Wisdom and compassion are two wonderful qualities that grow in us as our practice deepens. Diving into each one and into the inseparable nature of the two reveals the way in which they support and give rise to one another, and the way they manifest in our relationships: with ourselves, with others, with the world. Our ability to acknowledge, to discern and to inquire can support the opening of the heart so it can meet the pain in our relationships without fear, and be transformed by that meeting.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of October 23, 2023
This week’s theme is “Touched by Dukkha”. Living life involves being in touch with various experiences, some of which are challenging. These challenging experiences, referred to as ‘dukkha’ by the Buddha, inevitably stir the heart-mind. Our sensitive nature is touched by dukkha, manifesting in ripple effects like impulses, emotions, and thoughts. This week, we’ll explore together what the Buddha called the second noble truth, to understand how our reactions and responses to dukkha shape our lives.
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Wake up to your Life: Cultivating Courage & Compassion in the Everyday
Recorded :
March 23, 2025 Awakening to Life means harmonizing our values and our actions. Many of us merely go through the motions, sleepwalking through the hours, without actually feeling alive. Cultivating courage and joy entails slowing down, paying close attention, and practicing being fully engaged with what each moment has to offer. Koshin Sensei will share Zen teachings and…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Milla Gregor – Week of July 22, 2024
This week’s theme is “Comfort and Discomfort”. Comfort and discomfort can show up in practice, as well as in life. In what ways are they interwoven? What assumptions do we make about them that might hold us back from fully engaging? We’ll explore these ideas through meditation and contemplation, to see what can be learned – and liberated – in support of living and practising more freely and fully.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of January 02, 2023
This week’s topic is “Nourishing Intention”. Intention plays a key role in meditation practice, as well as in many areas of our lives. During this week of practice we will explore what supports the setting of wholesome intentions, and what supports sustaining them in ways that nourish well-being for ourselves, others and the world.
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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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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of July 19, 2021
This week’s theme is: Identifying the Many Masks of the Inner Critic
Often we think of the inner critic as the constant nagging inner discourse which dismisses our good qualities, questions our lovability, and our potential for goodness. Being a master/mistress of disguise, the inner critic takes on many forms; it wraps our decision making process in veils of doubt, pushes us into compulsive activity, traps us in paralysis, and distorts our views on others.
Luckily, the Dharma path offers us tools to meet this painful heart-mind dynamic. This week we will practice summoning qualities like wisdom, kindness, equanimity, concentration, appreciation, compassion and inquiry, in order to meet our inner critic in a skilful way.
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The Importance of the Uplifting Experience
Recorded :
September 24, 2023 The Buddha taught about life’s suffering—known as ‘dukkha’—and how our personal, social and global issues can weigh us down. Yet dukkha does not have the inherent power to stop ‘sukkha,’ or happiness, from breaking through. In this session, we will explore ‘upliftment’, and the joys that keep our spirit alive. Upliftment of the human spirit…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Gail Aylward – Week of 09 March, 2026
This week’s theme is: Kindness Begins Within
This week, we will explore kindness as a gentle strength of body, heart and mind where we can learn to meet our thoughts and feelings, meet ourselves and others with warmth rather than judgment. As this inner kindness deepens, it naturally flows outward, shaping how we speak, listen, and move through the world.
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