In an effort to counter tendencies towards striving and over-achieving, many Western approaches to meditation and spirituality emphasize relaxation. While relaxation and ease are essential ingredients on the meditative path, they must be integrated with whole-hearted effort. How do we find inner strength and make a clear resolve that is informed by wisdom and balanced with love? We will explore the power of determination in meditation and daily life.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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Transformation Lives in the Butterfly Garden
Recorded :
March 5, 2023 We are living in a time of change that is evolutionary in its mystery, scope and depth. Emerging values of wellness of the self, Earth and society call us beyond the trance of colonial imprints, into the profound dimensions of embodied and expanded consciousness. It may be that the transformation that this time demands from us could only be met now.
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Love and Dust: Opening your Heart Wide to a Dying World
Recorded :
May 12, 2019 With the fragile condition of our eco-system finally breaking through into the mainstream news cycle, we can easily be overwhelmed by the loss of biodiversity and permafrost, the pollution of earth, air and oceans, and the attendant insecurity and danger to life on earth. We might struggle both with the information itself – the amount,…
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S.A.L.S.A.: Using Buddhist practice to Respond to “Spicy” Emotions
Recorded :
June 9, 2019 Life presents plenty of opportunities to react unconsciously, often creating harm for ourselves and others. How might we apply our Buddhist practice to “Spicy” situations and emotions, in order to respond wisely? In this session, Brian will draw on Stephen Batchelor’s work and propose a working acronym of “S.A.L.S.A.” to navigate life’s spiciness and act…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Miles Kessler – Week of June 24, 2024
This week’s topic is “Let Come, Let Go, Let Be, Let Grow – Practicing the 4 Noble Truths”. Join Miles in this exploration of the Buddha’s 4 Noble Truths. Over 5 days you will gain insight into how the 4 Noble truths unfold in your practice and in your life. You will learn how these 4 practices unlock your true nature, allowing it to grow and flourish in your life.
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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 Ayala Gill – Week of June 26, 2023
This week’s topic is “Living in Sacredness”. Meditation is more than a practice of being present. The way in which we are present determines whether we reinforce habits of separation, or re-weave the fabric of sacredness. During this week we will explore the sacredness of body, breath, consciousness, emotions and beliefs. Returned to the embrace of sacredness, we plant seeds of Love in a world of separation.
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Embodied Wisdom: The Self-Preservation of Activism
Recorded :
July 8, 2017 Yes, the world is on fire. And, how do we respond to the rage, anger, and fear that can engulf us? How do we utilize these emotions as catalysts that can move us into action that doesn’t burn us up and destroy us? We investigate the Self-Preservation of Activism by feeling into our body wisdom…
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The practice of pleasure and delight (or the spiritual art of having fun).
Recorded :
April 22, 2018 Dharma teachings importantly emphasise suffering, compassion, renunciation, desire, non-reactivity, peacefulness. All these are potent themes, yet ones which can make our practice feel overly heavy, unnecessarily serious, maybe even uptight! Dharma practice equally points us towards a playful nature, light-heartedness and ease, delight and the capacity to really enjoy life. Especially when we can get…
