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

Dancing with the Devil – Coming Home in the Midst of our Emotional Storms

With Nirmala Werner recorded on June 27, 2021.

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

There is a big emphasis in our society on doing good and being right. But rather than trying harder, being perfect and becoming a “better person” what about embracing ourselves just as we are, with all of our emotions — with our light, and with our shadow? In this talk we explore an all-inclusive approach to meditation and discover how we can bring the Noble Path of the Buddha into our daily lives.

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

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Nirmala Werner

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of 22 September, 2025

    We’re grateful to have Nirmala Werner guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May they support and deepen your practice.

    This week’s theme is: The Still Heart: Cultivating Equanimity in an Unsteady World

    In a world marked by constant change, uncertainty, and emotional intensity, equanimity can seem like a distant ideal-or even a form of indifference. But in the Buddhist tradition, equanimity (upekkhā) is not cold or passive. It is the spacious, steady heart that knows how to stay open, grounded, and present with whatever life brings.

    In this week we will explore equanimity as a deep source of inner freedom-neither detached nor reactive, but wise, loving, and awake.

    Through daily reflection and embodied practice, we will ask:

    What is true equanimity, and what is it not?

    How can we meet change without losing our ground?

    How do we love and let go-at the same time?

    And how can we live with a still heart in a restless world?

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

    Read More

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Milla Gregor – Week of June 20, 2022

    This week’s topic is Skills for Inner and Outer Transformation. Dharma practice gives us great tools for inner and interpersonal change. It’s empowering to explore how these can also be useful for social and environmental transformation. We will tour such qualities, including equanimity (upekkha), non-self (anatta), and sukha (yes, pleasure!). Together, we will draw on both traditional and more contemporary voices to show how your skills as a practitioner could be vital to the work of changing the world.

    Read More

  • Kaira Jewel Lingo

    Staying Open Through Change, Loss and Disruption

    When we are faced with suffering and uncertainty or life becomes overwhelming we can tense up, resist or try to control. But when we open and let go in the midst of change and release expectations we get in touch with enormous possibility and a powerful freedom.

    Read More

  • Nirmala Werner

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of Jan 23 – 27, 2023

    This week’s theme is “5 Doorways to Love”. What hinders our love? Where are we blocked? Desire, anger, dullness, restlessness and doubt are the so-called 5 hindrances: qualities in the mind which obstruct mindfulness and love. At the same time, when we approach them wisely, they can serve as a beautiful guide towards liberation. During this week we will explore the treasures of these qualities for our meditation and our daily life.

    Read More

  • Nina la Rosa

    Two Wings to Fly – Cultivating Both Wisdom and Compassion

    In traditional Theravada Buddhism it’s said that for one to truly experience freedom one needs to engage in the practices of both wisdom and compassion. Like a bird that needs two wings to fly, wisdom and compassion are two necessary parts on the path to a well-rounded enlightenment. At first glance, practices that cultivate loving-kindness…

    Read More

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Caverly Morgan – Week of June 15

    We’re very grateful to have Caverly Morgan hosting our Daily Meditation Series for North America. To find out more about Caverly, and to view her past recordings and contributions to Sangha Live, click here. Monday, June 15 Clearing and grounding breath for anxiety and fear Wednesday, June 17 Chakra balancing breath practice Friday, June 19…

    Read More

  • Christelle Bonneau

    Truth and surrender.

    Worldwide Insight talk from Christelle Bonneau: “Truth and Surrender”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.

    Read More

  • Cultivating Wise Energy

    Everything we do in life depends on energy, but the modern world has a destructive and exploitative relationship with energy. What is wise, balanced energy in spiritual practice? How can we establish this in the face of societal pressure and norms, and how can it be a resource in our daily life?

    Read More