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In Memoriam: Rick Woudenberg


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Tara Brach's Dharma Talks
Tara Brach
A pervasive but often invisible source of suffering in our culture is self-aversion. We are a busy culture, and we move through our life feeling anxious and dissatisfied, but not fully conscious of how we neglect or judge our inner experience. We suffer from a lack of belonging: to our own bodies, to each other and to the earth. When we practice Buddhist meditation, we learn how to listen deeply and hold our life tenderly.
2009-04-01 Awakening Through Conflict 1:20:40
The wisdom of the Buddha can guide us not only in discovering inner freedom, but in healing that which divides us from each other. While conflict is inevitable--we are wired toward flight and flight when our needs are not met--it is possible to have our patterns of interpersonal reactivity be the very grounds for awakening. This talk draws on the work of Non Violent Comunications (Marshal Rosenberg) and explores how mindful communications are an interpersonal meditation that gives rise to compassion and understanding.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2009-03-25 Part 2 - The Body as a Gateway to Full Presence 1:20:28
We have strong conditioning to take false refuge in our mind, and disconnect from our senses. These two talks explore the pathways and gifts of coming home to embodied awareness.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2009-03-18 Part 1 - The Body as a Gateway to Full Presence 1:16:48
We have strong conditioning to take false refuge in our mind, and disconnect from our senses. These two talks explore the pathways and gifts of coming home to embodied awareness.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2009-03-11 Without Anxiety About Imperfection 1:17:06
The nature of being human is that we get caught in anger and judgment, hurt and fear. This talk explores what it means to be without anxiety towards this universal emotional conditioning as it appears in ourselves and others. Condemning imperfection binds our identity with an imperfect self. As we learn to pause and open to the direct embodied experience of emotions, we discover a space of presence that is filled with compassion and wisdom. Like the ocean, we can include difficult waves of experience and yet remember our inherent vastness, mystery and wholeness.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2009-03-04 The Divine Abodes: Equanimity 1:15:36
Lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equinimity, are natural expressions of our awakened heart. In this series of four talks, we will examine what arouses these qualities of a wise heart. Each talk will include guided reflections. Equanimity is the balanced and open quality of presence that arises when there is no resisting or grasping after experience. It is through the space of this wise presence that unconditional love is free to shine through.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2009-02-25 The Divine Abodes: Joy 1:18:31
Lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equinimity, are natural expressions of our awakened heart. In this series of four talks, we will examine what arouses these qualities of a wise heart. Each talk will include guided reflections. Joy naturally arises from the heart space that welcomes all that is. This talk describes four pathways of discovering and inhabiting this intrinsic openness of Being.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2009-02-18 The Divine Abodes: Compassion 1:17:46
Lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equinimity, are natural expressions of our awakened heart. In this series of four talks, we will examine what arouses these qualities of a wise heart. Each talk will include guided reflections. Compassion naturally arises as we allow ourselves to be touched by suffering--our own, those we know, all beings. As we discover our shared vulnerability, the pain of separation dissolves and our hearts open to widening circles of belonging.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2009-02-11 The Divine Abodes: Lovingkindness 1:20:27
Lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equinimity, are natural expressions of our awakened heart. In this series of four talks, we will examine what arouses these qualities of a wise heart. Each talk will include guided reflections. A key theme in cultivating lovingkindness is learning to see the secret beauty--the sacred--that shines through all beings.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2009-02-04 Part 2 - True Refuge In The Face Of Fear 1:19:24
One understanding of the spiritual path is relating wisely to fear. Our conditioned reaction is to feel aversion to fear and do anything but simply experience it. We discover freedom when instead of reacting, we recognize and open to fear with a kind, committed presence. While fear might or might not remain, with awareness, the suffering of being identified as a fearful self dissolves. In Part I of this talk, we look at how to recognize the physical, mental, emotional and behavioral facets of the body of fear. In Part II we explore a range of pathways for cultivating a healing and freeing presence in the midst of fear.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2009-01-28 Part 1 - Freedom In The Midst Of Fear 1:11:07
One understanding of the spiritual path is relating wisely to fear. Our conditioned reaction is to feel aversion to fear and do anything but simply experience it. We discover freedom when instead of reacting, we recognize and open to fear with a kind, committed presence. While fear might or might not remain, with awareness, the suffering of being identified as a fearful self dissolves. In Part I of this talk, we look at how to recognize the physical, mental, emotional and behavioral facets of the body of fear. In Part II we explore a range of pathways for cultivating a healing and freeing presence in the midst of fear.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

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