One of our best teachers is very close at hand. The body offers continual opportunities for healing and insight, both simple and profound. But what is the body? As we look more carefully, we find a rich universe of sensation that is intimately connected to the mind. In this session, we explore the body as a vehicle of Awakening.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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The Sacred No: Setting Conscious Boundaries Alongside Boundlessness
Recorded :
February 15, 2026 To truly embody our Yes to life, we must equally honor our No. Liberating our minds and hearts and taking responsibility for our contribution to collective consciousness requires setting loving boundaries around authentic being. Sometimes, through spiritual bypass; concepts/ideas about mindfulness; or lack of distinction between being nice and being kind, we devalue the sacred…
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Is there compassion for the self? Go deep. Is compassion the end of self?
Recorded :
May 23, 2021 The Dharma flies with two wings – compassion and wisdom. Compassion emerges from a liberated wisdom. That happens when constructs in the mind lose their significance. The emptiness of self and the emptiness of dependency on feeling tones take priority. This talk also explores the contraction of compassion into self interest. The liberation of compassion…
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Light on the path: pleasure, joy, fulfilment and free-ness.
Recorded :
September 24, 2017 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.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of September 5, 2022
This week’s topic is “Awakening into Experience Here and Now”. “You shouldn’t chase after the past
or place expectations on the future.
What is past
is left behind.
The future
is as yet unreached.
Whatever quality is present
you clearly see right there,
right there.
Not taken in,
unshaken,
that’s how you develop the heart.” (MN 131)The essence of the Buddha’s teachings lies in these words. Unshakability and freedom are at the heart of awakening, they are what we cultivate in our practice. This week we will practice turning to our experience in ways that wake us up, right here and now.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of March 29, 2021
This week’s theme is: Re-Enchanting Our Practice. As much as anything else our practice of mindfulness and meditation can become a habit, and either turn dull, or come with a sense of obligation, work, or duty. In this week together, we will explore ways to bring imagination, embodiment, and intimacy to our practice. After all, meditation is as much a craft as an artform – a chance to discover inner landscapes, hidden mysteries and fascinating insights.
As much as anything else our practice of mindfulness and meditation can become a habit and either turn dull or come with a sense of obligation, work or duty. In this week together, we will explore ways to bring imagination, embodiment, and intimacy to our practice. After all, meditation is as much a craft as an art form – a chance to discover inner landscapes, hidden mysteries and fascinating insights.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Yahel Avigur – Week of 14 September, 2026
This week’s theme is: Nourished by the Breath: A Path of Deepening Calm . We will dedicate this week of practice to meditation with the in and out breath, following the Buddha’s careful guidance. In the discourses on practice with the in and out breath, the Buddha offers guidance on important aspects of the path: bringing a kind sensitivity to the body and the breath; developing skill in relation to pleasure and pain; finding nourishment and well-being in the body; discerning helpful and unhelpful mental activity and learning how to calm body and mind; and cultivating liberating insight. These different dimensions of practice unfold organically, deepening and supporting one another, while allowing each practitioner to find their own pace. We will practise lightly and with curiosity around the first steps of this path: from establishing ourselves and finding nourishment in the body, towards calming mental activity. These steps can provide a clear and steady foundation for collectedness and deepening. Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
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The Dharma and the Drama of Sex: Everything you Wanted to know about Dharma and Sex but were too Spiritual to Ask
Recorded :
November 18, 2018 Sex is everywhere. It’s how we got born, it teases us from advertising boards on every city street, it drives some of the biggest industries, and it provokes some of the most intense stimuli in body, heart and mind. Yet dharma teachings, even in a lay context, mostly ignore sex. It is not spoken about…
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The Delusion of Separateness
Recorded :
October 27, 2019 There seems to be a sense of disorientation, disjointedness and overall running around in circles happening in the world today. And for some reason, many of us think that we’re the only ones who are feeling it; as if it’s our own personal failing. As we move into the changing of seasons, this is the…
