Heart of Freedom Mindfulness Meditation Instruction

Finding True Refuge

Life can be really difficult at times, and it is helpful to know where we can find true refuge. There are so many places that we are drawn to seek it like power, belief systems and ideologies, money, fame or social position, relationships, family, children, sexuality, food, drugs or alcohol. Do they really work to reduce our suffering?  
A way to think about refuge in spiritual practice is that we become refugees. A refugee is someone who leaves a country or homeland because life is no longer tenable there. When we take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, we are acknowledging that a life based on habituated patterns is no longer tenable for us. We are prepared to set out into the mystery that relies on awareness, wisdom, and kindness, wherever it may lead us.
 “The biggest illusion about a path of refuge is that we are on our way somewhere else, on our way to becoming a different kind of person. But ultimately, our refuge is not outside ourselves, not somewhere in the future - it is always and already here....We find true refuge whenever we recognize the silent space of awareness behind all our busy doing and striving. We find refuge whenever our hearts open with tenderness and love. We find refuge whenever we connect with the innate clarity and intelligence of our true nature.” Tara Brach
Listen to this podcast as we look into this question of finding true refuge and what the Buddha had to say about it.   

Awakening Through Understanding

This podcast is an invitation to discover and/or renew our commitment to the path of awakening. It begins with a step the Buddha called right or skillful understanding. This fold in the eightfold path asks a deep question of our hearts. What do we really value, what do we really care about in this life? Our lives are quite short. Our childhood goes by very quickly, then adolescence and adult life go by. We can be complacent and let our lives disappear in a dream, or we can become aware. In Dharma practice it is very helpful to ask what is most important to us. What do we care about most? What are our deepest values? What brings us to Dharma practice?  We can explore, discover and remember our answers to these questions together.
"At the time of death, people who have tried to live consciously ask only one or two questions about their life: Did I learn to live wisely? Did I love well? We can begin by asking them now" Jack Kornfield
"Right understanding is the understanding of things as they are, and it is the four noble truths that explain things as they really are"  Joseph Goldstein
"This understanding is not mere intellectual understanding. It is instead a thorough penetration of the Four Noble Truths. Theravada scholar Wapola Rahula called this penetration "seeing a thing in its true nature, without name and label." (What the Buddha Taught, page 49)
"Our happiness and the happiness of those around us depend on our degree of Right View. Touching reality deeply -- knowing what is going on inside and outside of ourselves -- is the way to liberate ourselves from the suffering that is caused by wrong perceptions. Right View is not an ideology, a system, or even a path. It is the insight we have into the reality of life, a living insight that fills us with understanding, peace, and love." (The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, page 51) Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh 
 

The Power of Faith

This podcast includes silent and guided sitting meditation, group sharing, and a Dharma talk on faith as a spiritual power in Dharma practice. 
"It is a great turning point in our spiritual lives when we go from an intellectual appreciation of a path to the heartfelt confidence that says, “Yes, it is possible to awaken. I can, too.” A tremendous joy accompanies this confidence. When we place our hearts upon the practice, the teachings come alive. That turning point, which transforms an abstract concept of a spiritual path into our own personal path, is faith".  Sharon Salzberg
"Faith is not equivalent to mere belief.  Faith is the condition of ultimate confidence that we have the capacity to follow the path of doubt to its end.  Faith in the Buddhist understanding is not the opposite of doubt.  Faith is embracing doubt with mindfulness and wise reflection.  It is bringing doubt to wise counsel".   Stephen Batchelor,  
"Belief…is the insistence that the truth is what one would will or wish it to be…Faith is an unreserved opening of the mind to the truth, whatever it may turn out to be. Faith has no preconceptions; it is a plunge into the unknown. Belief clings, but faith let’s go…faith is the essential virtue of science, and likewise of any religion that is not self-deception" Alan Watts

Invitation to Investigate

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 new possibilities about the nature of existence. 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 factors of enlightenment. Investigation is central to Vipassana meditation practice, and can be considered an equal partner to mindfulness. In fact, everything we need to learn on the path to freedom can be discovered through our own powers of investigation
 
"Bringing interest and investigation to an experience can change our relationship to the experience because it changes the ecology of the mind, so to speak. Investigation brings a wholesome quality to the mind, which can initiate a significant shift in the mind when it is otherwise filled with unwholesome thoughts and reactions. Investigation can also “lubricate” the mind, that is, loosen it up when it is stuck or tight, obsessing about something or feeling constricted" Gil Fronsdal
 
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. Being curious about suffering is often supported by spiritual friends and community sharing.

