Guided meditation for relaxation. Importance of balance when practicing with pain and tools for cultivating balance in midst of pain.

Q&A on self-judgement, self-identity, and severe pain.

How to develop wisdom with pain to shift relation into a transformative experience rather than oppressive. Guided meditation for practicing with wisdom.

Q&A on isolation, practicing with opiods, and the middle path of being.

Sharing reflections on intentions and explorations into what pain is. Overview of the four basic ways of practicing with pain.

Grounding meditation for practicing with pain and intention setting for the day. Introduction into topic of meditation in pain and illness.

We long to be free from this wandering, to go beyond all suffering. The body is our raft to cross from one side of the river of pain to the other. And there we leave the raft. But we don’t leave it until we cross, until we realize the Deathless – when no one ‘dies’ but we know the death of greed, of anger, of delusion. As we cross, we end the pain, grief, rage, vulnerability, fear – every form of distress. And where we were once inflamed by these troubles, they give way to the infinitudes of love and compassion.

Dissociation is the universal mechanism for pulling away from the pain of “too much.” While it’s necessary and natural for enduring certain situations, the ongoing habit of dissociation cuts us off from our full aliveness, creativity, and capacity for love. This talk explores the process by which we disconnect from our bodies and feelings - individually and collectively - and the practices that directly enable us to include the “unlived life" - the fear and shame, passion and loneliness - that we’ve pushed away. By including the raw energies we’ve been avoiding, we come home to a fullness that can embrace others and the whole of life.

This guided meditation focuses on using mindfulness to work with pain.