Our founding and guiding teacher Martin Aylward reflects on the importance of being nourished and uplifted by our practice. He looks at the nature of happiness and our sometimes difficult relationship with pleasure; explore opening up to joy, and point to ways in which dharma practice is fulfilling and freeing.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of April 8, 2024
This week’s theme is “All Life is Practice”. In this week of exploring the four noble truths together, we will take a good look at the eightfold path and relate it to our own practice. Together we explore how all of our daily life can be seen as a part of a spiritual journey and heal the dualism between “practice” and “life”. May this week provide us with an inspiring expansion of what practice means for us.
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The Dharma of Sex and Intimacy
Recorded :
February 23, 2025 Do your dharma insights seem to fall apart in the face of romantic connection? Are you wondering what mindfulness means when it comes to sex and intimacy? As a monastic, the Buddha had little to teach on this topic, but as modern practitioners we can engage our practice to deepen our relationships and experience a…
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Samadhi: The Reliable Path to Wisdom, Joy and Happiness
Recorded :
June 9, 2024 Samadhi is the art of nourishing, gathering, and collecting the heart. Highly regarded by the Buddha, this practice relies on honesty and wisdom, reliably leading to joy and happiness, and inclines the heart towards the depth of the path. In this session, we will open a door to cultivating this skill.
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The voiceless voice of awareness.
Recorded :
June 26, 2016 How often does it seem that the master of your life is the conditioned mind? To what degree does this mind of limitation color your experience? When the conditioned mind reigns, it becomes difficult to hear the still, small, voice within. This voice could also be talked about as the voiceless voice of awareness itself….
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How to Find Equanimity Amidst Upheaval
Recorded :
May 3, 2020 We are deeply habituated to seek equanimity as if it’s a state to be found. In times of crisis, stakes are high. We try harder. The more desperate we feel, the more effort we put in. In this striving, we forget to ask: “Who is it that’s striving?” This question isn’t about finding the right…
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Fierce & Tender: The Dance of Self-Compassion
Recorded :
July 5, 2026 True Self-Compassion is more than just gentle comfort; it is a dynamic balance of nurturing care and protective, motivating strength. While the tender side soothes our pain, the fierce dimension provides the courage to stand up for our needs and take…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of Sept 12, 2022
This week’s topic is (Be)Come As You Are. Our driven-ness, our ruminating thoughts, and our feelings of shame, guilt, and anxiety never allow us to simply ‘be’. They evolve around a sense of identity , a process the Buddha called selfing (bhava), a form of suffering (dukkha). We are endlessly trapped in a narrative of who we think we ought to be, were in the past and should be in the future.
We will dedicate our shared time together to build an awareness of these processes and find alternative ways to relate to the many experiences of life.
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Overcoming obstacles.
Recorded :
May 31, 2015 Worldwide Insight talk from Shaila Catherine: “Overcoming Obstacles”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.
Discussion