Heart of Freedom Mindfulness Meditation Instruction

The Compassionate Response

This podcast is an exploration of  how In each mindful moment we can choose to respond rather than react out of habitual conditioning. Epidemics, the horrors of violence, wars, racism, sexism, homo and transphobia, global warming, physical and mental health challenges, financial uncertainty, relational distress, social isolation and more are all part of the conditions of life we may be impacted by.  We can react out of fear, anger, shame, and greed; or we can use these experiences to learn to respond with compassion and wisdom. It's not easy to keep practicing in difficult times. It takes perseverance and a supportive community.  Each moment we can begin again and remember our deepest values and intentions. As we learn to cultivate these wholesome mental emotional states for the challenges we face there can be a shift in our view.  We don't see ourselves or the world in terms of good and bad, right and wrong, or good and evil; we can see only dukkha (suffering, anguish, unsatisfactoriness)  and what leads to the end of dukkha.  When we deeply understand from direct experience dukkha and the end of dukkha, then we feel more love and compassion.  Then we can act in energetic and forceful ways, but without corrosive effects of greed, hatred and delusion.  
 

Freedom From Judging

How we meet each moment of life determines our well-being. When we are caught in or identified with judging, comparing, or fixing, our worldview contracts and we have fewer options for responding to the present moment.  Identifying how we relate to "ourselves" and to the "world", whether we tend to judge, compare, or fix, will help free us from our obsessive thinking and compulsive behaviors, which cause us, and others, suffering.  Working with these challenging patterns with mindfulness is tricky at times. We often try to change the mind as opposed to changing our relationship to the judging, comparing and/or fixing mind. This can reinforce the mind's mechanics and lead to more suffering. You are invited to listen to this podcast as we explore how to wisely and compassionately work with these patterns of mind.  
"Love without clinging, give without demanding, receive without possessing,perceive without projecting, witness without judging, focus without tension,work without strain, relax without laziness, play without competing, enjoywithout craving, reflect without imagining, serve without selfing, surrenderwithout hesitating, meditate without identity, guide without superiority, enterwithout self-importance, depart without regret, live without arrogance, existwithout self-image, awaken to the Real"Mooji
This podcast includes silent and guided meditation, a Dharma talk, and a sharing circle.

Kindness and Awakening Principles

This podcast explores some simple, but profound principles that lead to less suffering in life.  An example of such a principle is "we don't have to believe everything we think".  Much of the complexity and stress we experience is a result of the mind's thinking that is woven into stories about our apparent selves and "others".  As we live life here and now, there is increasing clarity and freedom from the mind's stories.  A formal mindfulness practice is an acknowledgement that if we aim to cultivate certain qualities of heart and mind, we access them more readily in daily life.  If you want to be more aware, responsive, emotionally balanced, compassionate or anything else, it takes effort.  It doesn’t require being perfect – when you hear that voice with the story of perfection taking over, it’s an opportunity to be mindfully free from its influence. 
This podcast includes guided and silent mindfulness meditation, group sharing, a Dharma talk, and loving kindness practice.

Accepting Imperfection

This podcast explores how our mindfulness practice can really come into fruition not when we get what we want, but when we don’t get what we want. That’s really where our growth flowers, when we face difficulties with mindfulness and compassion, and without believing the mind saying "it shouldn't be this way". If we value the difficult, every moment in our life matters. Every moment in our life is valuable. There aren’t any moments that we wish weren’t there if we turn towards the challenging moments.  So much suffering is caused by holding on to our ideas of how things should be.  Mindfulness practice invites (without judging or demanding) us to be fully present and awake to each precious moment, coming out of the past and future and showing up for life, knowing that even our feelings of non-acceptance are accepted here. 

Mindful Speech As Practice

On this podcast we will we explore focusing on mindful speech.  Conscious speech is always a rich domain of mindfulness. The invitation is not only to practice awareness of what we say and how we say it; but at a deeper level we can begin to notice the impulse, the driving force that propels us into speech and how our state of mind and our energy are affected before, during, and after speaking. This practice shifts the precepts from being a standard used to modify our behavior to a way of working with our state of mind, the source of all speech.
And no matter where it leads, no matter what abuses it may bring, I'm gonna tell the truth."  Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr
"At first, precepts [ethics] are a practice.  Then they become a necessity, and finally they become a joy.  When our heart is awakened they spontaneously illuminate our way in the world.  This is called Shining Virtue.  The light around someone who speaks truth, who consistently acts with compassion for all, even in great difficulty, is visible to all around them". Jack Kornfield
 In his commentary on kind speech, Dogen (Zen Buddhist tradition) wrote, "‘Kind speech’ means that when you see sentient beings you arouse the mind of compassion and offer words of loving care. It is contrary to cruel or violent speech.... You should be willing to practice it for this entire present life; do not give up, world after world, life after life. Kind speech is the basis for reconciling rulers and subduing enemies. ...You should know that kind speech arises from a kind mind, and kind mind from the seed of a compassionate mind.... kind speech is not just praising the merit of others; it has the power to turn the destiny of the nation."
This podcast will include silent and guided meditation, group sharing and a Dharma talk on skillful speech. 

