Tara Brach

Meditation: Entering the Wilderness (2017-07-05) - We open to our full naturalness as we awaken the senses. This brief meditation guides us to open all the sense gates, and in that openness, experience the pure aliveness and awareness that is our essence. NOTE: listen to the full talk: Part 2: Refuge in the Wilderness – Coming Home to Embodied Presence Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Part 2: Refuge in the Wilderness – Coming Home to Embodied Presence - When we live from our mental control towers, we are in a trance that confines our life. These two talks look at the primary ways we are conditioned to leave embodied presence, and the consequence of unlived life—being cut off from our vitality, intelligence and compassion. We then explore the teachings and practices that guide us to reconnect to our senses, and the sacred presence that underlies all lived experience. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Part 1: Refuge in the Wilderness - Coming Home to Embodied Presence (2017-06-28) - When we live from our mental control towers, we are in a trance that confines our life. These two talks look at the primary ways we are conditioned to leave embodied presence, and the consequence of unlived life—being cut off from our vitality, intelligence and compassion. We then explore the teachings and practices that guide us to reconnect to our senses, and the sacred presence that underlies all lived experience. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Meditation: Opening to Full Aliveness (2017-06-28) - This meditation includes relaxing and awakening through the body, widening the lens to include sound and then letting life live through us, receiving all that arises in open awareness. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

Stories that Imprison our Heart - Part 2 (2017-06-21) - Our suffering arises from fear-based stories that are often outside our awareness. These include stories of our deficiency or importance, of being a victim, of being unseen or unloved, of facing failure or rejection.  This is true collectively too.  We have shared stories of bad “others” that fuel wars, shared stories of the value of continued growth in consumption and production that destroy our earth, shared stories of our human right to enslave and violate other animals. We have the capacity to bring the stories that separate and imprison us into the light of awareness, and with great compassion, loosen their grip. These two talks look at the ways fear-based stories create suffering, and how awakening from them reveals the freedom of our true, and universal, belonging. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With grati

Meditation: Arriving in Embodied Presence - This guided meditation instruction includes: 1 - Arriving in embodied presence with senses awake, 2 - Further collecting the attention using a primary anchor or base, and 3 - Continuing to collect around an anchor or widening to rest in open, natural awareness - in presence with what is. Given as part of the morning guided meditation Instruction on the Spring 2017 IMCW Retreat. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Stories that Imprison our Heart - Part 1 (2017-06-14) - Our suffering arises from fear-based stories that are often outside our awareness. These include stories of our deficiency or importance, of being a victim, of being unseen or unloved, of facing failure or rejection.  This is true collectively too.  We have shared stories of bad “others” that fuel wars, shared stories of the value of continued growth in consumption and production that destroy our earth, shared stories of our human right to enslave and violate other animals. We have the capacity to bring the stories that separate and imprison us into the light of awareness, and with great compassion, loosen their grip. These two talks look at the ways fear-based stories create suffering, and how awakening from them reveals the freedom of our true, and universal, belonging. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratit

Meditation: Homecoming to Our Life Breath - Perhaps the most universal place to collect and deepen attention is the breath.  This meditation begins with an intentional breath that calms the nervous system, and then opens to a clear, intimate presence with our natural breathing. With breath as our home base, we practice returning again and again when the mind becomes distracted. As presence grows, we can let the breath be in the foreground, and include whatever waves of life come and go.  This brings a quiet mind, and a peaceful, happy heart. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Happiness is Possible: De-conditioning the Negativity Bias – Part 2 - There is an inner freedom that expresses as happiness and peace, and it is accessible when we arrive in openhearted presence. As the Buddha said, “If it were not possible to find liberation, I would not teach about it.” In this two part talk, we will look at the conditioning that blocks happiness and two primary pathways of practice that evolve our consciousness and free our hearts. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Meditation: Home to Awake Awareness - This guided practice establishes a kind, friendly attention with the image and felt sense of a smile, and evokes an embodied presence. We open to the awake awareness that is listening to and feeling the changing sounds and sensations; and then the awake awareness that experiences our own heart. We end with a lovingkindness prayer for ourself and the world. Free download of Tara's 10 min meditation: "Mindful Breathing: Finding Calm and Ease" when you join her email list.

Happiness is Possible: De-conditioning the Negativity Bias - Part 1 - There is an inner freedom that expresses as happiness and peace, and it is accessible when we arrive in openhearted presence. As the Buddha said, “If it were not possible to find liberation I would not teach about it.” In this two part talk, we will look at the conditioning that blocks happiness and two primary pathways of practice that evolve our consciousness and free our hearts. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Meditation: The Breath - Portal to Presence - We start with breathing mindfully to collect and calm the body and mind. Then the attention opens to include the changing flow in a spacious natural presence.

Instruction and Question-Response during Retreat (2017-05-02) - Topics include individualizing your meditation practice, working with the "tangles," forgiveness practice, and using the "nurturing" of RAIN. Let us know if you find this kind of short clip interesting and helpful!

The Reality of Change: Embracing this Living Dying World (2017-05-24) - The Reality of Change: Embracing this Living Dying World - Our true refuge is reality - only by opening to “things as they are" do we find true peace and freedom. This talk explores impermanence - a key feature of reality. We look at our habits of resisting change - including loss and death, the practices that awaken and open us, and the gifts of letting go into the ever-changing river of experience. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Meditation: Opening to the River of Aliveness (2017-05-24) - This meditation guides us to awaken to sensation using the image of a smile and scanning through the body. We then open to sound and to the entire changing flow of experience. When we connect with the changing flow of sensations, feelings and sounds, we also discover the formless awareness that is our Source… and home. 

Radical-Compassion - Part 2 (2017-05-10) - Compassion is the medicine we most need as individuals and a species to heal suffering and free our spirits. The essence of compassion for ourselves and others – what I call Radical Compassion – has three key elements: it is an embodied experience (a felt sense of tenderness), it is inclusive all beings, and it naturally moves us to act from a caring heart. This two-part talk explores the alchemy of Radical Compassion and guides us in awakening this intrinsic expression of our evolutionary potential. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Instruction & Meditation: A Forgiving Heart (2017-05-02) - A forgiving heart clears the way for giving and receiving love freely.  This talk and meditation explores where we have become habituated in blame towards ourselves and others, and a classic three part reflection that can loosen and release the armoring around our hearts. (a guided heart meditation at the 2017 IMCW Spring Retreat) Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

Radical Compassion - Part 1 (retreat talk) (2017-04-30) - Compassion is the medicine we most need as individuals and a species to heal suffering and free our spirits. The essence of compassion for ourselves and others - what I call Radical Compassion - has three key elements: it is an embodied experience (a felt sense of tenderness), it is inclusive all beings, and it naturally moves us to act from a caring heart. This two-part talk explores the alchemy of Radical Compassion and guides us in awakening this intrinsic expression of our evolutionary potential. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Meditation: Breathing Our Way to Peace and Freedom (2017-05-10) - This meditation guides us in collecting attention with an intentional long deep breath, and awakening a full relaxed presence as the breath resumes in its natural rhythm. Resting fully in this presence is the gateway to deep peace and inner freedom. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Relaxing the Over-Controller - Part 2 (2017-05-03) (retreat talk) - We all have conditioning to do what we can to protect and promote our wellbeing. Our suffering arises to the degree that our life and identity become organized around controlling our experience. These two talks look at the emergence of the fear based “over-controller,” and explore a wise way of witnessing the suffering that comes with over-controlling, and awareness practices that naturally relax and awaken us to our whole and natural Being. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara