In this talk Dave discusses the process of integrating heart practices within the four foundations of mindfulness. Mindfulness practice unites the steadiness of concentration with the immediacy of moment to moment experience. As we learn to collect the body and mind, intuitive wisdom arises. This allows us to open to the truth of each moment’s experience within and around us. Metta (kind-friendliness) meditation practice calls forth the beautiful spiritual emotions within our heart: kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity. Mindfulness of these qualities strengthens and brings them into fruition. This process guides our thoughts, attitudes and behaviors into the direction of awakening to our full potential.
With Dave Smith recorded on May 14, 2017.
Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Gail Aylward – Week of 09 March, 2026
This week’s theme is: Kindness Begins Within
This week, we will explore kindness as a gentle strength of body, heart and mind where we can learn to meet our thoughts and feelings, meet ourselves and others with warmth rather than judgment. As this inner kindness deepens, it naturally flows outward, shaping how we speak, listen, and move through the world.
Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
-
Whole body breathing to regulate your mind and body
Recorded :
April 2, 2023 In this session Vidyamala introduces key areas of body awareness where mindful breathing can help to bring about regulation and calm in the body/heart/mind. She calls these the 5 B’s of the breath: Buttocks, Belly, Back, Back of the throat and Brain. She introduces the physiology of these areas and then leads a guided meditation….
-
Being a Bodhisattva
Recorded :
October 6, 2019 What is this incredible archetype? How does it show up in Buddhist history and teachings? How is it relevant to our current times? This talk will explore the idea of beings who commit to waking up in order to respond to the suffering of the world. And might we be one? Or want to?
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of 25 March, 2024
This week’s topic is “Human nature, Buddha nature”. Each day this week we’ll begin meditation with a reflection on elements of human nature that can be welcomed, explored and transformed through a path of practice, pointing to Buddha’s central themes of awakeness, compassion and liberation.
-
Soothing Anxiety
Recorded :
October 20, 2019 Anxiety is a completely normal, natural human emotion. Anxiety can be rooted in circumstances related to one’s personal life, relationships, or larger issues affecting our society and planet. Regardless of the source, many suffer from intense, frequent or chronic forms of anxiety. What does spirituality and contemplative practice have to teach us about how to…
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of 05 May, 2025
We are delighted to have Ulla Koenig guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these offerings support and enrich your practice.
This week’s theme is: Touching Ground
Whether it is the dynamics of the world that stir our hearts and minds, or personal challenges, as human beings we are confronted in many ways with the fragility of life. Touching ground, finding something to orient and trust in, is a deep need and yet not an easy endeavor. We dedicate this week to exploring the idea of taking refuge and translating it into a meaningful act that we can participate in no matter what.
Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of June 28, 2021
This week’s theme is: The Unbound Heart
Teachings of liberation expand our range of possibilities. They encourage us to discover a broader capacity of what we can contact, sense, and do. The teachings of the pāramīs are a key part of this journey. They act like a map and compass for the heart’s wish to be free of habitual limitations, to be a heart unbound. This week we’ll take a deeper dive into the illimitable qualities of the heart.
-
An Open Heart in Hell
Recorded :
September 4, 2022 After a summer of extreme heat, drought and fire, we may well enter the autumn wondering how to manage the grief at our fragile and collapsing ecology. Taking the title An Open Heart in Hell from Nick Mulvey’s recent song “Prayer of my Own“, we’ll use this session to honour the pains of the heart without getting…
Discussion