Tara Brach

Three Attitudes that Nourish a Liberating Practice - A key spiritual inquiry is, "In this moment, what most serves awakening?" Rather than a particular style of meditation practice, it is our way of relating to our experience – our attitude – that frees our hearts. This talk explores the attitudes that are an expression of our innately open, wakeful and loving awareness, and that carry us to reali...

Retreat Meditation and Instruction: Vipassana - Path of Practice (2018-10-07) - Vipassana, also known as insight meditation, is training in bringing a clear mindful attention to our moment to moment experience. We begin by relaxing through the body and then resting attention with the breath – or some other sensory anchor – and allowing the mind to settle. Then we open to whatever is predominant or...

Part 1 - Healing Anxiety - How Meditation Frees Us (2018-11-28) - Anxiety and the fear of failure is a pervasive suffering around the world. It is also increasing—along with the pace of life, over-consuming, addiction, noise, polarization and fears for our planet. How do we calm ourselves in a way that brings inner freedom and serves the healing of our larger world? These two talks explore the pow...

Meditation: Awareness, Aliveness and Space (2018-11-28) - This guided meditation awakens our awareness within our body, extends to include sound, and invites a resting as awareness that includes all passing waves of experience. Free download of Tara's 10 min meditation: "Mindful Breathing: Finding Calm and Ease" when you join her email list .

Authentic Thanks Giving (2018-11-21) - How do we awaken our natural capacities for gratitude and generosity? This talk explores the pathways of honest presence and purposeful cultivation, and offers several  reflections that guide us in contacting and expressing our love. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks and meditations freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider of...

Meditation: Yes to Life (2018-11-21) - After relaxing our bodies and quieting our minds, this meditation guides us to open to the changing experience of being alive. We ask ourselves two questions: "What is Happening Inside me?" and "Can I be with this?" By learning to bring an unconditional presence and an accepting Yes to our lives, we begin to touch openheartedness and freedom. Free download of...

Survival of the Nurtured - Our Path to Belonging (2018-11-14) - We flourish when nurtured with love and understanding. Yet for so many, the violence of our society and lack of attuned caretakers has severed trust and belonging. This talk explores how meditation and conscious relating with each other can restore the connections so vital to healing and spiritual freedom. Your support enables us to c...

Meditation: The Presence Beyond Thoughts (2018-11-14) - We spend many life moments in a trance of thinking. This meditation awakens the senses through a body scan, and attention to sound. We then rest in the presence that can come alive in the gap between thoughts—the presence that is our true home. Free download of Tara's 10 min meditation: "Mindful Breathing: Finding Calm and Ease" when you join...

Part 2 - The Jewel in the Lotus: Cultivating Compassion (2018-11-07) - The compassion that arises from mindful awareness can heal our inner wounds, interpersonal conflict and the suffering in our world. These two talks focus on cultivating self-compassion and compassion for others. They look at the blocks to compassion and accessible powerful practices that awaken the full wisdom and tenderness of...

Meditation: Whole Body Breathing (2018-11-07) - This guided meditation includes a body scan and invites the receptivity and letting-go of whole body breathing. Once we have awakened the vitality and presence throughout the body, we have access to the formless dimension, the awareness that is our source.

Worrier Pose: Finding Freedom from the Body of Fear (retreat talk) (2018-10-07) - While fear is a natural part of our make up, many of us suffering when the "on" button gets jammed. This talk looks at how our fears generate habitual patterns of physical tension, anxious thinking, emotions and behaviors; and how this constellation prevents us from inhabiting our full wisdom and love. We then explor...

Meditation: Loving Kindness - Awakening and Expressing Our Heart - This short talk and guided meditation remind us that we each have the capacity to awaken our hearts. We explore together the lovingkindness (metta) meditation, and emphasize holding our own being and dear ones with a tender, open and loving presence (from the IMCW 2018 Fall Silent Retreat). Free download of Tara's 10 min meditation...

