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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.
2011-01-19 Inviting Life's Difficulties to Tea 1:19:43
One of the most illuminating themes in the Buddha's life story was the regular appearance of Mara--god of selfishness and greed, anger and fear, doubt and shame. Each time Mara surfaced, the Buddha's response was to say "I see you Mara," and invite him to tea. This talk explores how such unconditional friendliness and wisdom can bring healing and freedom to our lives.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2011-01-12 Evolving Consciousness--Beyond limiting Identities 1:19:36
The flag of trance is identifying as a separate, deficient self. This talk explores how developmentally we can get fixated on fears and unmet needs and cut off from the wholeness of Being that is our true nature. We explore the power of mindfulness --seeking not to change but to understand--and the expression of that understanding as love. The talk includes guided reflections that can help us recognize and awaken from the confines of trance.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2011-01-05 True Refuge: Three Gateways to Freedom 1:26:34
This talk invites a contemplation of three archetypal domains of spiritual awakening: Buddha-awareness, Dharma- truth (the way things are), and Sangha-loving relatedness. We explore our habit of turning toward false refuges, and the way we can find refuge in that which truely heals our hearts and frees our mind. The evening ends with a living ritual of dedicating ourselves to each of these three gateways to awakening.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2010-12-31 Minting Gold - Embodying the Awakened Heart 65:43
Our core conditioning expresses as both a longing for love and the pain of not trusting we are loveable. This talk explores how we create the experience of separation, and the key meditative heart- trainings that lead us to realizing and living from the truth of our connectedness.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2010 - IMCW New Year's Retreat - Awakening the Heart of Compassion
2010-12-29 The Path of Transformation 62:31
Awakening arises out of presence with the changing ground of our lives. This talk explores three key gateways to liberating presence: forgiveness, inner fire (aspiration) and a deep inquiry into the nature of our own mind.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC 2010 - IMCW New Year's Retreat - Awakening the Heart of Compassion
2010-12-15 Seeing Beyond the Veil 1:15:45
The source of our suffering is that we become identified with egoic roles and defenses that separate us from the truth of what we are. This talk explores some of the constricting identities that we take on, and the process of compassionate presence that reconnects us with our natural vitality, openheartedness and wisdom. We then enlarge our focus to seeing past the veil that obscures the sacred presence that shines through all beings.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2010-12-08 Ask the Friend for Love 1:18:56
Prayer, when cultivated consciously, energizes and guides us on the spiritual path. This talk investigates the difference between wanting, with it's narrow fixation, and the prayer that arises out of our deep heart's longing. We explore how living prayer, the prayer that arises from consciously inhabiting longing, can carry us home to loving presence. As John O'Donahue writes, prayer is the bridge between longing and belonging.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2010-11-24 Loving Life: Gratitude and Generosity 1:16:36
Love is innate, and blossoms as we intentionally cultivate it. This talk on two natural expressions of loving life--gratitude and generosity--includes several guided reflections that awaken the heart.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2010-11-17 A Listening Presence - Three Domains of Training 1:15:43
Cultivating the capacity for listening is essential to loving well and to realizing the truth of who we are. This talk focuses on three key facets of deep listening--non-distractedness, not-controlling and seeking to understand-- that can awaken an intimacy with our inner life and others. Guided meditations on listening precede and are included within the body of the talk.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks
2010-11-10 Releasing Karmic Patterns 1:20:15
We all have conditioned patterns of thinking and behaving that keep us identified as a separate, deficient self. This talk investigates the roots of this conditioning and ways that pausing and awakening mindfulness can free us to live from our inherent love and wisdom.
Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC IMCW Wednesday Evening Talks

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