Eros is life force, the energy that animates our being. Eros fills our spiritual life with vitality, our minds with creativity, our ideas with embodiment and our relating with rich intimacy. To live full lives we need access to eros; without it we become dry, rigid, flacid and withholding. Yet what place does it have in dharma practice? Traditional teachings caution us when it comes to desire, and the erotic is rarely mentioned in a positive light. This Sunday we’ll explore how to engage eros and desire in a deepening practice of insight and understanding, one that is rooted in the body and in service to life.
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Reverence is the Nature of My Love
Recorded :
October 9, 2022 The Diamond Sutra, possibly the oldest text on deep ecology, teaches that there are four notions that separate us from life that we must throw away: the concepts of self, lifespan, humans, and living beings. In this session we will learn practices that enable us to go beyond this limited perception of reality to touch how interconnected with all life we are.
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Skillful Ways to Work with Difficult Thoughts in Meditation
Recorded :
November 21, 2021 There’s a misconception that thoughts are a hindrance to deep meditation and tranquility. Especially during this ongoing challenging time, certain thoughts may be persistent and difficult to release. Yet, thoughts themselves are not the problem; it’s our relationship to them that determines whether or not they impede our meditation. In this session, we will explore a number of skillful ways to work with difficult or persistent thoughts in meditation to support inner well-being and clarity.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of December 12, 2022
This week’s topic is “Interwoven and Free”
The Buddha invited us to investigate our experience moment by moment. One of the key things we uncover as we do this is that separation is an illusion, and that we are deeply interwoven and interconnected with all beings and all things. This week we will disentangle the habitual knots of isolation and ignorance and open to the freedom available as we open our exploration of inter-being.
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Becoming a Bodhisattva
Recorded :
November 9, 2025 This talk will explore the archetype of the Bodhisattva— a being dedicated to waking up and cultivating wisdom and compassion for the sake of all beings. We will first see how it manifests itself in Buddhist history and teachings, and then tackle important questions: How is it relevant to the suffering in our current times?…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of January 02, 2023
This week’s topic is “Nourishing Intention”. Intention plays a key role in meditation practice, as well as in many areas of our lives. During this week of practice we will explore what supports the setting of wholesome intentions, and what supports sustaining them in ways that nourish well-being for ourselves, others and the world.
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How Does Meditation Support the Path of Awakening?
Recorded :
December 15, 2019 Scientists have documented some significant and measurable changes that occur as a result of meditation. But Buddhist practice is not limited to calm, pleasant, relaxing states of meditation. The liberating path includes a broad range of practices that produce a wide variety of benefits. We learn how we encounter the world of the senses; we…
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Refugia: Finding Sanctuary in Times of Crisis
Recorded :
September 1, 2024 We live in challenging times. Biologists speak of micro-systems where species sequester during times of crisis. They are called refugia. In times of uncertainty and fear, we too need refugia, places of spiritual safety where we can put down roots, grow and thrive. In this Sunday teaching, Willa invites us to explore the concept of…
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When did you stop breathing?
Recorded :
June 4, 2017 We could say that the Buddha was teaching us to breath again. It’s said that the prince Siddhartha was sitting under a Bodhi tree, practicing the anapanasati (the mindfulness of breathing) when he gained enlightenment and became awake, a Buddha. He was aware of the whole experience of breathing. Through breathing he trained the mind…
