Connecting with whatever inspires us is an essential part of practice and supports a sense of heartfelt purpose and energy in meditation, expressed as ardency. Rather than 'effort-ing' in practice, born of a sense of obligation or fear, the quality of ardency through which we are moved to engage with our spiritual journey wholeheartedly, is born out of energised love and a clear commitment to what we value and hold as most important in life.

The meditative journey involves understanding and dispelling the veils of mental states that cloud the radiance of the mind.

The contemplation of vedana, the Second Foundation of Mindfulness, provides a powerful tool to dismantle suffering; it can also reveal surprising and profoundly liberating truths about the nature of reality.

This talk reflects on ways of practicing skillfully with mind states and emotions. These sometimes challenging areas of experience are a gateway to deepening clarity and opening the heart, when met in the present moment with understanding, acceptance and kindness.

Cultivating mindfulness of thought and how it shapes the world.

Spiritual practice rests on a deep trust in the fundamental wholesomeness of our hearts seeking for happiness. We can learn to honour the goodness of our core motivation, even as we recognise our need to deepen the skill and wisdom with which we pursue genuine wellbeing. This includes recognising the importance of connecting with that which brings joy to our heart as part of our spiritual practice, and honouring our own wholsesome qualities and actions.

Through the development of various skillful means, we can unlock the innately liberating dynamism at the heart of our emotional life, allowing deep healing, freedom, and the natural unfolding of our full potential.

Explores the personal and universal stories we are invited to investigate and understand.

The awakening factor of investigation moves us to look deeply into our experience, acknowledging that there is always more to understand in the simplicity and mystery of being alive here and now. As we learn to bring a deep and open-hearted curiousity to our each moment and to our very existence itself, without taking any position on our self or this world, life can open to reveal the deepest truth of freedom.

A look into the power of the tender open heart.