Thoughts driven by greed, hatred, or delusion lead us farther and farther from both inner and outer peace, and yet they are rampant. How do we work with them when they arise? One way the Buddha taught was to deliberately substitute spinning painful thoughts with thoughts that incline toward peace. These sorts of thoughts are often connected to the Brahma Viharas, "divine abodes" of lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. This talk looks at cultivating these energies and using them pragmatically as substitutes when we are lost in negative thinking.

Thoughts driven by greed, hatred, or delusion lead us farther and farther from peace, and yet they are rampant. How do we work with them when they arise? In this talk we'll look at some Buddhist teachings that offer a framework for dis-identifying from and working skillfully with thoughts that don't serve us or others.

This talk shares a teaching from the great 10th Century Tibetan master, Tilopa. Tilopa and his succession of Dharma heirs formed the core of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He passed his teachings on to Naropa, whose student Marpa transmitted them to Milarepa, who then gave transmission to Gampopa. Tilopa's teaching is summed up in his timeless "Six Words Of Advice" which are instructions on how to stay connected to the present moment. These instructions are explored in this talk.

We often need something to be special to catch our attention. It takes practice to be mindful of ordinary experiences like the breath, a sound or a sensation. When we practice looking at reality through the lens of Sacred Perception, however, everything becomes holy and worthy of our attention. This talk explores Sacred Perception as a practice that makes even the mundane come alive.

Equanimity is a quality the Buddha described as essential to awakening. This talk discusses what that means and how do we practice?

Amma Thanasanti began meditating in 1979 under the guidance of Jack Engler, Ajahn Chah, and Dipa Ma. She spent 28 years as a Buddhist nun, including 20 years in Ajahn Chah monasteries, and has taught internationally since 1996. She is the founder of Awakening Truth (awakeningtruth.org) and developed the Integrated Meditation Program (IMP), an attachment-repair pathway for meditators. Her work integrates classical Buddhist training with contemporary psychology and trauma-informed practice, helping practitioners discern where meditation supports awakening—and where relational wounds and trauma require direct healing. This integration allows the stillness, clarity, and goodness from meditation to become more natural and sustainable. SHINE is a practice Amma developed as a counterpart to the RAIN method by Michelle McDonald and Tara Brach. While RAIN helps us meet difficulty, SHINE supports cultivating positive states—training the nervous system to recognize, sustain, and deepen what's good.The acronym stands for Sense, Hold, Inquire, Nourish, and Enhance. Integrated into the broader Integrated Meditation Program (IMP), SHINE addresses a gap many practitioners experience: we become skilled at observing suffering but less adept at stabilizing ease, joy, and goodness when they arise. In this session, we'll practice SHINE together and explore how cultivating these states helps stillness, clarity, and goodness become more natural and sustainable in daily life.

Compassion - turning toward suffering with care and wise responsiveness - is a familiar tenet of Buddhism. Renunciation is also a central teaching. What does that mean for lay practitioners and how does it relate to compassion?

This talk discusses the Buddha's words on holding to fixed views from The Paramatthaka Sutta (Sn 4.5) followed by an open Q&A. While the Buddha warned against attachment to views, some views are clearly aligned with the Dharma such as: causing harm will lead to suffering for oneself or another. How can we reconcile not holding to fixed views when you're clear that it is appropriate to take a strong stand against harm? After reflections on this topic there is a Q&A session on this theme and other practice questions are explored.

It seems with every day of news, there is more uncertainty, deep concern and unease. As much as we would like to, we can't control reality. However, the great gift of practice is that we can choose how to skillfully relate to our experience. This is a time for our practice to hold us. Instead of reacting impulsively in ways that just contract us more or with actions we later regret, we can respond effectively with a wise heart. This talk discusses teachings and practices that help us make that wiser choice.

The Awakened heart dwells in the present moment and chooses wise response to the unfolding, ever changing, less-predictable-than-we-think experience of now. The Buddha taught four basic qualities of the awakened heart: friendliness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. These qualities frequently overlap, are innate (though sometimes/often not in charge) and can be practiced, strengthened, and uncovered. When we do uncover them we gain access to an ease and wisdom we didn't know we had. We can become our own warmest friend and a refuge for others. Listen to Eve in an exploration of these four qualities of the awakened heart.