Meditation: Relaxed and Alert (20:43 min.)

While it's natural to try to control our life experience, our chronic controlling cuts us off from presence and obscures the loving awareness that is our essence.  This series of talks explores how we can let go in four key domains of controlling: clinging to thoughts, resisting feelings, holding tight to beliefs and armoring our heart. We look at how egoic controlling manifests individually and as a society; the process of awakening from exclusive identification with a separate ego/self; what it means to die into a larger reality and the similarities of psychedelics and meditation in the process of letting go. The gift of releasing the grip of controlling is true freedom; inhabiting the intrinsic beauty of our beings, and having our lives be an expression of creativity, wisdom and love.   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

This meditation begins with a period of relaxing and collecting our attention with intentional long, deep breathing. We then deepen embodied presence, and widen to the awareness that includes sounds, sensations, feelings, breath, and all experience. When the mind drifts from this open, awake awareness, we gently return, re-relaxing and resting in an easeful, alert presence. Recorded at Tara's Wednesday night class, the meditation ends with a sense of melting into community – relaxed and alert.   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

What might change if you were three degrees friendlier than you are now? Not more accommodating or self-sacrificing, but authentically friendlier—to your inner life, with others, and in how you meet the world. In this talk, I explore what friendliness actually is, why it so often shuts down under stress, and how small, accessible practices can bring it back online—and, over time, uplevel your friendliness quotient.   As our hearts become more friendly, we become more inwardly free. Our everyday interactions grow more alive, engaging, and surprisingly heart-opening. And finally, friendliness can offer just the kind of global warming we most need in these times.   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

This meditation establishes a gentle and caring presence through bringing the image and felt sense of a smile to various domains in the body. We then settle with the breath, and practice relaxing with whatever arises, letting life be just as it is. The underlying intention is to regard all experience with a clear, interested and friendly attention. The gift is a homecoming to our naturally loving presence.   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

This meditation awakens a receptive attention to the senses, starting with physical sensations and opening to sound. Then we sense how open awake awareness is receiving the moment to moment arising and passing life. In the final part of the practice, we explore how awake awareness is receiving the experience of our heart and offer blessings to our inner life and all living beings.   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

What if hope is not something we cling to—but a capacity we can cultivate? In this talk, we'll explore how hope becomes a healing and liberating force when it is rooted in awareness, trust, and compassionate action. The mature expression of hope includes three interwoven elements: the aspiration to awaken our full potential, a trust in the possibility of that unfolding, and the energy to engage in service to life. We'll also look at why hope matters so deeply on the spiritual path, how it can support emotional healing and resilience, and how to recognize its shadow forms—when hope turns into striving or denial. Through mindful reflection, we discover how to nourish a hope that is spacious, embodied, and aligned with love. This teaching is offered for anyone seeking guidance in staying open-hearted and engaged during uncertain and painful times.   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

The mature expression of hope includes three elements: the aspiration for manifesting our full potential, a trust that this is possible, and an energy that engages to serve this unfolding. In this talk, we explore the importance of hope on the spiritual path, its shadow side, and how we can nourish hope through these three elements in a way that serves inner freedom and the healing of our world.    Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

We cut off from our aliveness when we are lost in thoughts and on auto pilot. This meditation arouses a receptivity to sensation from "the inside out," opens the awareness to sound, and then invites a full resting in receptive, dynamic presence (from the archives).   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music

In this talk, we'll  explore what it truly means to find refuge—not through controlling life, but by coming home to the living truth of our experience. Our deepest refuge—the source of peace, safety, and freedom—is discovered through direct realization of reality itself. Drawing on the Buddhist understanding of refuge, we explore three timeless and archetypal gateways: • Awareness (Buddha) — the wakeful presence that knows our experience • Truth (Dharma) — the wisdom that liberates us when we see clearly • Love (Sangha) — the tenderness and belonging that arise through connection Through short guided reflections, we practice opening to each of these portals, allowing refuge to become a lived and embodied experience rather than an abstract idea. This talk is especially supportive if you are: Seeking inner peace during times of uncertainty or stress Exploring mindfulness, meditation, or Buddhist teachings Longing for a deeper sense of belonging and spiritual homecoming Interested in awakening compassion and wise awareness in daily life   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music  

In this guided meditation, Tara Brach invites you to step out of the trance of incessant thinking and return to the living presence of your body, breath, and awareness. As we move through life identified with thought, we can lose touch with the aliveness, vastness, and mystery of Being. This practice offers a gentle pathway to inhabit your energetic form—sensing the vibrancy of life moving through you—while also resting in the boundless, formless stillness that is the source of all experience. This meditation is especially supportive if you're seeking: • Relief from overthinking and mental fatigue • A deeper sense of embodied presence • Connection with stillness, awareness, and source • Mindfulness meditation for inner peace and awakening   Our introduction music is from "Opening" by Adrienne Torf, © 2025 ABT Music