Tara Brach

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.

In just a few minutes, this practice guides us to pause, deepen attention and reconnect with the spaciousness, presence and of caring of our awakening heart.

When we remember our deep belonging to this world, a fierce and tender courage begins to move through us. In this talk, we'll explore "spiritual audacity" as a sacred, embodied boldness—the lion's roar of the awakened heart. Through personal and collective lenses, we'll reflect on what it means to live true to our essence: grounded in love, guided by truth, and called to serve the freedom and healing of all beings.

Most people get depressed at times, and many suffer greatly from bouts of major depression. At the heart of the suffering is the experience of severed belonging—of being imprisoned in the pain of separation, unworthiness, unlovability and hopelessness. These two talks explore several meditation practices that reconnect us with our natural aliveness, openheartedness and awareness. They empower us to develop our inner resources, energize us to awaken, free us from rumination and remind us that we are not our depressive thoughts and feelings. The growing realization of the loving awareness that is our home heals the very roots of depression. In this talk, we'll look at: - how depression and anxiety mirror our collective disconnection, and how mindful awareness can begin to heal both body and spirit. - how ungrieved loss turns into depression, and how opening to sorrow with compassion reconnects us to love and aliveness. - the "logjam" of depression, showing how small mindful shifts can restore flow, energy, and a sense of possibility. - how reconnecting with our heart's deep intention awakens hope and invites a renewed capacity for presence and joy. - how meditation helps us move from ruminating thoughts to embodied presence, revealing the awareness that frees us.

No matter how far you've wandered, this heartspace – this awake tender awareness – is only a half-breath of remembrance away. This meditation awakens attention to the space of awareness…