Sinopsis
Tara Brach is a leading western teacher of Buddhist (mindfulness) meditation, emotional healing and spiritual awakening. She is author of Radical Acceptance (2003), and True Refuge (2013). Senior teacher at the Insight Meditation Community of Washington D.C. (IMCW), Tara shares a weekly talk on Buddhist teachings and practices. Visit http://www.tarabrach.com for more information. Please support this podcast by donating at http://www.tarabrach.com. Your generosity makes a difference!
Episodios
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Namaste: Honoring the Light in All Beings
03/07/2025 Duración: 01h03minThe ritual of Namaste – bowing to the sacred in ourselves and others – helps us live from the loving awareness that is our true nature. This talk looks at how we suffer because we forget this basic goodness, and explores the pathways of remembering that carry us home. In this talk, Tara explores the sacred meaning of “Namaste” as a living practice—an invitation to see past the masks we wear and honor the light and goodness in all beings. how our “spacesuit self”—a conditioned identity shaped by fear and separation—can obscure our true nature, and how mindfulness can awaken us to our shared spirit. the pain of forgetting our basic goodness, and how suffering itself can be a portal—a chrysalis—guiding us back to presence, compassion, and spiritual belonging. powerful stories of transformation, revealing how turning toward love and seeing the sacred in one another—even amidst deep harm—can open the way for healing and connection. intentional practices to cultivate reverence, including mindful reflection, app
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Meditation: From Head to Full Being
03/07/2025 Duración: 18minWhen we are lost inside thoughts we lose connection with our heart, aliveness and spirit. This meditation guides us to a wakeful presence and invites us to return over and over from virtual reality into the mysterious, tender vastness that is our true being.
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Stories That Imprison Our Heart - Part 2
26/06/2025 Duración: 55minOur 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.
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Meditation: Arriving in Embodied Presence (23:59 min)
26/06/2025 Duración: 23minThis meditation guides you to arrive fully in embodied presence—awakening through the senses, relaxing into the breath, and gently returning to the aliveness of the here and now. With a nurturing blend of body scan, mindful breathing, and open awareness, you’re guided to soften habitual tension and rest in a spacious, receptive presence. Whether you stay with a primary anchor or open to the changing flow of sensations and sound, this practice offers a refuge in stillness and self-compassion. A beautiful way to ground, reconnect, and simply be.
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Stories That Imprison Our Heart - Part 1
19/06/2025 Duración: 57minOur 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. Includes a story from Frank Ostaseki's new book, The Five Invitations - https://fiveinvitations.com/
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Meditation: Homecoming to Our Life Breath (16:06 min.)
19/06/2025 Duración: 16minPerhaps 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.
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The Revolution of Tenderness - Part 2
12/06/2025 Duración: 47minThese two talks explore our capacity to be tender - sensitive and responsive to ourselves and others. This capacity marks a radical evolutionary shift from a self-centered existence shaped by fear, to a life lived from the realization of our collective belonging and the preciousness of all life. The talks examine the conditioning that inclines us toward dissociation and emotional reactivity, and the practices of presence that evolve our heart and awareness.
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Meditation: Breathing into Presence (19:46 min)
12/06/2025 Duración: 19minThe breath can be our gateway into the boundless awareness that holds all life. This meditation begins with a breath that calms our nervous system, and then invites a relaxed presence with the breath and sensation that open us to the “universe breathing.” Resting in awareness, we realize the wakefulness, peace and vitality of pure presence.
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The Revolution of Tenderness - Part 1
05/06/2025 Duración: 59minThis two-talk series explores our capacity to be tender – sensitive and responsive to ourselves and others. This capacity marks a radical evolutionary shift from a self-centered existence shaped by fear, to a life lived from the realization of our collective belonging and the preciousness of all life. The talks examine the conditioning that inclines us toward dissociation and emotional reactivity, and the practices of presence that evolve our heart and awareness. ~ from the talk: Pope Francis invites us to “live the revolution of tenderness,” which is expressed through closeness, compassion and service… Part 2 - coming soon!
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Meditation: Awake Awareness is Our Home (19:08 min)
05/06/2025 Duración: 19minThis meditation guides us in awakening our awareness by opening to all our senses and recognizing the alert presence that is always, already here. By relaxing back into the presence over and over, we become familiar with the reality that is truly our home.
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Introduction to Mindfulness: The Power of Heart Presence, Part 5
29/05/2025 Duración: 01h05minThe final session of this series explores the most powerful strategies Tara knows to bring mindfulness alive in all facets of daily living. These informal practices help our entire life to become an expression of our awakening and wise heart. Whether you are new to meditation or an experienced practitioner, the foundational teachings of mindfulness—heart presence—offer a timeless medicine for navigating these challenging times. This fresh introductory series invites you to bring alive ancient practices in ways that are directly relevant to the emotions and reactivity arising in today’s world. You’ll be guided to discover an inner refuge—a way to meet your personal life and our collective world with greater presence and wisdom, courage and love.
