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Matthew Brensilver's Dharma Talks
Matthew Brensilver
Matthew Brensilver, MSW, PhD, serves on the Guiding Teachers Committee and Board of Directors at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He was previously Program Director for Mindful Schools and for more than a decade, was a core teacher at Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. Each summer, he lectures at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center on the intersections between mindfulness, science and mental health. Before committing to teach meditation full-time, he spent years doing research on addiction pharmacotherapy at the UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine. He is the co-author of two books about meditation during adolescence.
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2025-05-13 Guided Meditation: dropping secret agendas (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 47:13
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Retreat
2025-05-12 Fear, Thinking, Safety and Samadhi (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 40:40
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Retreat
2025-05-11 Guided Metta Meditation - Metta for All Beings (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 39:34
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Retreat
2024-11-06 Brief Post-Election Reflections 16:37
A few thoughts on Wednesday November 6th 2024.
Various
2024-10-16 Attention and Anicca, Awareness and Anatta (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 44:58
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat
2024-10-13 Guided Meditation: In the Presence of Love (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 45:12
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat
2024-10-12 Craving, Compulsion, Non-Freedom (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 46:40
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat
2024-09-29 Plasticity, Call off the search, Unification and Love 43:15
Big Bear Retreat Center Love and Rest
2024-09-29 Emptiness of Self 53:12
Big Bear Retreat Center Love and Rest
2024-09-28 Balancing Equanimity and Compassion 33:57
Big Bear Retreat Center Love and Rest
2024-09-27 Grace, Gravity, Surrender and Silence 43:37
Big Bear Retreat Center Love and Rest
2024-09-27 Relaxing the Body and Mind 45:20
Big Bear Retreat Center Love and Rest
2024-09-26 Metta for Self 33:14
Big Bear Retreat Center Love and Rest
2024-07-12 Not-self 50:02
Big Bear Retreat Center Healing the Self, Loving the Self, Forgetting the Self
2024-07-11 Healing the Self 50:20
Big Bear Retreat Center Healing the Self, Loving the Self, Forgetting the Self
2024-07-11 Throughlines of Self and Not-Self 45:29
Big Bear Retreat Center Healing the Self, Loving the Self, Forgetting the Self
2024-07-11 Deep Embodiment 41:11
Big Bear Retreat Center Healing the Self, Loving the Self, Forgetting the Self
2024-07-11 Love and Space 42:25
Big Bear Retreat Center Healing the Self, Loving the Self, Forgetting the Self
2024-07-10 Guided Meditation: Landing in the Breath and Soundscape 56:49
These recordings are available publicly from a retreat held in person at Big Bear Retreat Center. Learn more about the center and upcoming offerings for retreats in nature, gathered in community. bigbearretreatcenter.org/upcoming-retreats/ Healing the Self, Loving the Self, Forgetting the Self Matthew Brensilver July 9 - 13, 2024 Co-sponsored by Insight Retreat Center (IRC) and Big Bear Retreat Center In this silent retreat, we explore how mindfulness supports the healing of the self. Many of the Buddhist teachings help us to tend to painful memory, old pains and the habits that compound suffering. As we become more gentle and loving towards experience, the self becomes less and less of a preoccupation. The more completely we accept ourselves, the easier it becomes to forget the self and rest in an awareness unencumbered by self-consciousness. This retreat includes sitting and walking meditation instructions, and dharma talks.
