00:34 Q1 I've recently run across "meditation teachers" who claim that some other creative activities that they're involved in are better than meditation. What can you say about this? 20:56 Q2 I'm not good with emotional language like spiritual poetry but have a longing for the divine. What can you say about this? 22:54 Q3 I'm already seeking some professional help for trauma but I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Buddhist way to heal trauma. 26:22 Q4 How can you not make letting go into another sankara project? How can we let go of concepts like achieving stream entry? 35:42 Q5 I've heard a teacher say when the mind is quiet and we experience things as they are, the self and the observing or knowing mind will distinctly be two separate entities. Can you speak to this please? 44:06 Q6 I find myself alone and isolated. There are no Buddhist centres near me nor do I have a group of family or friends I can share with. I meditate and go for long walks but the need to be a part of the community is a longing and I feel sometimes I have no meaning in my life and I panic. What is your advice?

Reflection on Impermanence & Death

This dhamma talk and instructions from the Buddha was offered on January 1, 2026.

Reflection followed by Guided Meditation

Guided practices on how to serve the body as a field and not only parts

This talk will 1. Look back at 2025 reviewing what we've learned 2. Open to where we are in the present 3. Get in touch with our intention for the 2026 envisioning the qualities that will be most needed for us to deepen our understanding and inner peace We will also share a New Year's ritual of letting go and cultivation. If you're at home bring a candle. Please pause the audio to perform the exercises.

Reflection followed by Guided Meditation

Teachings and Guidance on RAIN meditation.

What if aging, illness, and death aren't enemies to avoid, but teachers bowing at our feet? This talk explores the Buddha's radical invitation to turn toward life's inevitable difficulties—not with morbidity, but with the clear-eyed realism that sets us free. Through poetry, contemporary dharma voices, and the ancient practice of death awareness, we discover how contemplating our mortality doesn't diminish joy—it ignites it. When we stop living heedlessly and wake up to the preciousness of this breath, this moment, this life, we find the courage to love completely and let go gracefully. A New Year's reflection on endings, beginnings, and the alchemy that transforms suffering into compassion.

Reflecting on the love for the path, the practice and the goal. Even if we don't think we have any