Unfettered Mind

Undischarged feelings; identifying patterns; navigating reactive patterns; what to do about conflict; emotions/feelings/stories; four stages of conflict; ending a relationship; stages leading to the end of a relationship.

Responding to questions on longing and desire; faith and refuge; vajrayana vows; Mahamudra instructions :“no placing, no reference, no missing the point” and “no distraction, no control, no working at anything;" ending wars; martial imagery; Tao Te Ching and groundlessness.

Way-seeking mind; non-self; nurturing the direction of non-self; resting in the experience of breathing vs focusing on the breath; plateau in practice.

Working with emotional energy in practice; not seeking to eliminate emotion; faith and devotion; removing emotions from practice limits engagement in experience.

A guided journey through the progression of one meditation practice, from resting in attention to the union of awareness and experience (mahamudra, dzogchen). Begins with instruction on posture, resting in the experience of breathing, resting in the experience of the body, the breath, and opening to all experience. Then the journey moves to how to bring in the heart and finally how to open to the union of awareness and experience.

Hope as a manifestation of belief vs a manifestation of faith; conflict as the experience of the resistance to change when two or more worlds interact; fear arising from conflict; interpretation vs actual experience; undischarged feelings leading to conflict.

Answering questions on thoughts and “subconscious gossip”; mantras; taking and sending; obstacles in the body from experiences we were unable or unwilling to fully experience; Dzogchen and Mahamudra; dakinis; groundlessness.

Different roles of a teacher; teachers in different traditions; more than one teacher? devotion; personality; trust; what does it take to find a teacher?

Meditating when in pain; distinction between being stretched and being stressed; key is not hardening against experience; overuse of the terms “samadhi” and “mindfulness”; working with reactive emotions by welcoming them; Rumis’ poem “A Guest House”; bodhichitta; practice intensely with little fanfare.

Clarifying your questions; trusting the unknown; three vows: individual freedom, bodhisattva,Vajrayana; dealing with difficult emotions; experiencing resistance.

Guided meditation: opening to imbalances in a relationship; participant's experience; developing the skill to experience life without "I"; emotional correspondence vs emotional connection.

Introduction: Participant's questions; experiencing the body; relationship as the experience of interaction; relationship types: mutual benefit, shared aim, emotional connection; reactive needs vs present needs; "I" as an experience; balance, betrayal.

Modern shift in religions from transcendence toward embracing the human condition; ending reactivity so we can experience whatever arises; living with uncertainty using the four steps of standing up; acting without categories.

Subjects include: dropping into awareness, changes as a result of practice, practice influencing karma, decision making, collapsing down.

Practice questions: discussion of the evolution and iterative nature of the five step practice; experiencing “the mess” rather than attempting to name what arises; thought, sensation and emotion are all forms of movement in mind; notice the movement.