
Hosted by Stephen Fulder · EN

We all want to help ourselves, help each other, support life, and look after things. It is very natural and basic. Life wants to live. This is the essence of compassion. Our heart responds to the world and vibrates with all existence. Looked at this way, compassion is a basic energy that we all have. But it is often limited by fears, concerns and our narratives. So we have a responsibility to expand the boundaries of compassion so it stretches out to those we do not know and to all living beings. The practice of awareness and mindfulness encourages a deep intimacy with all others, and also deeply resonates with the vulnerability and beautiful fragility of existence. This will empower our compassionate heart.

This guided meditation while lying, starts with ways of totally softening and relaxing all the parts of us, the stories that we carry, the tensions that accumulate, and the blocks in both body and mind. It goes on to explore the nature of trust and surrender instead of resistance, and uses the power of the earthe to reveal what it is like to let go into a vaster world.

This meditation explores a presence which is both inner and outer, our personal experience of the world of our body and mind, and the experience of he world around us, and the seamless connection and inimacy with both. It is a meditation that we can practice anywhere, while waiting in line or walking in the park. It opens worlds with kind awareness.

This is a complete sitting meditation of about 40 minutes, emphasising refuge, settling into presence, celebrating the life of the body and mind, and discovering the freedom of allowing everything to flow naturally.

The mud, or a better term would be compost, is all the stuff that gives us difficulty, that seems stuck to us, that we struggle with and sometimes feel drowned in. It could be social, personal, psychological, spiritual or the physical pains and issues with our body. These days, everything can seem muddy. In this talk, we explore how to work with the mud based on the great wisdom of the dharma, the Buddhist inspired teachings, to help us grow beautiful flowers and a fulfilling life in which the mud is a resource, not an enemy. This is beyond coping. It is about transcendence. And then we can also realise that the duality of mud and lotus, samsara and nirvana, are points of view, and we can embrace a non-dual ecological awareness that can hold it all.

Talk #2 of "7 Factors of Awakening". You are welcome to look at stephenfulder.com, where you will find many more talks, courses, and teaching events. My book ערות בחיי היומיום (What's Beyond Mindfulness in its English edition) goes deeper into all of these subjects.