Tara Brach

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 f...

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 investiga...

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.

Morning Question and Response from Retreat (2016-05-09) - Tara responds to questions on deepening our meditation practice, working with unpleasant and pleasant thoughts, and forgiveness. Free download of Tara's 10 min meditation: "Mindful Breathing: Finding Calm and Ease" when you join her email list .

Happy for No Reason - Part 2 (2016-05-25) - These two talks explore the two different kinds of happiness, the blocks to happiness, and the ways that mindful presence and intentional gladdening the heart (positive neuroplasticity) can open us to our full potential for true happiness. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offerin...

Meditation: Living Presence with Body Scan (2016-05-25) - A key pathway to full presence is awakening through the body. This meditation guides us through a body scan, relaxing and receiving the play of sensations. We then deepen attention to the breath, and rest with the rhythmic waves of breathing, experiencing the background of the whole domain of physical aliveness.

Happy for No Reason - Part 1 (2016-05-18) - These two talks explore the two different kinds of happiness, the blocks to happiness, and the ways that mindful presence and intentional gladdening the heart (positive neuroplasticity) can open us to our full potential for true happiness. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offerin...

Meditation: Letting Life Live through You (2016-05-18) - This meditation awakens the senses and then guides us into the wakeful openness that includes the whole play of sensations, feelings and sound. We become fully awake and alive as we open to the awareness that allows life to live through us. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will co...

Conscious Prayer: Finding Refuge in Loving Presence (Retreat talk) (2016-05-11) - Prayer is a communing with our enlarged being. This talk examines less conscious forms of prayer, and how we can evolve the power of our prayers by opening into the depth of our longing, and reaching toward our true belonging. (from the 2016 IMCW Spring Retreat) Your support enables us to continue to offer these talk...

Meditation: Basic Body and Breath Scan - (2016-05-07) - from the first morning of the IMCW 2016 Spring weeklong retreat, Tara offers a short introductory meditation with a body scan, bringing focus to the breath, sounds, then resting in awareness. Free download of Tara's 10 min meditation: "Mindful Breathing: Finding Calm and Ease" when you join her email list .

RAIN of Forgiveness (2015-05-05) - The capacity to release the armoring of hatred and blame is intrinsic to our evolving consciousness.  This talk explores the process of authentic forgiveness, and how we can use the mindfulness-based tool of RAIN to heal and free our hearts. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you will consider offering a don...

Meditation: Collecting and Quieting the Mind (2016-05-04) - Our conditioned mind is filled with distractions, including worry-thoughts that continually create anxiety in the body. This meditation guides us in relaxing the body, and then establishing the breath as a home base. By gathering and collecting the attention, the mind can settle and allow for a relaxed, wakeful presence. Free download of...

Meditation: Spacious Clear Awareness (2016-04-20) (23 min) - This meditation begins with a breath that calms and collects the attention, and then 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, clear awareness.  

Listening with an Awake Heart (2016-04-27) - True listening both nurtures and expresses evolving consciousness. This talk explores our ego-based conditioning to have an agenda or defendedness that prevents deep listening, and the strategies that evolve our capacity to listen fully to ourselves and others. When our listening is openhearted and full, it enables deep understanding and connectedness,...

Meditation: Awareness - Listening To and Feeling the Moment (2016-04-27) - This meditation awakens a relaxed open presence through the body. We then widen attention to include sounds, and then relax back and fully inhabit the awareness that is listening to and feeling the changing flow of life. Free download of Tara's new 10 min meditation: "Mindful Breathing: Finding Calm and Ease" when you join...

Love is Always Loving Us (2016-04-20) - This talk draws on Christian mystic Henri Nouwen’s book Return of the Prodigal Son . We explore the primary ways we leave home - leave presence, connection, beingness - and the pathways of deep attention and love that enable our return. The emphasis is on “letting in love” as a key and often missing element in practices that heal and free our hearts. Through...

Meditation: Spacious Clear Awareness (2016-04-20) - This meditation begins with a breath that calms and collects the attention, and then 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, clear awareness. Your support enables us to continue to offer these talks freely. If you value them, I hope you wi...

Releasing Self-Blame - Pathways to a Forgiving Heart When we are stuck in blaming, disliking or hating ourselves, we are unable to love our world. This talk explores what underlies our addiction to self-blame and the teachings and practices that loosen aversive self-judgment and help us cultivate a forgiving heart.

Meditation: Vipassana - Practice of Seeing Clearly (2016-04-13) 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 calling our att...

Healing Self-Doubt (2013-10-30) - Siddhartha Gautama’s last challenge before enlightenment was doubt, and to some degree, most of us live with limiting beliefs about our own worthiness and goodness. This talk looks at the tenacity of self-doubt and the power of mindfulness, investigation and compassion in releasing its grip.

Meditation: Awakening an Intimate Presence (2016-04-06) - This guided meditation cultivates a relaxed, gentle presence with whatever expressions of life are arising in the moment. We begin by releasing and opening through the body, and then include all sensations, feelings and sounds in an intimate, allowing presence.

Embodied Awareness - Pain and Living Fully - Part 3 (2016-03-30) - The experiences we most value - feeling creative, loving, vital - require being awake in our bodies. Yet when faced with physical pain, our conditioning is to pull away from our bodies, and get lost in thoughts. This talk offers guidance in working mindfully with different levels of pain, as we cultivate our capacity to live from a...