Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley: dharma talks and meditation instruction

Jan 29 2025 16 ep. 54 mins 658

  Religion & Spirituality
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James Baraz: The Antidote to Fear: Practicing in Uncertain Times

Jan 29 2025 51 mins  
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) It seems like many are feeling either a low-level anxiety or fear these days. Fear about their safety, about disasters like fire or floods, about what the future holds. While this is natural and understandable, when our minds get hijacked by fearful thoughts, it is almost impossible to have a wise or appropriate response. In this talk we

James Baraz: Our Greatest Protection

Jan 15 2025 46 mins  
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk is about what the Dalai Lama called our greatest protection: our sincerity of motivation. What is sincerity? How do we know when we are truly sincere? How can we cultivate it?

James Baraz: We Are What We Think

Jan 08 2025 47 mins  
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The subject of this talk is the opening verse of the Dhammapada, the famous collection of the Buddha’s teachings. The verse starts out with these words: “We are what we think. With our thoughts we make the world.” This teaching can be truly transformative in one’s meditation practice as well as in one’s life.

Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith: Dharma from the Heart

Jan 01 2025 59 mins  
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Ramona Lisa Ortiz-Smith, MBA, brings over 25 years of cumulative meditation practice and spiritual studies to her livelihood as a Spiritual Teacher and Leader. Silent Vipassana (insight) meditation retreats, Theravada Buddhist studies and earth-based indigenous spirituality and healing arts are at the heart of her practice. Ramona Lisa is

Eve Decker: Intention And songs in remembrance of Alan Senauke

Dec 25 2024 60 mins  
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Join Eve for an evening of exploring the Buddha’s teaching on Intention - a powerful and potentially transformative mental energy that precedes action. Live at the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, 2304 McKinley Ave., Berkeley, and online (Zoom link below). We will also share some songs in remembrance of Alan Senauke, the Abbot of the Berkele

James Baraz: Befriending Eternity: 49 Days in Darkness by Adam Baraz

Dec 22 2024 59 mins  
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Talk originally given on December 12, 2024 I’m happy to share the evening with my son, Adam Baraz, who will reflect on the recent completion of his fifth Darkness Retreat, a 49-day “Bardo Retreat” in Tuscany, Italy. Adam will discuss the psychological, physical, emotional, and spiritual journey of “being alone in the dark” for 7

Eve Decker: Cultivating Kindness for Inner Experience

Dec 18 2024 55 mins  
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Join Eve for an exploration of holding all aspects of inner experience with curiosity and kindness. The practice of mindfulness invites us to ‘see things as they really are’ - not as we imagine them to be or wish them to be. This is usually a big challenge, especially in painful areas or the ones we try to avoid. The Buddhist teachings

Adam Baraz, James Baraz: Befriending Eternity: 49 Days in Darkness

Dec 11 2024 59 mins  
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) I’m happy to share the evening with my son, Adam Baraz, who will reflect on the recent completion of his fifth Darkness Retreat, a 49-day “Bardo Retreat” in Tuscany, Italy. Adam will discuss the psychological, physical, emotional, and spiritual journey of “being alone in the dark” for 7 weeks. He will describe the practical aspe

Eve Decker: Mindfulness of Feeling Tone

Dec 04 2024 55 mins  
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Vedana (वेदना) is an ancient term from Sanskrit and Pāli that refers to the automatic experience of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral that arises when the senses come into contact with objects (including thoughts). Vedana can be translated as "feeling tone". Using mindfulness to become aware of vedana can be a powerful way to su

James Baraz: What Do I Need Right Now?

Nov 20 2024 51 mins  
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) At this time, US citizens are going through a major adjustment to a new reality after the election. A large part of the population is happy at the outcome. And another large part is confused by that fact. A whole host of feelings are likely to arise--disorientation, confusion, fear, numbing out to name a few. In order to respond wisely to