Many of us long to experience the Buddhist path in all of our lives, but really only feel its aliveness when we meditate. There’s an incompleteness, a gap, when it comes to our everyday activities and our relationships, where we catch only a whiff of the truths of suffering and the Path. But when we understand that the Buddha’s discourses were not descriptions but prescriptions, not philosophies but real practices, a vision of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha gets wider than we ever imagined.
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Settling Into Your Body In Meditation
Recorded :
December 11, 2022 Finding a comfortable body posture when meditating is a crucial element in our practice. We can use our bodies as a way of experiencing change and impermanence. In this session, we will be looking at ways to make our bodies comfortable for meditation – both standing (if appropriate for your body) and sitting. We will examine various postures and do various techniques that can be helpful for meditating.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of Oct 25, 2021
This week’s theme is Making Sense of Self.
Although the Buddha encourages us to not indulgently ponder whether the self is real or not, he did offer us a way to explore how the sense of self appears. This methodology, called the khandhas (aggregates: the heap of heaps), exposes all aspects we gather together to create and hold to our sense of self: form (body); vedanā (subtle preference); perception; saṅkhāra (mental formations – like intention, attention…); and consciousness (knowing). -
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of June 29
We’re fortunate that Martin Aylward has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK this week. To find out more about Martin, and view his other recordings on the platform, click here. Monday, June 29 Wednesday, July 1 Friday, July 3 Tuesday, June 30 Thursday, July 2
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Who Knows Best?: Exploring the Judging Mind
Recorded :
July 14, 2024 In this Sunday Sangha session, we will address the common tendencies to judge and compare. Wise discernment is useful, but excessive comparing and compulsive judging can harm relationships, obscure the clarity of perception, and thwart spiritual development. This session includes practical suggestions for calming a harsh inner critic, while encouraging critical and thoughtful inquiry. (Please…
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The nature of experience. Part 1: Impermanence.
Recorded :
January 15, 2017 Today’s session is the first in a special run of three consecutive sessions with Martin, where he looks deeply at the nature of experience through Buddha’s profound descriptions of reality – Impermanence, Emptiness, Non self-existence. The classes point directly to how these themes can come alive in our practice and understanding, looking at the personal,…
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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…
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Including All Parts of Ourself in Practice
Recorded :
December 3, 2023 Are all parts of you welcome in your spiritual practice? What happens when desire, aggression, anxiety or obsession burst through your heart’s door? It is possible to cultivate an awareness that includes all, without fear or rejection. In today’s session, explore simple and potent practices for ending the internal war and welcoming ALL of you…
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Muditā: Appreciative Joy
Recorded :
November 20, 2022 Of the four traditional heart qualities in Buddhism, appreciative joy – muditā – gets less attention than lovingkindness (mettā), compassion (karuṇā), or equanimity (upekkhā). But the cultivation of sincere joy at the success of another greatly enriches our well-being and happiness. We will explore this powerful form of joy together, as well as what blocks…
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