Cultivating Curiosity

In this podcast we will explore how spiritual freedom can be found in the mindful and compassionate investigation of present moment experience. It involves letting go of fixed ideas/opinions/judgements/biases and opening up to the actual nature of life in the here and now. It is relatively easy to be curious about the aspects of life that inspire us, bring us joy and ignite our passions. The invitation in spiritual practice is also to be curious about that which causes us (all of us) pain, discomfort and suffering. Curiosity is another way of describing investigation, which is one of the seven factors of enlightenment. Investigation is central to Vipassana meditation practice, and can be considered a partner to mindfulness.
Please join us to explore this important factor in the process of awakening through guided and silent meditation, group sharing and a short Dharma talk. 
 

Relinquishment of Resentment

On this podcast we focus on relinquishment of resentment.  Maintaining resentment towards others or towards ourselves is one of the greatest impediments to working with our minds on the deepest level and realizing freedom. Resentment acts as a barrier that prevents us from seeing things as they really are. 
The podcast includes silent and guided meditation, a Dharma talk, and a sharing circle.

Acceptance and Change

When we encounter experiences that we don’t like, our deeply conditioned tendency is to push them away. If we are touching a hot stove top, that makes sense.  When we are encountering a difficult emotional state, it can be counterproductive. Whether the source of unpleasantness is external or internal, mindfulness practice is always inviting us to be conscious of our deep conditioning so we can have freedom of choice. With acceptance we are also invited to take full responsibility for what arises so that we are not projecting or displacing our mental and emotional reactions on to others.
 
Rumi wrote "It is through love that pain turns to medicine".  How could this be?  How can loving awareness and self compassion practices turn emotional pain into something that heals rather than is a cause of suffering?  Change happens through acceptance rather that resistance or clinging. You are invited to listen as we explore these questions through mindfulness and compassion meditation, group sharing and a Dharma talk.

The Heart of Welcoming

This podcast explores how In each mindful moment we can open to the space that allows us to be non- reactive to the ever changing conditions of life.  In the practice of equanimity we are not trying to fix anything. We are welcoming life as it is (as we are); to realize that we are inherently whole just as we are. We do not need to be "fixed" by meditation. We just need to learn how to welcome ourselves and everyone else.  With this podcast we will practice mindfulness by greeting whatever arises in our minds and emotions with an unbiased attitude. A traditional image for equanimity is a feast to which everyone is invited and welcomed. When we use the word ""thinking"" to label our thoughts in meditation, "thinking" will be a synonym for welcoming and letting go of the thought so that the next quest can come through the door. Equanimity practice develops our aspiration that we may all feel the sense of completely welcoming what we already have, knowing that there is the potential for human beings to gradually develop to a place where nothing is shut out of our heart.  This is the wholeness of heart.
"Equanimity is said to be excellent or sublime because it is the ideal way of conduct towards living beings. It provides, in fact, the answer to all situations arising from social contact. It is the great remover of tension, the great peacemakers in social conflict, and the great healer of wounds suffered in the struggle of existence. It levels social barriers, builds harmonious communities, awakens slumbering magnanimity long forgotten, revives joy and hope long abandoned, and promotes human belonging against the forces of egotism" (edited) Nyanaponika Thera
"The first thing we need is a sense of equanimity, or equilibrium.  Equanimity is an unbiased attitude towards all other beings. We stop the habit of discriminating sharply between friends, enemies, and strangers. If you truly and deeply ask yourself “Why do I feel close to some people and not to others?" you will probably discover that your reasons are superficial. If you really think about this there is no way to continue to see people in the highly prejudicial way you do now. Some people think that becoming equanimous means becoming indifferent to everyone. They are afraid that if they lessen their attachment to their family and friends, their love and affection will disappear. But there is no need to worry; with true equanimity there is no way we can close our hearts to anyone.   From the basis of equanimity, we will be able to cultivate universal love, compassion, and eventually, the full realization of bodhichitta, the open heart dedicated totally to the ultimate benefit of all.  As we create this open space in our consciousness, we take on a much more universal character." Lama Yeshe
 

Touching the Earth: Embodied Mindfulness Practice

In this podcast we will explore how can we touch the earth in our own way when we feel challenged in practice and in life.  This teaching helps us recognize that nothing exists independently. Instead, all phenomena and all beings are caused to exist by other phenomena and beings. The existence of all things is interdependent. Our existence as human beings depends on earth, air, water, and other forms of life. Just as our existence depends on and is conditioned by those things, they also are conditioned by our existence.
This podcast includes silent and guided meditation, a Dharma talk, and group sharing.