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

When Less is More

With Jaya Julienne Ashmore recorded on April 8, 2018.

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

Gautam Buddha said he gained nothing from complete awakening. What are our everyday experiences of the magic of less? Trying less does not mean less energy, connection or insight. How little effort is needed to hear a sound or to feel the ground? Simply listening to a friend with ease and no answers can leave room for profound breakthrough. Enjoying moments when “it’s not about me,” moments of silence, or living close to the land…. Perhaps “less” does not need to trigger a sense of lack. We might just be tasting an open mind and our path towards awakening.

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

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Befriending the emotions.

    So often we struggle because we’re resisting, fixing, changing, or even “transcending” our experiences. What shifts when instead of pushing our emotions away, we invite them closer in? What changes when we learn to relate to our emotions like a welcoming friend? And, what changes when we are able to access the place in which…

    Read More

  • Sophie Boyer

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Sophie Boyer – Week of 28 April, 2025

    We’re delighted to have Sophie Boyer guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May they bring peace and depth to your practice.

    This week’s theme is: Groundedness to Groundlessness

    Grounding oneself in this very moment to realise that what we are looking for has never left us. It has always been here and is not bound to anything. It is an invitation to let life inform every moment without a “me” being in charge – a groundless home.
    Sophie Boyer will lead our Daily Meditations this week, inviting us to engage with this paradoxical dynamic.

    Grounding ourselves in this very moment to discover that what we’re searching for has always been here. It has always been here and is not bound to anything. Sophie Boyer leads our Daily Meditations this week, inviting us to explore this beautiful paradox: finding a groundless home where life informs every moment without a separate “me” being in charge. Join us as we practice together in this space of gentle revelation and discovery.

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

    Read More

  • Stephen Fulder

    How To Thrive in Hard Times

    When external circumstances are difficult and challenging we tend to get swept away by them. But instead, they can be a wake-up call. We turn to the dharma to help us meet the challenges from an enduring sense of freedom, a more transcendent point of view and skilful, heartful ways to act.

    Read More

  • The Practice of Blamelessness

    We are deeply conditioned to blame; it’s a survival strategy. Though it can feel necessary, maybe even fruitful to part of us, blaming arises out of suffering, and leads to more suffering. The process of blame is not required but we don’t always know how to put it down. How do we let it go?

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Intimacy and infinity: beyond inner and outer.

    WorldwideInsight.org’s founding teacher Martin Aylward explores the tension we tend to feel between inner experience and outer engagement, self and world, being and doing. Martin leads a guided meditation and offer teachings on cultivating an inclusive practice, where our contact, curiosity and care go to whatever arises, whether ‘in here’ or ‘out there’.

    Read More

  • Willa Blythe Baker

    The Wisdom of the Body

    While we might think of the body as flesh and blood, there is so much more to this mortal coil. The body in fact may be our deepest teacher. In this session, we explore how to listen to the wisdom of the body and realize its potential to guide us to groundedness, self-honesty, presence and wisdom.

    Read More

  • Lisa Ernst

    Working with Stress and Fear

    Not all stress is bad. Yet without mindful awareness, anticipatory stress may spiral into reactivity, paralyzing fear and suffering. How do we meet this stress mindfully, use it skilfully, then let go?

    Read More

  • An intimate world.

    Worldwide Insight talk from Thanissara: “An Intimate World”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.

    Read More