Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

What is this?

With Martine Batchelor recorded on October 11, 2015.

Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.

In this session Martine leads a guided meditation on the question “What is this?”, and then explores this questioning practice as a means to encounter each moment with awareness and as a means of developing a stable and open heart.

Listen to the audio version below, or click here to download the mp3.

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Love & Boundaries

    Our practice cultivates qualities of boundless love, whether through loving kindness practice, or opening to the love inherent in deep states of awareness. But can we really love everyone boundlessly? What about political leaders who may be causing tremendous suffering? Or when our boundaries get crossed in any way—personally, at work, in our families, or…

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    The Unshakeable Heart: Liberation as the Ultimate Resilience

    Is it possible to live and love freely amidst the greed, aggression and dysfunction of the world?⁠⁠Amidst so much suffering, can you nourish joy, lightness and laughter?⁠⁠When it feels as if you’re drowning, might it be that you are floating in an ocean of blessings?⁠⁠In times of political polarisation and dysfunction, broken societal modelling, a…

    Read More

  • Willa Blythe Baker

    Loving Awareness: Finding Freedom Within

    “This thing person called “me”, the one who is sensing, thinking and perceiving right now….who or what is it? This is an age old question that the traditions of the East, especially Buddhism and Hinduism, have held as the heart of their traditions. The answer to that question, in some scriptures, is “awareness”, a part of us that is already wakeful, attentive, open, free and loving. In this Sunday teaching, we consider what it means to encounter awareness, and why it might be important, not only for our practice of meditation, but for the fulfilment of our life’s purpose.

    Read More

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of 13 October, 2025

    We’re delighted to have Ulla Koenig guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these gatherings enrich your practice.

    This week’s theme is: Metta in Action

    To be met with metta is to be received with basic respect and a sense of intrinsic worth-simply because we exist. It’s not something we earn or measure; it’s a fundamental recognition of our being. This week, we explore how to extend such warmth toward ourselves. And we’ll look at how metta supports accountability, nurtures integrity, and helps us respond to criticism with clarity and compassion-opening the door to deeper self-understanding and genuine growth.

    Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Practice and Prejudice: Waking up to our reality blinkers

    Martin writes: “Do you remember that Youtube video ‘Awareness test’ from a few years ago, where you’re asked to pay attention to one thing (passes made by the team in white) and you end up completely missing something else? (check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4 – it only takes 30 seconds) We perceive reality in accordance with…

    Read More

  • Nirmala Werner

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of May 22 – 27, 2023

    This week’s topic is “The Steam of a Cup of Tea: Teachings on Generosity, Gratitude and Renunciation”. Can we achieve happiness and wealth by giving? Can we experience abundance through simplicity? In this exploration, we’ll examine how such concepts are possible in today’s world by delving into certain aspects of the 10 Perfections (Paramis), all while embracing our perfectly imperfect nature.

    Read More

  • Joy as an Act of Resistance & Resilience

    What brings you joy? How does joy affect you? What is your relationship to joy? Experiencing joys, small and large, helps keep us connected to what is meaningful, nourishing, and enlivening. Come explore the many aspects of dharma joy as an intentional everyday practice, and how it informs and supports not only your own well-being,…

    Read More

  • Responding to a World in Crisis with a Strong Heart

    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…

    Read More