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Meditation: Lighting Up Your Energy Body
29/05/2025 Duración: 17minOur being has many frequencies of aliveness and as we attend to the more subtle, we discover a portal to the radiant awareness that is always here. This meditation guides us in using the breath and attention as we scan through the body and awaken an inner luminosity. We then open the attention to rest in the whole field of awake awareness.
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Introduction to Mindfulness: Mindfulness of Thoughts – Part 4
22/05/2025 Duración: 53minThis talk examines how the trance of thinking imprisons us, veiling our full aliveness, love, and spiritual essence. Through contemplative reflections and short guided practices, we’ll explore pathways to awaken from this trance and open to the light, awareness, and wholeness of who we truly are.
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Meditation: Cultivating a Mindful Awareness
22/05/2025 Duración: 18minMindfulness means paying attention on purpose to our moment-to-moment experience. This meditation invites us to collect our attention with the breath and use the breath as a home base for mindful presence. We then include whatever is predominant, recognizing and allowing the changing flow. The blessing of this practice is simple and beautiful: We are learning to be here for our life.
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Introduction to Mindfulness: The Power of Heart Presence – Part 3 (of a 5-week series)
15/05/2025 Duración: 53minWhether you are new to meditation or an experienced practitioner, the foundational teachings of mindfulness—heart presence—offer a timeless medicine for navigating these challenging times. This fresh introductory series invites you to bring alive ancient practices in ways that are directly relevant to the emotions and reactivity arising in today’s world. You’ll be guided to discover an inner refuge—a way to meet your personal life and our collective world with greater presence and wisdom, courage and love. In this session, we explore how mindfulness and heartfulness can transform our relationship with emotions, revealing them as gateways to the full aliveness, tenderness, and clarity of awake awareness.
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Meditation: Living Presence with Body Scan
15/05/2025 Duración: 21minThis meditation guides us to awaken to our senses through scanning through the body and then listening to sounds. When distracted by thoughts we relax open again and again, learning to rest in the formless awareness that includes sounds, sensations and all passing experience.
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Introduction to Mindfulness: Part 2 - The Power of Heart Presence
08/05/2025 Duración: 01h03minNOTE - Tara offers a meditation you can use as a practice during this introduction series: Mindfulness Meditation—Intimacy with our Inner Life. Whether you are new to meditation or an experienced practitioner, the foundational teachings of mindfulness—heart presence—offer a timeless medicine for navigating these challenging times. This fresh introductory series invites you to bring alive ancient practices in ways that are directly relevant to the emotions and reactivity arising in today’s world. You’ll be guided to discover an inner refuge—a way to meet your personal life and our collective world with greater presence and wisdom, courage and love. In this session, we explore how to awaken mindful awareness of sensations—the first foundation of mindfulness and the ground of all experience. Everything we cherish—love, wisdom, wonder, creativity—arises from embodied presence. To truly receive the gifts of the path, we need to be here: awake, present, and intimate with the living currents of sensation.
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Meditation: Relaxed and Alert
08/05/2025 Duración: 21minThis meditation begins with a period of relaxing and collecting our attention with intentional long deep breathing. We then deepen embodied presence, and widen to the awareness that includes sounds, sensations, feelings, breath, and all experience. When the mind drifts from this open, awake awareness, we gently return, re-relaxing and resting in an easeful, alert presence. Recorded at Tara’s Wednesday night class, the meditation includes chanting of OM’s and ends with a sense of melting into community.
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Introduction to Mindfulness: The Power of Heart Presence – Part 1
01/05/2025 Duración: 56minNOTE - Tara offers a meditation you can use as a practice during this introduction series: Mindfulness Meditation—Intimacy with our Inner Life. Whether you are new to meditation or an experienced practitioner, the foundational teachings of mindfulness—heart presence—offer a timeless medicine for navigating these challenging times. This fresh introductory series invites you to bring alive ancient practices in ways that are directly relevant to the emotions and reactivity arising in today’s world. You’ll be guided to discover an inner refuge—a way to meet your personal life and our collective world with greater presence and wisdom, courage and love. In this first session, we explore what makes mindfulness truly transformational: the flow of effective training, the power of aspiration, how to use the breath as a home base, and the attitudes that support a steady, strong, and liberating practice. As poet W. S. Merwin writes, “Little breath, breathe me gently, row me gently, for I am a river I am learning to cro
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Mindfulness Meditation—Intimacy with our Inner Life
01/05/2025 Duración: 15minNOTE: Tara invites you to use this 15-minute meditation to help nurture a steady and strong practice during her upcoming Introduction to Mindfulness series. Mindfulness Meditation, also known as Vipassana or insight meditation, is a practice of cultivating non-judging attention to our moment-to-moment experience. We begin by gently relaxing through the body and resting attention on the breath—or another sensory anchor—allowing the mind to settle. From this grounded presence, we open to whatever arises: sensations, emotions, sounds, or thoughts, meeting each with clarity and kindness. The intention is to wake up from the trance of thinking and return, again and again, to the aliveness of immediate experience. Over time, this practice helps us develop a steady heart amidst change and brings deep insight into the nature of reality.