In describing our human predicament and dis-ease, D.H. Lawrence says we are like a great tree with our roots in the air. We need to replant ourselves—in our bodies, hearts and spirit – to live from embodied presence. These two talks are guides to replanting ourselves. In Part 1, we explore how we are so often dissociated from the life of our body, and the pathways home. Part 2 looks at the challenges of pain, fear and trauma, and how we can gradually and skillfully reconnect with a wholeness of being.

In describing our human predicament and dis-ease, D.H. Lawrence says we are like a great tree with our roots in the air. We need to replant ourselves—in our bodies, hearts and spirit. These two talks are guides to replanting ourselves. In Part 1, we explore how we are so often dissociated from the life of our body, and the pathways home. Part 2 looks at the challenges of pain, fear and trauma, and how we can gradually and skillfully reconnect with a wholeness of being.

Shaila Catherine describes how the wholesome state of mettā serves not only as an antidote to anger, fear, and ill will, but is also a force that can overcome all the hindrances. A mind imbued with mettā is both strong and yielding; it is balanced and upright. Mettā contributes to both the development of samādhi and also insight. A mind strengthened by mettā will be able to face the unsatisfactory conditions of dukkha with clarity and balance, without blaming society, and without getting angry at other people. Mettā training gives us a way to take responsibility for cultivating happiness. When our minds are well developed, we will dwell at ease, in comfort, free from the hindrances, primed for abandoning lust, hate, and delusion.

We humans share this journey of birth, old age, sickness and death. Sometimes we succumb to fear or sorrow; sometimes we are exhausted or disoriented as if lost on a perilous path. Seeing this universality of suffering and knowing its causes, we ask: "What will set us free?" With the lens of refined moral aptitude, in silent witness, we stop to listen and directly know for ourselves the inner joy and peace of true harmlessness. Patiently, our noble guides of benevolent compassion and wise reflection steer the heart to its liberation – awakening to Unconditional Love.

This talk is about a recent near death experience and the choice to live, exploring how and why dharma practice is essential to facing death without fear.

Working with fear and anxiety

Q1: You seem to be talking about citta as a persisting permanent thing not as arising every split second. Any comments? 11:34 Q2: How can I deal with not fully maintaining Buddhist standards after the retreat? 17:27 Q3: You said: Keep warming what can be warmed and the things that can't release yet ... it's not ready. Could you elaborate more on this please? 24:08 Q4: You wrote a book called Unseating the Inner Tyrant. The critic consumes a lot of energy. How do you restore that energy after a rage? Is there a shorter path to finding balance? 32:59 Q5: There's a lot of fear in my citta. How come? 34:46 Q6: I was afraid of coming to this retreat, and now I'm afraid of going out. 38:16 Q7: What is the relationship between tanha, craving, as the fundamental cause of dukkha and the three root kelasa, defilements, based on the scriptures and or their experience for interpretation? 47:51 Q 8: What is the effect of serious illness physical and psychological on the citta? Can they limit or make it impossible to take care of the citta?

Q1 If I remember it well citta follows moving, shifting energy. How can we feel moving energy? Is it the feeling of the breath or sound? What is non-moving energy? 08:37 Q2 what's the difference between virya, translated as energy, and citta energy? 12:12 Q3 You don't seem to use the word awareness which is often used to denote the knowing of something. Is there a connection between the felt energy and awareness? 28:28 Q4 How do you reconcile the fire of an animated heart with Buddhism's perfume of disengagement and dispassion? 32:36 Q5 how can sensation and the sequence that leads to it be described in a subtle energy approach? 43:43 Q6 What's the difference between vedana and emotion? 44:48 Q7 Sadness, sorrow, fear, joy. Are the emotions or more fixed states? 49:20 Q8 Observing the breath seems quite important, but as soon as I focus on the breath it gets forced and heavy. Do you have any advice on observing the natural breath without interfering? 52:17 Q9 What does it mean when you say the breathing is a messenger? What is the message?

The human realm is ever fraught with greed and delusion, conflicted and loud in its extremes. These violations are just that – destroyers of our spiritual verve. As pilgrims of peace, we disarm them in the interior silence of the heart. Courageous, we stand our moral ground, resolved to hold the bar. Our faith, generosity and discernment rescue us from the flames of sensory fears and infatuations. There is giving up and letting go but the Buddha’s promise is true. Where kindness and compassion prevail, the heart knows unshakeable peace.

Are we present here and now? How much do we obsess in thought? Is the mind filled with worry – wavering from anxiety to fear?  Here and now, we examine and ascend to peaceful states. When we’re dreaming, wake up. Know that we’re asleep. Know that we’re not present. Know the mind that is upset, angry or boiling and cool it. Use the Buddha’s tools to repair and return our attention to present moment awareness. Mindfully knowing, seeing clearly with blameless joy and wise insight, we lighten our burden. We are cultivating the garden of the mind.