Pema Chodron audio clip. This is an excerpt from talk 1 of "Dissolving the Barriers", given at Dorje Denma Ling retreat center in Nova Scotia, 1998. This seminar is about tuning in to the four limitless qualities - equanimity, maitri/loving-kindness, compassion, and joy - as well as learning to practice with our resistance to these by dissolving the barriers to our open hearts. Item number 183 in all formats (CDs, DVDs, MP3s) can be found in the Four Limitless Ones category: http://pemachodrontapes.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4_22

Pema Chodron: Dissolving the Barriers.WAV

Pema Chodron gave two talks on the 12 links of interdependent origination (the 12 nidanas). By understanding how we perpetuate confusion, we can learn to interrupt the "karmic chain reaction of samsara". Recorded at Gampo Abbey, May 2002. Available on audio CDs (93CD), MP3 CD (93MP) or MP3 download (93DL). There's a search box in the upper right hand corner of our website. http://pemachodrontapes.com

Pema Chodron: The Twelve Nidanas

Using a text that is very close to her heart: the Buddhist classic known as The Way of the Bodhisattva, Pema Chodron shows us how to cultivate compassion. She focuses on the enlightened heart and mind, showing us how this awakened state, which often seems infinitely far out of our grasp, is always available to us right where we are. By nurturing a compassionate attitude in our hearts, we can naturally become more open and present to others and free in our lives, even amidst life’s adversities and fears. And little by little we can become empowered to reach out beyond ourselves and heal the abundant suffering of the world.  The full download is available through BetterListen.com at https://www.betterlisten.com/products/giving-our-best-with-pema-chodron

Giving Our Best - Practicing the Way of the Bodhisattva with Pema Chödrōn-Preview 1

Tonglen (giving and taking) is a method for connecting with suffering — ours and that which is all around us — everywhere we go. It is a method for overcoming fear of suffering and for dissolving the tightness of our heart. Primarily it is a method for awakening the compassion that is inherent in all of us. We begin to feel love both for ourselves and others and also we begin to take care of ourselves and others. It awakens our compassion and it also introduces us to a far larger view of reality.

Healing Through Tonglen

In this recorded retreat, Pema Chödrön shares teachings inspired by the book Smile at Fear, which was written by her teacher Chogyam Trungpa. We all have fears, but when we look closely at them, we discover that behind each fear resides a basic fear of ourselves. We're afraid to look at our habitual styles of thinking and behaving because we might not always like what we see. Ironically it is this fear of honest self-reflection that keeps us trapped in patterns of stress and discontentment. Here is a vision for moving beyond this most basic fear to discover the innate bravery, trust, and joy that reside at the core of our being. The full program can be downloaded at BetterListen.com www.betterlisten.com/products/smile…h-pema-chodron

Smile At Fear with Pema Chodron Part 2 (Preview)

In this recorded retreat, Pema Chödrön shares teachings inspired by the book Smile at Fear, which was written by her teacher Chogyam Trungpa. We all have fears, but when we look closely at them, we discover that behind each fear resides a basic fear of ourselves.  We're afraid to look at our habitual styles of thinking and behaving because we might not always like what we see.  Ironically it is this fear of honest self-reflection that keeps us trapped in patterns of stress and discontentment.  Here is a vision for moving beyond this most basic fear to discover the innate bravery, trust, and joy that reside at the core of our being. The full program can be downloaded at BetterListen.com https://www.betterlisten.com/products/smile-at-fear-a-retreat-with-pema-chodron

Smile At Fear with Pema Chodron Part 1 (Preview)

This is a led meditation practice, as taught at the City Lit and the West London Buddhist Centre.

I encountered this meditation for the first time when I was finding life a little stressful, and there is no doubt that it has helped me immensely since 2007. I would heartily recommend anyone to have a go.

You could start right now, but you might like to read this introduction that Jinananda once wrote:

The first thing is to find a quality of stillness.  It is possible to move or walk with this quality of stillness, but in this practice, you can start to develop it by being physically still.  You can move during the practice, but the invitation of the practice is not to fidget. 

If you need to, you can lie down to do the practice, but if you can, you should sit up, in a chair or on the floor, either kneeling astride cushions, or if sitting cross-legged, sitting high enough on cushions so that the knees are lower than the hips. 

The aim of the practice is to cultivate a concentrated appreciative attention to our moment-by-moment experience of the breathing process. 

There are four stages, or approaches, to the practice.  Each of these stages represents a slightly different way of being aware of the breath, of being aware of in the breath.  Starting with the easiest, and working towards the stage requiring the most delicate focus of concentration. 

Mindfulness is not about closing down or cutting off our thinking, it is not an exercise in fixing or forcing the attention.  It simply provides our thinking with something to come back to when it becomes aware of what it is doing. 

We are being mindful at the very moment that we realize that our mind has been all over the place.  Coming home to the breath, we are coming home to ourselves.  Without trying to stop the mind doing what it wants to do, we are centring the mind, settling it.

You can find other meditations of Jinananda's on jonfrewin's soundcloud page.

A guided Mindfulness of Breathing meditation for beginners, by Jinananda

Kabat-Zinn makes it clear that the essence of meditative practice lies in how one lives one's life from moment to moment, in all its aspects and relationships, and not merely in formal meditative practices. This program offers an experience of mindfulness that is entirely congruent with our lives in the 21st Century: it is effective, portable, and easily adopted -- a perfect antidote to life in the fast lane. The full download and CE credits are available at https://www.betterlisten.com/collections/continuing-education-credits/products/mindfulness-meditation-in-everyday-life-exercises-and-meditations

Mindfulness Meditation In Everyday Life

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Mindfulness Meditation In Everday Life & Exercises and Meditations Preview

This audiobook by Pema Ch&ouml;dr&ouml;n, the renowned American Buddhist nun, offers short, stand-alone sections designed to help us cultivate compassion and awareness amid the challenges of daily living. More than a collection of thoughts for the day, Comfortable with Uncertainty offers a progressive program of spiritual study, leading the reader through essential concepts, themes, and practices on the Buddhist path.&#160; Comfortable with Uncertainty does not assume prior knowledge of Buddhist thought or practice, making it a perfect introduction to Ch&ouml;dr&ouml;n's teachings on lovingkindness, meditation, mindfulness, "nowness," letting go, and working with fear and other painful emotions. Through the course of this audiobook, listeners will learn practical methods for heightening awareness and overcoming habitual patterns that block compassion.

Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chödrön, read by Joanna Rotte

Become available for healing, forgiveness and a deeper connection with others.

This 15 minute guided meditation asks you to smile! This may seem an unusual practice however it is a rather beautiful way to open a connection to your heart which is the centre for healing and forgiveness. The intention of this meditation is to open your heart which allows you to connect more deeply to your own truth and to open lines of communication with others.

Open Heart Meditation

Embodied Awareness Meditation from Sebene Selassie