This talk explores how the Buddha’s Eightfold Path offers a clear, practical guide to living with greater wisdom, compassion, and inner freedom in everyday life. We’ll look at how each step on the path supports both personal transformation and the well-being of others. Wise View, the first step, invites us to see life as it truly is—recognizing impermanence, the causes of suffering, and the possibility of liberation. It’s about shifting from a narrow, self-centered perspective to a broader understanding that our thoughts, actions, and attitudes shape our experience.
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30:21
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30:21
Begin Where You Are: Laying the Groundwork of Mindfulness
This talk explores how to begin a mindfulness practice by starting exactly where you are. Rather than striving for a particular state or trying to “do it right,” we look at how mindfulness arises through simple remembering—the act of returning to presence, again and again. We’ll reflect on how the breath can become a reliable ally, how intention can quietly shape our experience, and how there’s no wrong way to begin. We’ll explore four key themes: (1) how mindfulness is the practice of remembering presence, (2) the power of starting just as you are, without needing to fix or change anything, (3) how setting intention deepens and sustains your practice, and (4) the breath as a steady anchor in the midst of life’s swirl. Through stories, guided reflection, and practical tools, you’ll learn how to plant the seeds of a lifelong practice.
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37:04
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37:04
Choose What is Already Changing [archive talk]
This talk explores how to embrace impermanence. You’ll learn about the inevitability of change and how understanding your reactivity and biases can help you access a quality of awareness that can help you move from reactivity to wisdom, compassion, creativity and enthusiasm.
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45:43
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45:43
Your True Nature is Already Here [archive talk]
This talk explores the nature of ‘true nature.’ You’ll learn more about the nature of ‘true nature,’ what gets in the way of experiencing this primal quality of being and some doorways of practice that can bring you into an intimate, embodied sense of presence.
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46:06
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46:06
How to Access the Flow State, Part 2 [archive talk]
This talk explores the mechanics for entering the flow state. You’ll learn the role mindfulness plays in setting up the flows state, a review of triggers that can be helpful, how applying the principles of flow to meditation can deepen your practice and some cautions and concerns about the practice.
Senior teacher at the Insight Meditation Community of Washington and co-founder of the Meditation Teacher Training Institute, Jonathan Foust share weekly talks, guided meditations and inquiries that explore how to cultivate an awakened heart and mind.