This is based on a famous quote from the First Tsoknyi Rinpoche, who lived in the 19th century. It points to the basic truth that the ordinary conditioned mind is like clothing that covers a beautiful, inherently aware and limitless being that is our real face. We are all made of the same heart-mind as The Buddha. We just forgot. Our spiritual journey and the practices that we learn on the way are about uncovering and appreciating what is already there, as much as developing capacities and powers for that purpose. Our wise heart already knows this, let it call us!

This is a guided meditation that will help us access and discover the inner powers and potentials that we need to cope with and transcend the struggles and conflicts that we meet in daily life. It includes a simple appreciation of the truth of this lived experience, moment by moment. It also touches on trust, kindness and the empowerment that presence can give us.

We look around and see that there are brief moments of happiness and lots of struggle. Wars, violence, conflict, environmental destruction, sickness; it seems we are born into endless struggle. But maybe life is not the problem. It is just life. We long for relief, and there is much we can do to help ourselves and our community. We can develop skills and qualities such as steadiness, compassion and joy of life, that help us meet uncertainty. In addition, we can develop and access a more transcendent perspective, in which we take the pains of samsara less personally. Nondual Dharma  invites us to see life as perfect just as it is and yet transform the way we receive it moment by moment.

An authentic journey of transformation, the opening of doorways to the beyond, is utterly dependent on reducing the dominance of the self over our consciousness. We can gradually realise that the self point of view, which seems so dominant over everything we think and perceive, is transparent, illusory, and a will-o'-the-wisp. It is also a construction and a thought, although primary. When we soften its hold on us, we can let life and liberation get in.

We are so busy trying to get things better that we forget how to be in intimacy with this life, with all its surprises, gifts, joys and pains. Can we gradually become aware that this life is vast, mysterious and less personal, and let it take us.

The endless quixotic struggle to control things for our own benefit is hugely ignorant and counterproductive. We end up with a life of busyness, frustration, meaninglessness and even violence and destruction. Instead, let us discover the one that needs to control, to relax, allow and dance with the uncontrollable life. Let us discover that we can live a happy life by getting off the wheel.

Mediation is normally focused on objects, such as breath and body. But what is it that knows, that brings the object into awareness, that is the source of attention? Meeting the knowing and the knower is transformative. Try it!

I am in the midst of a war, here in the Middle East, near the Lebanese border, hearing the bangs and booms of rockets and artillery daily, and feeling the heartbreaking violence, suffering and misery which crosses borders and engulfs us all. But we do need to find the sources of equanimity otherwise we simply drown in fear, despair and misery. This talk explores many wise ways, both externally and internally, to develop steadiness in the midst of uncontrollable circumstances, whether war, climate change, conflict, or confusion. We look at forms of mediation, lifestyles and inner realisations that help us to dance freely with a life that we cannot control.

This is a talk about awareness. It explores a knowing that is an open space and a luminous and radiant power within. It is like a womb that is empty itself but gives birth to forms. In ordinary everyday language, we will examine what is thought and what gives thought its qualities and attributes.

In difficult times we get swept away - by the voices of society, by the media, by strong opinions of others, by our identity, and of course by fears and insecurity. Then we tend to lose our centre and often begin to feel blame and labelling of others who easily become the problem the cause and the enemy. A way to cut this process is to see ourselves fully. Our beauty, our freedom, our rich mind that reads books and sees stars at night, our wise heart that has an intuition of what is helpful and beneficial. Not just to ourselves. In this talk, we will explore ways of coming back to our big self and our primal wisdom and using it to make a difference in the world.