Awakening Compassion in a Fearful World: The Practice of Tonglen
Release Date: 11/20/2025
Love-Based Activism: A Conversation with Tara Brach and Mohsen Mahdawi - Part II
Tara Brach
In this conversation, Tara is joined by Mohsen Mahdawi—Palestinian refugee, Buddhist practitioner, and courageous voice for justice—whose life bridges worlds that are so often held apart. Growing up in a refugee camp and later emerging as a student leader and advocate for Palestinian dignity, Mohsen brings a rare integration of spiritual depth, clarity and dedication to societal transformation. Together they explore how inner awakening can ground fearless activism, what it means to stand for justice amid profound asymmetry of power, how to resist dehumanization in a polarized world,...
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Meditation: A Witnessing, Kind Presence (20:21 min)
Tara Brach
Starting with scanning through the body and awakening the senses, we then rest in presence, with the breath as a home base. The meditation invites an openness to whatever arises, and a gentle kind attention if we encounter physical or emotional pain. We end with a prayer that includes our own being and all beings. Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music
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Love-Based Activism: A Conversation with Tara Brach and Mohsen Mahdawi - Part I
Tara Brach
In this conversation, Tara is joined by Mohsen Mahdawi—Palestinian refugee, Buddhist practitioner, and courageous voice for justice—whose life bridges worlds that are so often held apart. Growing up in a refugee camp and later emerging as a student leader and advocate for Palestinian dignity, Mohsen brings a rare integration of spiritual depth, clarity and dedication to societal transformation. Together they explore how inner awakening can ground fearless activism, what it means to stand for justice amid profound asymmetry of power, how to resist dehumanization in a polarized world,...
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Meditation: The Pathway of Deep Listening (21:16 min)
Tara Brach
Listening is an ideal template for awareness itself - it is naturally receptive, open and awake. This meditation invites a deep listening to and feeling our lives, and opens us to the realization of the flow of changing experience and the background awareness that is the source of our Being. Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music
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The Power of Inquiry in Spiritual Awakening - Part 2
Tara Brach
How can the simple act of asking a sincere question awaken us from the trance of our habitual thinking? In this talk, Tara Brach explores the transformative power of spiritual inquiry—a practice that guides us beyond our stories and into direct, embodied awareness of what is truly happening within us. Through reflection, teachings from Buddhist wisdom traditions, and guided inquiry, Tara invites us to investigate questions like “What is happening inside me right now?” and “What am I believing?” These questions help reveal the beliefs and emotional patterns that keep us stuck and open...
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Meditation: Embodied Awareness (18 min.)
Tara Brach
This guided meditation includes a full body scan, and the recognition of the formless awareness that includes and is the source of all experience. By recognizing that awareness we discover the silence and stillness that is the ground of all experience. Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music
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The Power of Inquiry in Spiritual Awakening - Part 1
Tara Brach
Part I - In spiritual life, inquiry arises from our deep yearning to understand reality, and it involves bringing an interested, engaged attention to our immediate experience. These two talks explore how inquiry serves emotional healing by focusing on difficult “stuck” places, how inquiry enables us to become more intimate and understanding of others, and in the deepest way, how inquiry can reveal the deepest truth of what we are…our true nature. The talks include several guided reflections that can enrich your meditation practice and serve spiritual awakening. Our...
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Meditation: Inhabiting Awake Awareness (21:49)
Tara Brach
This meditation begins with collecting attention with the breath, and awakens us to the experience of aliveness and inner space by scanning the body. We then open to receive all the senses in awake awareness, and to inhabiting that boundless receptive awareness that is our home. Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music
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Fear as a Pathway to Loving Presence - Night Travelers
Tara Brach
Shifting our relationship with fear is central to the evolution of consciousness. Our suffering arises when our thoughts, feelings and sense of identity are shaped by fear. As we learn to attend to fear with mindfulness and care, we discover the vast tender presence that has room for the waves, and can fully cherish this life. Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music
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Meditation: Know That You’re Here (19:38 min)
Tara Brach
We spend many moments in a trance, time traveling to the past and future, lost in a virtual reality. This meditation helps us collect our attention with our breath, awaken through the body, and open the senses. We then rest in the wakeful openness that includes changing experience, aware of the mystery and vividness of being Here. Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music
info_outlineAs anxiety, division, and digital distance numb our hearts, we risk losing our ability to truly feel the lives of others. In this talk, we’ll explore how compassion arises when another becomes real to us — when we can imagine their inner world and sense our shared belonging. Through reflections, stories, and the Tibetan practice of tonglen, we’ll learn how to transform suffering into care, and re-open the relational pathways that let us act from love.
Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music