Part 1 - The Jewel in the Lotus: Cultivating Compassion (2018-10-24) - The compassion that arises from mindful awareness can heal our inner wounds, interpersonal conflict and the suffering in our world. These two talks focus on cultivating self-compassion and compassion for others. They look at the blocks to compassion and accessible powerful practices that awaken the full wisdom and tenderness of...

Meditation: Resting in Awake Awareness (2018-10-24) - This practice opens with a body scan, employing the image and felt sense of a smile to awaken awareness through the body. We then open to all the senses, and rest in the awareness that includes this changing life.

Part 2 - Rewiring for Happiness and Freedom (2018-10-17) -The Buddha said, "I would not be teaching this (a path of awakening) if genuine happiness and freedom were not possible." While this is our potential, we each have deep conditioning to get stuck in feelings of fear, deficiency and separation from others. These talks explore the two interdependent pathways of undoing the conditioning that bl...

Meditation: Relaxing Back into the Mystery (2018-10-17) - All true meditation guides us back to presence, and the mystery that is our source. In this guided meditation we awaken the senses, collect with the breath, and when lost in thought, practice relaxing back into the aliveness and awareness that is always here. We close with a beautiful poem from poet Danna Faulds.

Part 1: Rewiring for Happiness and Freedom - The Buddha said, "I would not be teaching this (a path of awakening) if genuine happiness and freedom were not possible." While this is our potential, we each have deep conditioning to get stuck in feelings of fear, deficiency and separation from others. These talks explore the two interdependent pathways of undoing the conditioning that blocks our pote...

Meditation: Coming Home with the Breath - Our breath is always available as a pathway back to presence. This simple meditation guides us to relax and awaken in the body, and then establishes the breath as a home base for our attention. Our practice is to notice when the mind becomes distracted, and gently return to our breath and senses. This helps the mind to become increasingly settled, calm and...

The Sacred Pause - When we are lost in the trance of doing, our lives are on automatic, and contracted by sense that something's wrong or missing. This talk explores the challenges of learning to pause, and the blessings that arise when step out of our incessant mental and physical activity and reconnect with the being-qualities of presence, wisdom and love (a favorite from the archives). NOTE: th...

Ten-Minute Basic Meditation Practice - Tara offers a short introductory meditation with a body scan, bringing focus to the breath, sounds, then resting in awareness ~ from the first morning instructions at the 2015 IMCW fall retreat. (a favorite from the archives) Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks and meditations freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a...

Part 2: Impermanence – Awakening Through Insecurity - From the view of the separate self, this existence is inherently uncertain, and we are profoundly vulnerable. Our habitual reaction to insecurity fuels separation, and limits our capacity to live and love fully. These two talks explore the blessings of wisdom, love and freedom that naturally arise as, instead of resisting, we learn to open dire...

Brief Reflection: Learning to Stay - We open the door to healing by bringing a mindful and kind attention to inner vulnerability and fear. "Learning to stay opens up the space that gives us our life. That's when it becomes real with our inner life… with others. So we'll do a brief reflection on this."

Part 1: Impermanence - Awakening Through Insecurity - From the view of the separate self, this existence is inherently uncertain, and we are profoundly vulnerable. Our habitual reaction to insecurity fuels separation, and limits our capacity to live and love fully. These two talks explore the blessings of wisdom, love and freedom that naturally arise as, instead of resisting, we learn to open dire...

Meditation: Opening to the Flow - This meditation begins with gathering awareness of the breath. We then reflect on our deepest intention, sensing what most matters. With a listening attention, becoming aware of sounds that arise and pass away. We scan through the body, sensing the changing experience of energy and aliveness. Letting everything happen… not opposing anything… not controlling… momen...

Part 2: Awakening through Anger – The U-Turn to Freedom - While we have strong conditioning to react to aggression with more aggression, we have the capacity to pause, and instead deepen attention and connect to our natural wisdom and empathy. This talk looks at how we can directly engage in this evolutionary adaptation when we encounter trauma related conflict in our personal lives, and in a para...