Vedana of Feeling Tones, is the Second Foundation of Mindfulness. Its a powerful practice and can lead to liberating insight. This talk explores how to skillfully and correctly utilize this practice.

The Power of Vedana Practice (Feeling Tones)

The teaching of the Buddha comprehends things in terms of the conditioned and unconditioned. This talk explores this teaching and how to practice with it skillfully.

Exploring the Two Truths of The Conditioned and Unconditioned

This talk explore how we can deconstruct our efforting and movement toward an ideal and recognize that waking up happens right here, in the present moment.

Deconstructing The Mind - Retreat Dharma Talk

How do we stay present and keep our hearts open in the midst of shame and remorse? Can they play a role in deepening compassion and insight? In this talk I explore how to skillfully navigate the terrain of these often "tabu" emotions.

Skillful and Compassionate Approaches to Working With Shame and Remorse

Often we humans will  push out of our hearts what is unwelcome or unwanted. Aversion may drive much of our activity unconsciously and lead us away from living fully in the present. This talk explores how we can find presence, heart and the middle way as part of our path to deeper freedom in our lives.

Overcoming Aversion Through Presence And The Middle Way

Practice Instructions from Southern Dharma retreat. Focusing on the First Foundation of Mindfulness to stabilize heart and mind.

Practice Instructions: Working With The First Foundation Of Mindfulness

This lovely guided meditation was created by Ken McLeod. It is based on the fourth Brahma Vihara or heart practice of equanimity.

Equanimity Guided Meditation

Guided Self Compassion Meditation

Karma is action in Buddhism, driven by intention. With practice we cultivate the ability to choose our response and our actions, internally and externally. We might think our intentions are good and so our actions will follow, but our intentions are often under the influence of strong conditioning that prevents us from living our choices. But with practice, we can find our way to greater freedom.

Karma, Choice And The Mind

Exploring Emptiness And Compassion

In this track, instead of doing metta practice, we switch to being metta (lovingkindness). When our hearts are open we can radiate lovingkindness without limit.

Boundless Heart Guided Meditation

How do we hold contradictions in practice? It helps to understand the conditioned and the unconditioned. 

Sillful Approaches to Working with Contradictions in Practice

Right now, many are in a state of high stress and overwhelm. Its harder to embody presence of mind and heart. But we can "take the backward step" and return to ourselves in this moment and find some peace even in the midst of turmoil. We then have more resources to respond. 

Anticipatory Stress and Returning to Zero

People always ask if meditation practice makes us passive and withdrawn. This creates  binary of one or the other - action vs non-action. This talk explores this misunderstanding and how we can relate with wisdom to the value of action and non-action in our lives and practice. 

The Wisdom of Action and Non-Action

How to wake up through breath and presence 

Awakening with Breath and Presence

People are experiencing a lot of stress and tension right now. Its easy to turn this inward and see them as an indicator that we are wrong or flawed. This talk explores our mental process and how to constructively work with challenging narratives and feelings. 

Working with Negative Self Talk in Stressful Times

People often want to engage with the vast mystery of life through something that seems concrete, even if its only an idea. This can be helpful and provide a doorway in. The potential trap is if we become attached to the form of the mystery and lose the spaciousness of not knowing. 

Engaging with the Mystery of Life

The Buddha describes the "eight worldly winds" as the four pairs of opposing experiences that constantly arise and pass away in the world, influencing human thoughts and emotions. The Buddha taught that clinging to these experiences or rejecting them, is a source of suffering, as they are impermanent and beyond our control.

The Eight Worldly Winds and Equanimity

It is enticing to think of uncomfortable aspects of our lives as reaching a state of closure or completion. But the reality of life is often messier and these exceptions can be an impediment to practice if we resist what’s actually arising, we think it’s a mistake, or we believe we have to aggressively fix it through practice. But there is a way to letting go that is not aggressive or forceful and allows for patience, compassion and healing.

Does Our Practice Bring us Closer to Closure and Completion?

In this talk, Jennifer shares one of the most foundational teachings of the Buddha, the Four Noble Truths.

Jennifer Wang - Four Noble Truths 2025-06-28

There are many ways to let go and this talk explores how to see life through the lens of non-reactivity. 

Letting Go and Unburdening the Heart

Ever wake up at 3am, remember a missed email, and suddenly you’re spiraling into an imaginary argument with your boss from three years ago? Welcome to papancha — the mind's favorite pastime.

In this dharma talk, I bring humor, tenderness and personal experience to the often-frustrating challenge of working with thought in meditation. Drawing from the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, I explore why our goal isn't to stop thinking, but to change our relationship to thought — from aversion or control to curiosity, compassion, and even plenty of laughter.

How to Befriend the Barking Dog in Your Head

Leonard Cohen famously said, "If you don't become the ocean, you'll be drowning every day." But how do we become the ocean and why does it keep us from drowning? This talk explores these questions and more during the very stressful and challenging times we're in right now. 

Finding Wisdom Below the Waves

What happens when a scheduling error means the guest teacher isn't there and you have to come up with a talk spontaneously? Geoff Lovett meets the moment with emergent dharma. 

Be a Lamp

Coming back to this moment, what is alive in the space of not knowing? I think of it as the blank canvas of possibility. How can we engage and deepen our practice? I explore these questions and more in this dharma talk.

Don't Know Mind and Liberating Presence

From Half Day Concentration and the Jhanas Retreat. An overview and simple concentration guided meditation.

Concentration/Jhana Overview and Guided Concentration Meditation

This talk focuses on how metta (lovingkindness) can be used as a concentration practice. Includes a guided lovingkindess practice 

Concentration and Guided Metta Practice

An overview of the jhanas and a guided infinite space meditation 

Jhanas and Infinite Space Guided Meditation

This guided meditation focues on on offering lovingkindess  for ourselves and loved ones, neutral people and even helps create a framework of helpful phrases for offering compassion to difficult people.

Guided Lovingkindness Meditation

Soft belly is a practice of letting go and letting in. It softens the armoring of the heart and allows us to be effortlessly and compassionately present in whatever way we find ourselves.  This guided meditation is also a part of Stephen Levine's Year to Live Program.

Soft Belly Guided Meditation

We can only experience ease and "suchness," the way things truly are, in moments of not wanting, of moments when we are not trying to control things. This is the backward step into this moment, where freedom is always available.

Relax - Nothing is Under Control

Can we receive kindness with an open heart and realize receiving is a form of generosity too? We experience the intimacy of interdependence, letting go of self and other, the armoring of the heart. We become an integral part of  kindness and generosity in receiving as well as giving.

The Dharma Of Giving And Receiving

This guided meditation is from Stephen Levine's book, A Year to Live. The meditation helps us to let go and experience our great nature, unhindered by what normally holds us back. Many students have said this meditation helps them release the resistance and fear of dying. Give it a try! I suggest preparing a comfortable place to lie down as most of this meditation is done in a prone position.

Death Meditation - Finding Your Great Nature

If you enjoy these dharma talks and guided meditations and would like to support my work, please consider making a donation. Donations can be made through Venmo @lisadharma or Paypal lisa@lisaernst.com. Thank you.

Lisa Ernst is a meditation teacher, artist and founder of One Dharma Nashville. In her teaching, Lisa emphasizes both transformational insight and everyday mindfulness as an invitation to embrace all of the path’s possibilities. She has been meditation for over 30 years and teaches classes and retreats internationally.

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