This talk explores how to find the equilibrium between skillful action and skillful release.   You’ll learn how much of meditation practice (and life) calls for focus and sustained attention. But too tight a grip on focus can lead to missed opportunities, fresh insights and new possibilities. Learning to rest in presence can open intuitive faculties - when properly balanced.

This talk is a continuation of how to bring aliveness to your practice.    You’ll learn some inner practices as well as the invaluable qualities of finding like-minded people and the impact community can have on being more awake in your life.  

This talk explore how to cultivate inspiration in your practice, particularly when it gets challenging.   You’ll learn why we stop practicing and a variety of tips, tricks and techniques for keeping your practice alive, vibrant, interesting and engaging. 

This talk is from the fifth evening of a week-long Vipassana Retreat. You’ll learn how meditation increases your sensitivity to how you hold on, how the intention to let go can set in motion a process that brings you in direct contact with the mystery — and how letting go and letting be are required to wake up to the nature of reality.

Here’s my interview with the wonderful Shawn Parell, a wonderful teacher, guide and passionate student of the dharma. We discuss the evolution of practice, the power of somatic awareness, how to balance daily life with deep practice and how meditation can be a wonderful tool for self-discovery. For more about Shawn and her offerings, go to  www.shawnparell.com, Instagram @ShawnParell for weekly meditations and prompts for practice and lots more. 

This talk explores some of the mistaken beliefs about the practice of meditation. You’ll learn how meditation is not a quick fix for your problems, is not about escaping reality and how this practice is both an art and science … and can dramatically transform your life.

This talk explores the art of new beginnings.   You’ll learn how important it is to embrace your first reaction when things change, how to soften and release the past, how to open to new possibilities and how to engage into what most calls you forward.

This talk explores mindful strategies for overcoming procrastination. You’ll learn different ways we put things off, what gets in the way of the flow state, what flow feels like and for me, the most important question for sparking creative juices.   Jeff Fajains, Phd, offers a 30 Day Creative Momentum  and helps creators bring their ideas to life.  More on Jeff here:  https://jefffajans.com/

This talk explores how to work with acute anxiety.   You’ll learn how to identify the triggers that cause feelings of overwhelm and some strategies for working panic, whether it be for yourself or when you accompany another when waves of intense anxiety arise.

This talk explores the fundamental elements of fear and how to release what is between you and feeling free.   You’ll learn about the essential nature of anxiety, the cause and the release of suffering through the transformative practices of awakening the Wise Heart.

This talk explores strategies for working with fear and anxiety. You’ll learn how you can move from threat mode to opportunity mode and strategies for working with fear and anxiety in the body as well as a particular strategy for working with thoughts and beliefs.

This talk explores the art of working with anxiety and dread. You’ll learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy fear, the roots of fear and some strategies for transforming the experience of anxiety when it arises.

This talk explores the difference between luck and karma. You’ll learn how a mindfulness practice may help you cultivate a clearer intention, recognize opportunities and help you more quickly reset when you recognize you are off course. For those looking from the outside, you may appear quite lucky indeed.

This talk explores the tenth of the ten perfections.   You’ll learn how you cannot make steadiness and serenity happen, but can create the conditions that allow this inner state to arise. When you remember the fundamental quality of reality, you can more easily open to embrace your true nature.

The talk explores the power of loving kindness. You’ll learn how to be more of a well-wisher to all, some techniques to more effectively express kindness in the world and a reflection on what might happen in your life if you were to be more adept at responding to challenges with an open heart.

This talk explores the power of grit.   You’ll learn the importance of first creating goals that are fully aligned with your heart and spirit and then developing your capacity to stay on your path, developing both perseverance as well as deep, intuitive inner listening.  

This talk explores how to attune to what is true. You’ll learn how to discern between conventional and eternal truth, two essential teachings of truth and how to use your relationships and wise speech as a doorway to greater clarity and self-awareness.

This talk explores how to cultivate the quality of patience and self-restraint.   You’ll learn about the power of refraining from those who have caused you harm, how to endure hardship, how to cultivate greater confidence in ultimate truth and about the near-enemies of patience and forbearance.

This talk explores how to cultivate vitality, courage and resilience in your life.   You’ll learn how you can manage the energy you have and how to build vigor and confidence to pursue that which calls you.

This talk explores how to cultivate wisdom and insight.   You’ll learn about the importance of cultivating the wise heart, what gets in the way of seeing clearly, the anatomy of an insight and how to balance wisdom with compassion.

This talk explores the potential of mindful renunciation.   You’ll learn how critically important it is to know what is most important, cultivate the thoughts, behaviors and actions that will bring about that outcome and as well, identify and modify the the thoughts, behaviors and actions that get in the way of that outcome.

This talk explores how paying attention to your behavior can support you in your life.   You’ll learn how all traditions have guidelines regarding your moral behavior, how morality is often based on a negativity bias and how ultimately, it’s up to you to determine what you really want and define for yourself what it means to be virtuous and in integrity.

This talk explores the power of cultivating an attitude of love and care in your life.   You’ll learn what the Buddha said about giving, how intimately receiving is connected to generosity, the shadow-side of the practice and the power of taking generous actions when you feel called.

This talk explores some practices for cultivating embodied compassion and care.   You’ll explore  what means to ‘heal’ as well as a few ‘deep dives’ - first into a chakra scan then a scan through the body focusing on reflection, gratitude and well-wishing.

This talk explores how to investigate the inner energy centers through the lens of mindfulness.   You’ll learn about the chakras, a bit on the origins of different approaches, the components of each one and how to explore through the lens of non-judging awareness.