Mindfulness of Expectations

Without being mindful of it, we may be afflicted from the myriad ways in which our expectations can trap us in negative reactions and stress. This is sometimes referred to as the tyranny of expectations. They can plague our daily life, causing us to be tense, irritable, disappointed, and disillusioned. The good news is that we do not have to continue to suffer from this tyranny.  It is one of the most troublesome areas of life, yet it is also changeable. Even a little mindful effort makes a huge difference. But first we must penetrate the nature of expectations, observe how they manifest themselves in our lives, and be able to access another way of approaching the future. To truly be in the moment, to not be defined by expectation, requires mindful clarity; a heart conditioned by love, compassion, and empathetic joy for others; and equanimity that allows us to receive life however it unfolds
 
You are invited to listen in and join us as we do meditation practices and hear teaching that invites freedom from the tyranny of expectations.

The Basics of Embodied Practice

This podcast focuses on understanding how mindfulness practices can help us feel more embodied and interconnected with life.  

Awakening Through Understanding

As we begin this new year I invite you to join us to discover and/or renew our commitment to the path of awakening. It begins with a step the Buddha called right understanding. To start with, it asks a question of our hearts. What do we really value, what do we really care about in this life? Our lives are quite short. Our childhood goes by very quickly, then adolescence and adult life go by. We can be complacent and let our lives disappear in a dream, or we can become aware. In the beginning of practice we must ask what is most important to us. What do we care about most? What brings us to Dharma practice.  We can explore, discover and remember our answers to these questions together.
 
"At the time of death, people who have tried to live consciously ask only one or two questions about their life: Did I learn to live wisely? Did I love well? We can begin by asking them now" Jack Kornfield
 
"Right understanding is the understanding of things as they are, and it is the four noble truths that explain things as they really are"  Joseph Goldstein
 
There will be time for silent and guided meditation, group sharing,  and a Dharma talk.  

Loving and Wise Intention

This podcast explores skilful intention through a guided meditation practice and a Dharma talk.  Right or skilful intention is about coming home to ourselves and aligning actions with the deepest part of the human heart that is loving, wise and compassionate.  It can be helpful to reflect as the year comes to an end on the values that guide our intentions and to cultivate the resolve to live by them. Right intention is organic; it thrives when cultivated and wilts when neglected.
 "Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & mind." Anguttara VI.63  
 

Freedom and Forgiveness

The name of this podcast is Heart of Freedom.  It comes from the understanding that the heart of our practice is the direct experience of freedom and the realization of our true nature as love. The Buddha said: "Just as in the great ocean there is but one taste — the taste of salt — so in the Dharma there is but one taste — the taste of freedom"  as translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi.  Another way of understanding this comes from Matt Flickstein: "you are already free, don't believe anything to the contrary". 
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. 
This podcast includes silent and guided meditation, a Dharma talk, and a blessing circle. Please listen as we support each other in practices that invite relinquishing resentment and attachments to the past.  Lily Tomlin referred to this as "giving up all hope for a better past"

Beginners Mind

This talk explores approaching life with a beginner's mind.  It refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when engaging in life activities just as a beginner would. With the practice of mindfulness we are invited to enter the mystery of life and discover what's true from direct experience.  This podcast includes silent and guided meditation, a Dharma talk, and discussion. 
 
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few" Shunryu Suzuki,
“Everybody knows that some things are simply impossible until somebody who doesn’t know that makes them possible.” — Albert Einstein