Big Bear Retreat Center Healing the Self, Loving the Self, Forgetting the Self
2024-07-01 Mindfulness, Mindlessness, Rumination and the Species of Unconsciousness 1:46:22
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks
2024-05-16 Closing Session (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 1:35:33
with Brian Lesage, Cara Lai, Matthew Brensilver
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight: Understand the Mechanisms of the Salutary Effects of Mindfulness
2024-05-14 Guided Meditation: Feeling 52:29
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight: Understand the Mechanisms of the Salutary Effects of Mindfulness
2024-05-13 Language is the hammer and every problem, a nail (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 46:30
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight: Understand the Mechanisms of the Salutary Effects of Mindfulness
2024-05-12 Guided Meditation: Convergence of Insight and Love (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 36:04
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight: Understand the Mechanisms of the Salutary Effects of Mindfulness
2023-10-15 Duality, Merging, Not-Self and Differentiation in the Interpersonal World (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 51:27
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight 2023
2023-10-13 Reflections and Guided Meditation on Mudita 35:36
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight 2023
2023-10-12 Guided meditation: all phenomena as false alarms 53:06
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight 2023
2023-10-11 Knowing and Not-Knowing 50:28
Evening Dharma Talk
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight 2023
2023-10-08 Metta Practice 38:31
Afternoon Sit with Instructions
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight 2023
2023-05-12 The anchor is everywhere 29:58
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight
2023-05-11 Surrender & Faith (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 46:04
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight
2023-05-10 Cycling through All Four Divine Abodes 33:46
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight
2023-03-31 The three characteristics and love (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 45:30
Spirit Rock Meditation Center The Convergence of Insight and Love
2023-03-30 Guided Meditation: Trajectory of your life and trajectory of freedom 40:37
Spirit Rock Meditation Center The Convergence of Insight and Love
2023-03-29 Moved by goodness: Reflections and Guided Metta Meditation (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 35:57
Spirit Rock Meditation Center The Convergence of Insight and Love
2022-08-03 Morning sit with instruction (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 59:53
Guided Meditation: Attitude, Attention, Awareness
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Young Adult Insight Meditation Retreat
2022-05-19 Love as the Default Position of the Mind 51:07
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Meditation Retreat
2022-05-18 Guided Meditation - Grief and Compassion (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 30:49
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Meditation Retreat
2022-05-17 Guided Meditation on Body and Affect (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 59:22
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Meditation Retreat
2022-05-16 No escape other than into the heart (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 50:42
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Meditation Retreat
2022-03-07 Love and its relation with wisdom. 47:42
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Opening to Wisdom and Love: Insight Meditation Retreat
2022-03-06 Guided compassion practice: grieving as a factor of growth 41:03
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Opening to Wisdom and Love: Insight Meditation Retreat
2022-03-05 Guided meditation: feeling as a prediction of risk 57:29
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Opening to Wisdom and Love: Insight Meditation Retreat
2022-03-04 Memory, prediction, Bharatanha, and the present 47:18
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Opening to Wisdom and Love: Insight Meditation Retreat
2022-03-03 Guided Metta practice 39:44
The alternatives to love, hate or apathy, are not visible
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center Opening to Wisdom and Love: Insight Meditation Retreat
2021-10-01 Dialogue on aspects of freedom. 52:03
with Matthew Brensilver, Phillip Moffitt, Tuere Sala
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat
2021-09-30 Tranquilizing side of the 7 Factors: Agitation and temporal density. 48:46
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat
2021-05-22 Guided Meditation - changing conditions 47:55
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Retreat with Matthew Brensilver, PhD, Tuere Sala and Brian Lesage
2021-05-21 Anatta and its Blessings 50:07
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Retreat with Matthew Brensilver, PhD, Tuere Sala and Brian Lesage
2021-05-20 Reflections and Guided Heart Practice 36:34
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Retreat with Matthew Brensilver, PhD, Tuere Sala and Brian Lesage
2021-05-19 Guided Meditation 52:16
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Retreat with Matthew Brensilver, PhD, Tuere Sala and Brian Lesage
2020-10-08 Tuere Sala and Matthew Brensilver in dialogue about wisdom 54:53
with Matthew Brensilver, Tuere Sala
Dharma Talk
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat with Phillip Moffitt, MA, SEP; Matthew Brensilver, PhD; Tuere Sala and Dawn Scott
