We live in challenging times. Biologists speak of micro-systems where species sequester during times of crisis. They are called refugia. In times of uncertainty and fear, we too need refugia, places of spiritual safety where we can put down roots, grow and thrive. In this Sunday teaching, Willa invites us to explore the concept of refugia, and how it can help expand our conventional understanding of what “refuge” means in the Buddhist context. Refuge, an ancient Buddhist practice of finding sanctuary in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, is not a ritual or initiation. It involves a deep exploration of the role of safety in spiritual life. Refuge is an ongoing inquiry into what refugia looks like for each of us, into our crisis-sanctuaries and how they become a catalyst for our spiritual evolution.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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Transformation Lives in the Butterfly Garden
Recorded :
March 5, 2023 We are living in a time of change that is evolutionary in its mystery, scope and depth. Emerging values of wellness of the self, Earth and society call us beyond the trance of colonial imprints, into the profound dimensions of embodied and expanded consciousness. It may be that the transformation that this time demands from us could only be met now.
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Dharma, Desire and Eros
Recorded :
May 9, 2021 Eros is life force, the energy that animates our being. Eros fills our spiritual life with vitality, our minds with creativity, our ideas with embodiment and our relating with rich intimacy. To live full lives we need access to eros; without it we become dry, rigid, flacid and withholding. Yet what place does it have…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Sophie Boyer – Week of June 19, 2023
This week’s topic is “Generosity at the Heart of One of Life’s Greatest Mysteries”. What meaning does generosity embody when we open our minds to accepting one of life’s greatest realities – that in fact we know and master very little. Let us explore the different ways in which facing our experiences with generosity allows us to let go of our preconceptions and taste all of life’s flavours and feel fully alive.
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Spiritual Friendship: The Whole of the Path
Recorded :
December 7, 2025 We exist within a web of relatedness. Much of our stress and suffering arises in relationships. The troubles of this world too, can often be traced to a breakdown in relationship; with ourselves, with one another and with the more-than-human world. More than ever, it feels vital to bring the benefits of meditation practice off…
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What Does it Mean to be Free?
Recorded :
December 14, 2025 Awakening, freedom, liberation … these are the premise and promise of the Buddhist Path. This session will explore the theme of awakening and liberation, and reflect on how practice can support us to find freedom right where we are.
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Flesh, blood and bones. It is here we awaken.
Recorded :
February 22, 2015 Worldwide Insight talk from Catherine McGee: “Flesh, Blood and Bones. It is Here we Awaken”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Antonia Sumbundu and Christopher Titmuss – Week of 27 October, 2025
We’re delighted to have Antonia Sumbundu guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and deepen your practice.
This week’s theme is: Awakening Courage: Embracing Being, Belonging, and Becoming
A week of morning meditations to awaken the heart’s quiet, natural courage. Through presence, reflection, and stillness, these sessions invite us to rest in being – gently returning to awareness itself; to open into belonging – feeling our inseparable connection with the web of life; and to trust our becoming – the unfolding of wisdom and love through all that we do.
In the rhythm of being, belonging, and becoming, we are invited to live with authenticity, tenderness, and wholehearted courage.
Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Miles Kessler – Week of 20 October, 2025
This week, we’re delighted to have Miles Kessler guiding our Daily Meditation sessions. May they enrich your practice.
This week’s theme is: Meditation And The Dark Night Of The Soul
The “Dark Night Of The Soul” is nothing less than an ego death, and rebirth process that everyone goes through from time to time in life. As it happens, the “Dark Night Of The Soul” is also beautifully “coded” into insight meditation practices through a series of advanced stages know as the “Dukkha Nanas”. The “Dark Night” stages are awaiting everyone who is walking the path of meditative insight.
In this week of Daily Meditations with Sangha Live, you are invited to join in a teaching of “Meditation And The Dark Night Of The Soul.” Throughout this week, you will explore how the “Dark Night Of The Soul” process unfolds in the stages of insight meditation. And more importantly, how the insights of these stages inform us in our lives.Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
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