’s theme is: The Seven Stages of Purification in Insight Meditation
The Seven Stages of Purification in Insight Meditation is a 5-day exploration of how insight naturally unfolds through practice, as described in the classical Theravāda map of purification. Each day will combine a short teaching with guided meditation, helping practitioners-whether new or experienced-recognize how challenge, insight, clarity, and release arise as part of a single, coherent developmental process. Rather than presenting the stages as goals to attain, this series offers them as an orienting framework: a way to understand what is already happening in your practice, normalize both ease and challenge, and cultivate confidence, patience, and continuity on the path of awakening.
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Recorded :
Maya Angelou once wrote: “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” James Baldwin reflected: “Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.” In The Wiz, Stephanie Mills sang: “When I think of home I think of…
Recorded :
Worldwide Insight talk from James Baraz: “Attitude to Practice”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.
This week’s theme is: Contentment Blockers
The Buddha named five key ways access to contentment is blocked, and gave clear and profound teachings that break through to the peace, joy, and freedom they obscure.
Our hearts and minds can be pulled into a mission of greed, or sucked into aversion and rejection. We often swing between restlessness and sluggishness. It is normal to doubt the possibility of developing our experience in more free and delightful ways.
This week we will explore the possibilities available to us to calm habitual patterns and invite vibrant-tranquility.
Recorded :
During the meditation and dharma talk Eden explores this Zen teaching by Suzuki Roshi: “When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.” How wholeheartedly are you showing up to life? What most helps you to remember that THIS IS IT? What helps you to see…