March 15, 2023
The Pain Beneath the Fear
El dolor bajo el miedo
This session explores the value of effortless being and the recognition that resisting present experience is a form of self-aggression. Through dialogues with several students, the teacher examines how meditation reveals layers of racing thoughts, fear, and pain that were previously hidden, and clarifies the relationship between fear as avoidance and pain as the experience of losing what we love.
dialogue
The Value of Doing Nothing
*Observing without effort*
dialogue
The Aggression in Rejection
A student describes noticing that any form of rejection toward present experience feels like a lack of self-love, and that releasing this pattern opens into a current of well-being.
dialogue
Distraction Settling into Relaxation
A student shares how a period of intense distraction during meditation gradually gave way to deep physical relaxation and release.
dialogue
The Urge to Get Through It
A student notices that while meditation opens up a sense of space, there also seems to be a layer of repression underneath, and she wonders whether she needs to break through it to reach something deeper.
dialogue
When Feeling Is Too Much
A student describes oscillating between observing emotions at a distance and being overwhelmed by them, and the teacher suggests examining the belief that full feeling will be "too much."
dialogue
The First Level of Disturbed
A student shares feeling unsettled by the discovery of constant racing thoughts during meditation, along with an unexpected fearfulness. The teacher explains why this disturbing realization is actually a sign of healing.
dialogue
When Fear Surfaces
A student asks whether the anxiety and fear that have arisen through practice will become a permanent state, and the teacher explains how uncovering buried emotions is a necessary part of the process.
dialogue
The Pain Beneath the Fear
A question about the relationship between fear and pain, and how tracing fear to its root reveals a deeper layer of sensation connected to love and loss.
dialogue
Free Fall Without a Net
A student shares her experience of traveling alone through a country in crisis, discovering that the hostility she long perceived in the world may have been a mind construct, and finding unexpected love and openness in the midst of darkness.