2020-10-08 Guided Reflection & Meditation: Grief & Compassion 30:54
Guided Meditation
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat with Phillip Moffitt, MA, SEP; Matthew Brensilver, PhD; Tuere Sala and Dawn Scott
2020-10-06 Guided Meditation: Feelings and their elaborations 54:09
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat with Phillip Moffitt, MA, SEP; Matthew Brensilver, PhD; Tuere Sala and Dawn Scott
2020-10-05 The Parami of Truthfulness 47:33
Dharma Talk
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat with Phillip Moffitt, MA, SEP; Matthew Brensilver, PhD; Tuere Sala and Dawn Scott
2020-10-03 Guided Meditation: Settling into the Body 40:14
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat with Phillip Moffitt, MA, SEP; Matthew Brensilver, PhD; Tuere Sala and Dawn Scott
2020-05-17 Your Face: The Gaze, Self-view, Intimacy and Letting Go (Online Retreat at Spirit Rock) 46:11
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight: Dharma, Care and Community in Uncertain Times - Online
2020-05-14 Vulnerability, Porousness, Equanimity & Love (Online Retreat at Spirit Rock) 43:22
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight: Dharma, Care and Community in Uncertain Times - Online
2020-05-12 Dialectics of Practice - Opening and Protection (Online Retreat at Spirit Rock) 42:41
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight: Dharma, Care and Community in Uncertain Times - Online
2020-03-09 Addressing Coronavirus with a Dharma View- Monday Night Dharma Talk 51:05
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2019-12-17 Death and the Poignancy of Life 61:37
William James said that death was the ‘worm at the core’ of the human condition that turns us all into ‘melancholy metaphysicians.’ A century later, awareness of mortality is documented to affect our thinking and emotional lives in powerful ways. It figures prominently in Buddhist practice. In what ways does consciousness of death distorts our view and lead us away from wisdom and compassion? Alternatively, how can we open to the truth of finitude such that our heart is softened? Can we intuit the freedom or love that might be released were we more deeply at peace with our mortality? In this evening program, we’ll consider the way death can harden or soften our heart – and how dharma practice might lead us to a life that feels complete. All are welcome.
New York Insight Meditation Center
2019-10-23 Day 6 Morning Guided Instructions: Pervasiveness of Feeling (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 48:22
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat
2019-10-19 Day 2 Morning Guided Instructions (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 50:38
Rest is Available-Body Breathing
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Fall Insight Meditation Retreat
2019-08-15 Attention, Wisdom, Grief and Love (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 50:50
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight & Loving Kindness
2019-06-22 The Interpersonal Dimension of the Dharma (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 57:12
with Brian Lesage, Matthew Brensilver
Matthew and Brian share reflections on bringing our spiritual practice into the relational field of our lives.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Meditation Retreat
2019-06-21 Guided Meditation: Body and Space (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 39:00
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Meditation Retreat
2019-06-18 The Story of Jumping Mouse (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 58:32
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Spring Insight Meditation Retreat
2019-06-05 Equanimity and Samadhi 51:30
Substantial overlap with previous talk on samadhi.
Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center Wisdom and Compassion for Our Time
2019-06-04 Guided Meditation: How the world impacts the emotional body 46:40
Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center Wisdom and Compassion for Our Time
2019-06-02 Guided Meditation: Body Settling, Pleasure of the Breath 30:18
Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center Wisdom and Compassion For Our Time
2019-03-25 Monday Night Dharma Talk 59:30
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2019-03-08 Compulsive Thinking, Concentration & Equanimity 60:15
Meditation practice cultivates a diverse set of attentional, emotional and introspective skills. Central to the practice of mindfulness is the stabilization of attention. But before our attention stabilizes, practice can be overstimulating. This talk will explore the process through which the mind comes to rest. In developing this steadiness, equanimity (the capacity to fully permit the flow of both pleasure and pain) is a vital skill. We will see how concentration and equanimity reinforce each other and support a deeper understanding of ourselves. And how this stability, in turn, makes space for the heart to respond with joy and compassion.
New York Insight Meditation Center NYI Regular Talks
2019-03-08 guided meditation 36:52
Meditation practice cultivates a diverse set of attentional, emotional and introspective skills. Central to the practice of mindfulness is the stabilization of attention. But before our attention stabilizes, practice can be overstimulating. This talk will explore the process through which the mind comes to rest. In developing this steadiness, equanimity (the capacity to fully permit the flow of both pleasure and pain) is a vital skill. We will see how concentration and equanimity reinforce each other and support a deeper understanding of ourselves. And how this stability, in turn, makes space for the heart to respond with joy and compassion.
