Freedom is a central concern of all our lives, yet has many different manifestations, some of which run completely contrary to others. This class will explores the importance of social freedoms, inner freedom, personal and collective freedoms. We explore how different perspectives on free-ness shape how we practice; and how we understand life and our own unfolding awakening in the midst of the complex world we inhabit and share.
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Sustaining Ourselves with Joy
Recorded :
May 16, 2021 The Buddha taught about many forms of joy as both the path of practice and its fruit. In this session, we’ll explore the practice and discipline of cultivating and savoring joy in our life and our practice. Joy is an important balancing factor as we honestly face the suffering of the world and commit to…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of March 22, 2021
This week’s theme is: Resolve to Unbind the Heart
The word resolve can embody many meanings. This week we will see how much it offers on a Dharma path of awakening. It is made of re & solve: ‘re’ as in ‘really’, fully, with intensity; ’solve’ as in loosen, undo, or dissolve. Such a poetic and insightful combination: to intensely loosen.
The Buddha offered teachings and practices for a path of unbinding. A path of resolve to resolve, of dedication to undoing. For dukkha is a state of high activity and reactivity: a doing of distress. Meditations are practices of skilful and subtle activity that unbuild problematic senses of self and loosen missions of reactivity. An invitation to wake up to life, in life, for life, and there in the midst of it all to resolve: to fully unbind.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of April 3, 2023
This week’s topic is “Imagine That”. Edgar Allan Poe wondered, “Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?” According to naive realism, we do not perceive things as they are, yet think we do. The Dharma exists to wake us from delimiting dreams, so we may live lives of profound awakening.
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Leaning Into Collapse
Recorded :
September 5, 2021 The fires and floods of this summer, and the ongoing pandemic and its complexities, can weigh heavy on the heart, along with the shocking but unsurprising new IPCC report confirming the ‘inevitable and irreversible’ worsening effects of the climate disruption, ecological collapse and existential emergency we are already living through. This class, led by Sangha…
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The Supramundane Nature of Emptiness
Recorded :
September 15, 2024 Emptiness can be a loaded word for lay practitioners. It can bring up a sense of isolation and annihilation. The dharma of emptiness, however, is a fundamental part of practice. Even in the most mundane tasks of our ordinary lives, we can access emptiness and feel the freedom that comes with it. It’s not about…
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Dharma Practice as Play, or, There is no Path until you Walk It!
Recorded :
September 13, 2020 In our troubled world dharma practitioners sometimes become earnest. But beings learn and develop through play, and to play we have to be fluid in mind, heart and body. Play fertilizes the human spirit and makes us feel a sense of belonging. Welcome to a session exploring dharma practice as original play and creativity.
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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…
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Responding to a World in Crisis with a Strong Heart
Recorded :
March 24, 2024 How do we keep the heart open and strong amidst so much pain and suffering in our world? What does our contemplative practice have to offer in times of upheaval and change? Join author and Dharma teacher Oren Jay Sofer for this session focused on building inner resources to heal our hearts and respond effectively…
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