The judgmental mind is painful and difficult. We can bring the practicies of the Brahma Viharas to it, to melt away the judgment and to develop a kind and spacious heart.
Once pleasure becomes a determined pursuit, the world divides itself into a pleasure/pain polarity. We now pursue pleasure, both to sustain a pleasant feeling and to avoid the discontent of pain.<br />
How do the practices of mindfulness and metta (loving kindness) work together - and the important of bringing a kind loving presence to working with difficulties and pain.
The judging mind helps hold the sense of self as a static entity. Compassion allows us to be with all manifestations, however painful, allowing for healing and release.
Connecting with the actuality of body. Breath as a basis for samadhi. Cultivating support for stability here and now. Middle ground between pleasure and pain.
Meeting ourselves. Limitations of success and sense pleasure. The great reversal. The Buddha's journey. Knowing pleasure, pain, and beyond. Return to the original brightness.
These two talks explore how we leave our bodies, the challenge of working with pain, the pathway home to embodied awareness, and the gifts of presence and aliveness.
