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

Mindful Intentions: From Pressure to Growth

With Ulla Koenig recorded on July 18, 2021.

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

What effect does it have if we practice mindfulness and meditation motivated by the fundamental assumption that there is something wrong with us? Perspectives such as ‘not being good enough’ or being ‘damaged goods’ can turn our practice into a painstaking attempt to improve ourselves. During this session we will inquire into our motivations for practice and suggest some alternative perspectives which can offer a sense of freedom, peace of mind and acceptance.

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

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Patience: In Praise of an Undervalued Helper

    Patience can be one of those qualities which we think of as being theoretically helpful but feel little motivation to actually cultivate and strengthen. So much emphasis in our busy world of achieving goals and getting tasks done is about doing, taking action and fixing problems. We will spend this session exploring the benefits of…

    Read More

  • Nirmala Werner

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of March 20 – 24, 2023

    This week’s topic is “The Art of Embodied Listening”. This week is an invitation to explore the skill of true, deep and embodied listening. Living in a culture where people are mainly self-focused, wanting to express themselves, we can look into our capacity to listen. Rather than talking to ourselves we can learn listening with our whole body to others, ourselves and to silence in which all phenomena arises. Creating space to express, really tuning into “what’s going on here?“ enables our stress, worries, fear and insecurities to be unveiled and liberated and is a powerful tool for cultivating insights.

    Read More

  • Shaila Catherine

    Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind

    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…

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    The colouring of awareness.

    Meditation practice trains our capacity to be aware, in real time, of what is happening. But what is colouring your awareness? We can pay very clear and steady attention in a way that is also demanding, defensive or deluded. Or we can give attention in a way that conduces to wisdom, spaciousness, equanimity and kindness.

    Read More

  • Kaira Jewel Lingo

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Kaira Jewel Lingo – Week of May 4

    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, May 4 Releasing ownership, releasing suffering Wednesday, May 6 Seeing through the veil of the conditioned mind Friday, May 8…

    Read More

  • Kate Johnson

    Finding Forgiveness: Processing the Past to Open the Present

    The Buddhist path is one of liberation through letting go. But when there’s been disappointment, betrayal, or harm, letting go can seem like a very tall order. Join us as we explore the spectrum of heart qualities on the way to forgiveness, and find a new relationship to the past that brings you more freedom in the…

    Read More