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Retreat Dharma Talks
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IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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2017-08-30
Reflection: Cultivating a Loving Heart
7:10
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Tara Brach
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Love is an innate capacity, and when we intentionally cultivate it, love shifts from a state to a trait. This meditation offers guidance on how to access love, and open ourselves to it in a way that serves this awakening of our hearts.
“Know that you’re rewiring your brain, your heart, your body, your mind – and that the more times you do this, the more you really give it 20 or 30 seconds to feel the loving directly, the more access you have to this very innate capacity in your being.”
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2017-09-13
The Racial Awareness Rubik - What we forget but must remember
44:52
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Ruth King
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This talk explores six hindrances to racial harmony and six principles that support a culture of care, as well as the Buddha’s teachings on the Two Truth Doctrine and Misperception.
Enjoy a blog written by Aryenish Birdie after attending the talk: "Why People of Color and White Folks Think About Race Differently." http://encompassmovement.org/why-people-of-color-and-white-folks-think-about-race-differently/
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2017-10-04
Meditation: Saying “Yes” to Life
16:29
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Tara Brach
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This meditation guides us in relaxing through the body, then opening to the changing river of experience. By continually relaxing back and letting go into what is unfolding, we discover the natural vastness, wakefulness and vitality of our essential Being.
The poet Danna Faulds writes: In the shared quiet, an invitation arises like a white dove lifting from a limb and taking flight. Come and live in truth. Take your place in the flow of grace. Draw aside the veil you thought would always separate your heart from love. All you ever longed for is before you in this moment, if you dare draw in a breath and whisper “yes.”
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2017-10-04
River of Change – Bringing a Wise Heart to this Impermanent Life – Part 1
54:35
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Tara Brach
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These two talks look at how we relate to change – especially the notable changes involving loss of relationships and our own body and mind. We examine our strategies for avoiding uncertainty and fear; the consequences of resisting reality; our refuges of presence and compassion in the face of grief; and the gifts of opening fully to the river of change.
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2017-10-11
Meditation: Present Heart
14:37
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Tara Brach
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We awaken a present heart by relaxing with the breath, and bringing the kindness of a smile into our bodily experience. This meditation ends with offering blessings to our inner life and all beings.
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2017-10-11
River of Change – Part 2 – Bringing a Wise Heart to this Impermanent Life
49:06
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Tara Brach
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These two talks look at how we relate to change – especially the notable changes involving loss of relationships and our own body and mind. We examine our strategies for avoiding uncertainty and fear; the consequences of resisting reality; our refuges of presence and compassion in the face of grief; and the gifts of opening fully to the river of change.
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2017-10-25
Meditation: Refuge in Presence
18:12
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Tara Brach
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We arrive in presence through the gateway of the body, scanning through with awareness, and then resting with the breath and body sensations. As we include whatever arises with a gentle and kind attention, our inner refuge becomes increasingly stable and openhearted. This meditation ends with a brief lovingkindness prayer.
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2017-10-25
Anger: Responding, Not Reacting
53:22
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Tara Brach
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Anger is natural, intelligent and necessary for surviving and flourishing. Yet when we are hooked by anger, it causes great personal and collective suffering. This talk explores how to transform patterns of reactivity by bringing a mindful and compassionate attention to the unmet needs that underlie angry reactivity. When we learn how to pause and connect honestly with our inner experience, we are then able to respond to others from our full intelligence and heart.
“Getting angry with another person is like throwing hot coals with bare hands: both people get burned.” Buddha
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2017-11-08
Meditation: Relaxed Attentiveness
20:00
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Tara Brach
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The primary qualities of a healing and freeing presence are being alert, open and tender. This meditation arouses these qualities by engaging a mindful awareness of the breath, and then a relaxed, gentle attentiveness to the changing experience of the moment. It ends by bringing lovingkindness to ourselves and all beings.
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