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Tara Brach's Dharma Talks
Tara Brach
A pervasive but often invisible source of suffering in our culture is self-aversion. We are a busy culture, and we move through our life feeling anxious and dissatisfied, but not fully conscious of how we neglect or judge our inner experience. We suffer from a lack of belonging: to our own bodies, to each other and to the earth. When we practice Buddhist meditation, we learn how to listen deeply and hold our life tenderly.
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2017-03-22 Meditation - Relaxing Back into Full Presence 23:36
This guided practice begins with a conscious breath that relaxes the body and mind, and then a body scan to awaken to the aliveness of the present moment. We then open into the natural awareness that includes the changing flow of sounds, feelings and sensations, and practice “relaxing back” when the mind gets lost in thought.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2017-03-15 Realizing Your Deepest Desires 52:19
This talk differentiates between egoic intentions (driven by wants and fears), and our true aspiration (deepest desires) to manifest our full potential for awake awareness and love. We explore ways to realize and open to our deepest desires when we are stuck in self-promotion, grasping and conflict, so that our aspiration becomes a compass of the heart that can guide us in living with wisdom and compassion. “What’s my deepest intention. What really matters?”
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2017-03-15 Meditation: Letting Thought Clouds Come and Go 22:38
This meditation guides us through a body scan and into a relaxed, open presence. When we realize we are lost in a thought cloud, our practice is to relax open, listening to and feeling the life of the present moment. We are training to become increasingly aware of the gap between thoughts, the space where the light of awareness shines through.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2017-03-08 Healing Trauma: The Light Shines Through the Broken Places 53:05
Most of us have encountered trauma either in our own direct experience or with someone in our immediate circle. This talk examines the shame and suffering that arise from trauma and how meditation practices can support a path to full spiritual healing. We focus on practices that help us access a sense of love and safety, and then increase our capacity to bring presence to the unprocessed, unlived life in the body. (Note: For many who suffer from PTSD, therapy is invaluable and these practices are not considered as a substitute.)
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2017-03-08 Meditation: Getting Lost and Coming Back Here 19:45
This meditation establishes a sense of presence, of being Here, through a body scan and awakening the senses. We then notice when we’re lost and relax back into the wakeful stillness – the Hereness – that is our true home. Our practice concludes with the beautiful poem “Lost” by David Wagoner.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2017-03-01 Listening to the Song - Part 2 48:27
Listening is more than a communications skill, it is a capacity that awakens our awareness. As we learn to listen inwardly, we begin to understand and care for the life that is here. And as we listen to others, that same intimacy emerges. In this two-part series we examine the blocks to listening and the practices that cultivate this essential domain of human potential. Our focus is both on the transformational power of listening in our personal lives, and also the necessity for deep listening if we are to bring healing to our wider society.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2017-03-01 Meditation - A Sky-Like Mind 23:57
This meditation begins with listening to sounds as a portal to spacious awareness. In addition to guiding attention to naturally occurring sounds, Tara plays chimes and gongs to deepen the experience of receptivity and openness. The meditation progresses to include all experience - sounds, sensations, thoughts, feelings - in the vast, transparent, timeless space of awareness.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2017-02-22 Listening to the Song – Part I 49:01
Listening is more than a communications skill, it is a capacity that awakens our awareness. As we learn to listen inwardly, we begin to understand and care for the life that is here. And as we listen to others, that same intimacy emerges. In this two-part series we examine the blocks to listening and the practices that cultivate this essential domain of human potential. Our focus is both on the transformational power of listening in our personal lives, and also the necessity for deep listening if we are to bring healing to our wider society. "Listening is the forerunner. If we don’t listen to the pain within and around us, we can’t respond."
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2017-02-15 Being Truthful 54:05
The grounds of happiness, loving relationships and a just and flourishing society is honesty. And yet our current times are characterized by a plethora of deception – both societally, and often in more subtle ways, in our personal lives. This talk examines the deep conditioning we have to deceive others, and to avoid facing and acknowledging our own vulnerability. We then explore how we can commit ourselves to deepening our truth telling, and in so doing, creating a climate of integrity and trust that can lead to a more compassionate world.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2017-02-15 Meditation: Sitting Like a Mountain 25:28
Meditation can empower us as we learn to access our potential for stability, strength and openness. This meditation calls on the image of a mountain as we awaken our body and mind to a full, vibrant presence.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

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