Speaker: Vanessa Waxman. Vanessa relates how she emerged from an intense experience of discomfort, unworthiness, and shame with a more profound appreciation for the healing power of Dharma. Despite the good fortune of enjoying auspicious circumstances, anyone can fall prey to afflictive emotions from which it seems impossible to escape. Initially, awareness of such feelings may generate shame, despair, and a sense of hypocrisy. But this suffering can also lead to a deeper appreciation for the healing power of Dharma, which reminds us that all beings suffer in these ways. The Dharma offers the means to understand, work with, and overcome afflictions and their root, self-grasping ignorance. One fundamental practice, the Ngondro, enables us to identify the full range of samsaric suffering and provides methods to develop the wisdom to overcome them.