A core part of Dharma practice is bringing to peace our mental construction, the talk discusses this in context of three aspects of the present experience: what is happening, our relationship to what is happening, and the subject who experiences all of this.
Distraction, "swimming" against our habit of distraction, our practice helps us open to the truth of dukkha, let go of its causes, realize its end and cultivate the the path of liberation, a version of the Four Noble Truths.
After a review of four guidelines for practicing with fear, we explore more deeply the nature of fear, including many of the more unconscious ways that we carry fear, as well as the biological basis of fear. We also examine the relationship of fear to a sense of self, and of opening into fearlessness.
As we access and begin to integrate the qualities of head, heart and belly (shimmering awareness, warmth and contactfulness and grounded presence), we remember and return to our innate wholeness.
We continue to explore the nature of fear and how to practice with fear, with several stories and a deeper look at how fear appears. Fear is not the problem - our unskillful way of reacting to fear with confusion and repetitive negative stories is what we explore and transform.
Opening to mindfulness of the body is both the beginning of practice and the vehicle that carries you through the practice as the "felt sense." Embodied presence through awareness of the body is one of the fruits of practice.