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.

Right attitude in noting painful sensations. How to note the intentions in daily activities and changing postures

Shaila Catherine gave the seventh talk in a eight-week series titled "Seven Factors of Awakening." This talk explores how the stability and the balance provided by equanimity can make our mind our friend, something that we can trust. When equanimity is strong, if there is pain we won't tend to react with aversion; if there is pleasure, we won't tend to react with grasping and clinging. The mind will be balanced, present, and aware of experience as it unfolds.

Resolving dukkha comes through revealing its pain, while having the means to do so. These means are samadhi and primary empathy-these take us beyond the trap of conceiving ourselves.

Pain, drowsiness, ethical integrity (in a non-ethical world), nature as a model for humans.

Samsara; The Realms; Broken Heart/Deep Grief; How to Be with Heavy Stuff; Painful Feelings; Identification with the Body; Precepts; Abuse; Sound of Silence; Equanimity

The great heart's natural response to pain and suffering is compassion and equanimity, released by directly handling experience through embodiment. Without the natural ground of embodiment there is a tendency towards differentiation and forming abstractions about self and other that create separation.

The Pali Canon includes over 5,000 discourses that document conversations and encounters that occurred during forty years of the Buddha's ministry. Over the centuries, certain teachings have risen to the surface with popularity and come to characterize our impression of what the Buddha taught. However, the vast collection of source material reaches beyond these well known teachings. For this speaker series, IMSB has invited teachers to focus on teachings that have been largely neglected by contemporary Buddhist groups. Each talk will share a lesser-known teaching, event, or instruction that will enrich our comprehension of what the Buddha taught. We will discover whether broadening our source material reinforces the dominant view of Buddhist practice or paints a different picture of meditation and the path of liberation.