Balancing effort and purifying kamma. Learn to be with what is uncomfortable, including personal mistakes. Cultivating the noble heart requires forgiveness. (at ATBA in Auckland)

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.

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.

Retreat talk: Wise Effort_Aligning Wisdom and Presence

We continually are aware of so much that is painful in the world, whether related to police violence, war, earthquakes, the challenges to democracy, or the climate crisis. How can we be with and respond to what is painful (and also hopeful) from the perspective of our practice? What is “wise view” in relationship to the pain of the world? How do we get caught in unskillful views? How can we respond skillfully? Inspired by many wonderful teachers and exemplars, in this talk and discussion, I want to explore ten foundational ways of responding to these questions that can orient us in these challenging times.