Guided meditation to bring mindful intimacy to our every changing emotions and mental states. This is the third foundation of mindfulness.

We begin with some remembering of our current context of crisis, and the possibility of having major learning and transformation come out of this time—personally, relationally, and collectively—rather than simply going back to the old “normal.” Then we continue to explore the different dimensions of awakening from our habits and conditioning, here looking at what may be the most central dimension—transforming dukkha (or “reactivity”—compulsively grasping after the pleasant, pushing away the unpleasant); the Buddha said once, “I teach dukkha and the end of dukkha.” We examine: (1) the nature of dukkha or reactivity, grounding in the core teachings of Dependent Origination and the Two Arrows; (2) the nature of non-reactivity, or freedom or liberation or responsiveness; and (3) how to practice to transform reactivity, identifying six ways of practicing, and focusing here on the first four.

Description: Guided meditation to bring mindful intimacy to pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral experiences in the body and other phenomena. This is the second foundation of mindfulness.

To bring forward the highest heart quality of Equanimity we need to understand all four brahma viharas (heavenly dwellings: friendliness, compassion, celebration, and balance) and how the work together in beautiful harmony.

Morning Teaching

Our own centeredness and kind awareness becomes one the greatest gifts we can offer others who are in distress. Without fixing or changing our compassionate presence is healing and a source of our own inner well-being, especially when we do't identify with being "the helper".

How can we find balance in the times of great distress? The process of first connecting with out experience, then holding what's here and finally accessing that place of peace and spacious awareness that can hold it all are discussed. Practices to help find our center are offered.

The value of our harshest difficulties is how honestly they cause us to question, how they intensify our courage and bring alive our deepest inner purpose, how they reawaken our soul’s task on earth. In willingly facing the unknown, we offer trust in a greater purpose. And then we must venture wherever the road leads us, in spite of the dark, in spite of the quivering of our heart. Ultimately true strength meets the vulnerability of life with courage.

Guided meditation for bringing loving awareness to all aspects of experience.