Tara Brach

Loving the Life Within Us (retreat talk) - If we don’t love the life we consider “self,” we will not realize or live from the loving awareness that is our essence. This talk guides us in bringing a kind, accepting presence to our inner life, and discovering the vastness of what we really are. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

Meditation: Spacious Sky of Awareness (2015-12-29) (retreat) - This meditation begins with a body scan that enables us to awaken our senses. Finally, we relax open fully to include the changing flow of sounds and sensations, in a spacious, open awareness.

That Bird Got My Wings (from 2015-07-22) - This talk looks at how we are imprisoned by a limited sense of who we are, and how the wings of mindfulness and heartfulness enable us to realize the spirit that is our essence. We then look at how we can bring the wings of freedom to our engagement with others. The talk’s title is the name of a book written by Jarvis Masters, a deeply wise and inspiring African American man currently on death row at San Quentin prison.

Brief Meditation: Arriving in Mindful Presence - 5 min (2016-05-18) - This brief meditation can support you in pausing and arriving again in the life that’s right here.

Fear as a Pathway to Loving Presence - Night Travelers - (retreat talk) (2016-05-08) - Shifting our relationship with fear is central to the evolution of consciousness. Our suffering arises when our thoughts, feelings and sense of identity are shaped by fear. As we learn to attend to fear with mindfulness and care, we discover the vast tender presence that has room for the waves, and can fully cherish this life. "Life’s waters flow from darkness. Search the darkness, don’t run from it. Night travelers are full of light, and you are too: don’t leave this companionship.... The moon appears for night travelers, be watchful when the moon is full." ~ rumi Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Brief Meditation: Arriving in Mindful Presence (1 minute) - (2016-07-13) ~ This brief meditation can support you in pausing and arriving again in the life that’s right here. Free download of Tara’s 10 min meditation: “Mindful Breathing: Finding Calm and Ease” when you join her email list.

Stress and Everyday Nirvana - Part 2 (2016-07-06) - Our habitual view of stress is that it is a bad thing, an obstacle to healthy living and spiritual realization. These two talks look at how our way of relating to stress determines our happiness, and invites listeners to engage with practices that radically shift our response to stress and bring a healing and freeing evolution of consciousness.  Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

Meditation: Rest in Awake Awareness (2016-07-06) - When we allow the body to be a portal, we discover the ever-present background of awareness that includes the whole play of sensation, sound, aliveness. This meditation awakens us through a body scan, and then invites a relaxing back into the space of awareness. The guidance is to let everything be, just as it is, and become the silence that’s listening, the stillness out of which all forms arise. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

Stress and Everyday Nirvana - Part 1 (2016-06-29) - Our habitual view of stress is that it is a bad thing, an obstacle to healthy living and spiritual realization. These two talks look at how our way of relating to stress determines our happiness, and invites listeners to engage with practices that radically shift our response to stress and bring a healing and freeing evolution of consciousness.  Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

Meditation: Letting Life Live Through You(2016-06-29) - This meditation begins with quieting the mind and collecting attention with the breath. We then awaken the senses through a body scan, open to sound, and rest in open awareness, allowing sounds and sensations to move through. Like an ocean, when we rest in openness, it’s possible to open to the waves that most want attention, without grasping or resisting. This engaged presence is the very essence of freedom, of inhabiting a wholeness of being. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

Reconnecting with Our Lives - Healing from Dissociation (2016-06-22) - Dissociation is the universal mechanism for pulling away from the pain of “too much.” While it’s necessary and natural for enduring certain situations, the ongoing habit of dissociation cuts us off from our full aliveness, creativity, and capacity for love. This talk explores the process by which we disconnect from our bodies and feelings - individually and collectively - and the practices that directly enable us to include the “unlived life" - the fear and shame, passion and loneliness - that we’ve pushed away. By including the raw energies we’ve been avoiding, we come home to a fullness that can embrace others and the whole of life. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

Meditation: Know That You're Here (2016-06-22) - We spend many moments in a trance, time traveling to the past and future, lost in a virtual reality. This meditation helps us collect our attention with our breath, awaken through the body, and open the senses. We then rest in the wakeful openness that includes changing experience, aware of the mystery and vividness of being Here.  

Morning Question and Response from Retreat (2016-05-11) - Tara responds to questions including deepening our meditation practice, working with desire, and the RAIN practice. Free download of Tara’s 10 min meditation: “Mindful Breathing: Finding Calm and Ease” when you join her email list.

Remembering What Matters - Aspiration and Intention (from 2013-01-30) ~ Our conscious aspiration toward awakening is what energizes the spiritual path. This talk reviews the main characteristic of a vital aspiration, the conditioning that obscures our deepest intentions and offers guided reflections to connect us with what most matters. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara  

Meditation: Gladdening the Mind (2016-05-12) (from retreat) - The Buddha taught the value of gladdening the mind. This meditation begins with an inquiry on what we are most grateful for - what we love, then continues to scan with a smile though the entire body (from a morning on the 2016 IMCW spring retreat).

Three Gestures of Love (2016-06-08) - If we inquire “what is between me and presence” we usually find we’ve been caught inside a limiting story of self, contracted by wants and fears. This talk explores a simple yet powerful way of arousing loving presence and dissolving the narrow identification that keeps us from inhabiting our awakened heartmind. NOTE: Tara is traveling and she asked for this favorite talk from 2013-07-24 be posted for your enjoyment.

Meditation: The Mystery of Aliveness (2016-05-09) - This meditation from the morning of spring retreat begins with a body scan, then widens to include sounds, senses and open energetic awareness. Includes an application of the RAIN of Compassion to close. (from a morning guided meditation at the IMCW 2016 Spring Retreat)

Reflection: Waking Up from Limiting Beliefs (2016-06-01) - A guided meditation that addresses limiting beliefs surrounding interpersonal conflict. Full talk, "Real but Not True: Freeing Ourselves from Harmful Beliefs" is at: https://www.tarabrach.com/real-not-true/.

Real But Not True: Freeing Ourselves from Harmful Beliefs (2016-06-01) - Thoughts and beliefs are navigational maps that are not inherently true. Rather, some serve us and others cause feelings of separation, self-aversion and/or blame of others. We can free ourselves from harmful beliefs by investigating them with a dedicated, mindful and courage presence. This talk guides us in mindful investigation through an illustrative story, an outline of steps, and a guided meditation that addresses limiting beliefs surrounding interpersonal conflict. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a donation at this time at www.tarabrach.com/donation/. With gratitude and love, Tara

Meditation: The Silence That is Listening (2016-06-01) - Listening to sounds is a powerful way to quiet the thinking mind and connect with the natural openness of awareness. This meditation emphasizes the anchor of listening, and guides us to relax through our bodies and let sounds wash through us. In this receptivity we find a homecoming to full presence and peace.