A river of presence flows through all of life, connecting us with ourselves and each other and the essence of living. In this session, let’s open to a direct experience of this clear, wakeful presence. The practice of embodied, mindful meditation opens the possibility to understand and transform our habits of dissatisfaction and distraction and invites spaciousness and openness into our day-to-day lives. Becoming intimate, moment by moment, with living reality expands our life-perspective and attunes us to what really matters in life. In this session Leela would like to explore with you mind-heart-body fullness and the possibility to unwind our physical and mental contractions, and the unveiling of our innate capacities for joy, freedom and contentment.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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Faith and confidence: the first spiritual faculty.
Recorded :
September 4, 2016 Faith, confidence, and trust are English translations for the Pali term saddhā. In this talk, Shaila Catherine explores the cultivation of saddhā as an aid to awakening and as the first in the list of spiritual faculties that include faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom.
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Liberation through the Heart (Citta Vimmuti)
Recorded :
June 28, 2020 Most people associate Dharma practice with the concept of Wisdom. Here, the idea is that we need to “know” something that we don’t already know. For English thinking minds this can become very problematic and can turn our practice into a cognitive or intellectual endeavor. With the earliest teachings of the Dharma we see that…
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The Kindness of Softness and Space
Recorded :
December 1, 2024 Softness and spaciousness can be cultivated and called upon when needed.The sensations of softness are reflective of ease and equanimity – the feeling of spaciousness, reflective of non-clinging. Both create a natural letting go, flow and arising of love, kindness and tenderness.Embodiment offers a broad range of skillful means. We’ll invite these qualities and directly…
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Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind
Recorded :
April 24, 2022 Shaila will be sharing teachings from her new book, Beyond Distraction. This talk will introduce five pragmatic strategies to help you overcome distraction in meditation and develop clarity in relationships, work, and daily life. The strategies are: replacing, examining, ignoring, investigating, and resolving. You can learn to unlock the incredible capacities of your mind to think…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of Dec 6, 2021
Daily meditations with Martin Aylward.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Sophie Boyer – Week of 01 December, 2025
This week’s theme is: Before Reactivity
Desire and ill-will very often drive our experience without being noticed. Learning to stay in the space before it arises, no matter how uncomfortable it can be is the entry point that leads to resilience. This week Sophie Boyer invites us to explore some ways to become more familiar with that space and experience the freedom that emerge from it. Resilience as a space of non-reactivity.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of May 15 – 19, 2023
Daily meditations with Martin Aylward.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of May 8, 2023
This week’s theme is “Shedding Light on Darkness”. In the Buddhist tradition, we find three psycho-physical dynamics which bring together suffering, stress and dissatisfaction. Beside aggression and wanting, the root of moha, often translated as ignorance, delusion or blindness, can be tricky to understand and practice. What are we blind to? What do we need to see and understand? How can we potentially see our blind spots? How can we prepare ourselves for that which we might discover? We dedicate this week of practice to discovering the different aspects of ignorance and learn practical steps to look deeply yet with kind eyes.
Discussion