New York Insight Meditation Center NYI Regular Talks
2019-02-28 Technology as an Existential Threat to Mindfulness - Matthew Brensilver and Randy Fernando 3:01:59
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2018-12-10 Monday Night Dharma Talk 55:53
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2018-11-24 Sila as Our Practice in the World (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 45:15
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Thanksgiving Retreat
2018-11-23 Untitled (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 47:09
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Thanksgiving Retreat
2018-11-23 Untitled (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 1:45:32
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Thanksgiving Retreat
2018-11-23 Sitting with Instructions (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 55:14
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Thanksgiving Retreat
2018-11-21 Day 6: Sitting with Instructions (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 51:52
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Thanksgiving Retreat
2018-10-22 Sīla, Samādhi, Pañña 53:57
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Insight Meditation: The Convergence of Wisdom and Love
2018-06-16 Ethical Implications of Mindfulness 47:00
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Essential Teachings on the Path of Awakening
2018-06-16 Guided Meditation: Turbulence and Peace (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 55:00
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Essential Teachings on the Path of Awakening
2018-06-14 Dharma Debate: Samvega versus Softening and Receiving (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 47:26
with Brian Lesage, Matthew Brensilver
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Essential Teachings on the Path of Awakening
2018-06-14 Guided Meditation: Clinging and Space (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 60:37
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Essential Teachings on the Path of Awakening
2018-06-13 Samadhi (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 49:50
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Essential Teachings on the Path of Awakening
2018-06-12 Metta Reflections: Opening to Life Requires Love (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 27:00
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Essential Teachings on the Path of Awakening
2018-01-15 Closing Session (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 1:51:03
with Matthew Brensilver, Sylvia Boorstein
with assistants Carol Cano and Victoria Cary
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Awakening in Every Moment: A Retreat in Mindfulness, Metta and Morality
2018-01-14 Day 2: Evening Practice Session (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 1:35:05
with Matthew Brensilver, Sylvia Boorstein
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Awakening in Every Moment: A Retreat in Mindfulness, Metta and Morality
2018-01-14 Day 2: Afternoon Practice Session (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 1:37:25
with Matthew Brensilver, Sylvia Boorstein
with assistants Carol Cano and Victoria Cary
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Awakening in Every Moment: A Retreat in Mindfulness, Metta and Morality
2018-01-14 Day 2: Morning Practice Session 3:29:26
with Matthew Brensilver, Sylvia Boorstein
With assistants Carol Cano and Victoria Cary
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Awakening in Every Moment: A Retreat in Mindfulness, Metta and Morality
2018-01-13 Day 1: Afternoon Practice Session (part 1) (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 1:13:45
with Matthew Brensilver, Sylvia Boorstein
with assistants Carol Cano and Victoria Cary
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Awakening in Every Moment: A Retreat in Mindfulness, Metta and Morality
2018-01-13 Day 1: Evening Practice Session (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 1:40:21
with Matthew Brensilver, Sylvia Boorstein
with assistants Carol Cano and Victoria Cary
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Awakening in Every Moment: A Retreat in Mindfulness, Metta and Morality
2018-01-13 Day 1: Afternoon Practice Session (part 2) (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 67:30
with Matthew Brensilver, Sylvia Boorstein
with assistants Carol Cano and Victoria Cary
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Awakening in Every Moment: A Retreat in Mindfulness, Metta and Morality
2018-01-13 Day 1: Morning Practice Session (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 3:29:05
with Matthew Brensilver, Sylvia Boorstein
with assistants Carol Cano and Victoria Cary
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Awakening in Every Moment: A Retreat in Mindfulness, Metta and Morality
2018-01-12 Opening Night: Evening Practice Session (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 1:10:39
with Matthew Brensilver, Sylvia Boorstein
with assistants Carol Cano and Victoria Cary
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Awakening in Every Moment: A Retreat in Mindfulness, Metta and Morality
2017-10-23 Monday Night Meditation Talk (Drop-in at Spirit Rock) 65:23
Monday Night Meditation Talk
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks
2017-05-28 Bringing Dharma Into Interpersonal and Communal Life (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 48:12
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Essential Teachings on the Path of Awakening
2017-05-27 Day 5: Instructions and Sitting 38:02
Mostly a quiet sit.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Essential Teachings on the Path of Awakening
2017-05-26 Day 4: Metta Sit with Guidance (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 34:47
Reflections and INstructions: comparing mind, envy and Mudita.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Essential Teachings on the Path of Awakening

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