The encounter with sensory experiences can lead to insight and calm, or reactivity and suffering. How do you guard your mind in the midst of a daily barrage of sensory input? How do you protect your mind so that tranquility and wisdom will be well established? The Buddha encouraged restraint of the senses, but this restraint does not require avoidance of sensory contacts or control of the external environment. In this talk, Shaila Catherine will describe how mindfulness allows us to meet the experiences of sensory contact – of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking with a mind free of reactivity. Mindfulness protects the mind so that it does not come under the sway of defilements. Mindfulness is a special quality of attention that is balanced in the moment of observing experience. Before looking, before reaching, before speaking, before any activity, we can establish the intention of mindfully meeting the experience without giving rise to anger, irritation, lust, fear, or any defilement. The practice of sensory restraint leads to a life of happiness and joy, and lays the foundation for experiences of deep concentration and awakening.
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The Power of Relational Awareness
Recorded :
September 9, 2018 In this session, Oren Jay Sofer shares reflections on the basics of Mindful Communication, with particular focus on the internal foundations of successful communication. The talk explores some of the ways our silent contemplative practice can support our interpersonal relationships, while the Q&A delves into more specific issues of conversation and relationships.
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Staying In, Going Inwards: Inner Resources for Indoor Life
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April 5, 2020 Martin, the founding and guiding teacher of Sangha Live, leads our regular Sunday session, looking at skilful ways to meet this time of confinement and ‘forced retreat’. He offers various reflections on caring for ourselves and others, and makes plenty of time to share and explore together as a Sangha, as we lean into this…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of 16 June, 2025
We’re grateful to have Nathan Glyde leading our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May they support and enrich your practice.
This week’s theme is: Stillness Dancing
Meditation cultivates vibrant tranquillity, not frozen silence. Like a stirred pond settling into clarity, we release agitation. Like an owl gliding soundlessly at dusk, we quiet ourselves – not to mute, but to listen deeply. In flowing stillness, we find wisdom and care, opening to a practice that is wholesome and inclusive.
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Forgiveness: The Practice of Returning to Love
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September 14, 2025 A heart rooted in compassion longs to uplift and free all beings. Yet holding such a heart is not always easy. We stumble, we protect, we carry wounds. In our time together, we’ll explore forgiveness as an act of self-compassion-a way to meet our own suffering with kindness, and to restore the dignity that pain…
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Who Knows Best?: Exploring the Judging Mind
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July 14, 2024 In this Sunday Sangha session, we will address the common tendencies to judge and compare. Wise discernment is useful, but excessive comparing and compulsive judging can harm relationships, obscure the clarity of perception, and thwart spiritual development. This session includes practical suggestions for calming a harsh inner critic, while encouraging critical and thoughtful inquiry. (Please…
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From Mindfulness to Dharma: The Fourth Foundation
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October 28, 2018 The huge popularity of mindfulness is accompanied by a lot of confusion in relation to mindfulness in and of itself and how much it embodies the wider teachings of the Buddha. What is dharma? When, if and how is mindfulness the same as or different from dharma? This topic will be discussed in relation to…
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Beyond Mindfulness: The Fullness of Insight Meditation
Recorded :
June 13, 2021 Mindfulness is the engine of meditation practice, and it tends to get all the press. But is mindfulness sufficient to transform our hearts, minds and lives? In this session, we’ll explore some of the other qualities and cultivations that are essential to deep on the spiritual path.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of January 18, 2021
We’re fortunate that Martin Aylward has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK this week. To find out more about Martin, and view his other recordings on the platform, click here.
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