The Buddha was remarkable in offering the teachings in many different ways. In this talk, Mary reflects on the Five Spiritual Faculties, sometimes called the Path of Wisdom. Faith, Energy, Mindfulness, Concentration and Wisdom support us in our daily lives on our path from delusion to clarity and awakening. The beauty of the teachings are that they are accessible to each of us and we can put them to use throughout our daily lives.
Recorded October 19, 2024 in the virtual world

Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks.

Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.

In this talk Mary reflects on the story of Milarepa and the Demons and invites us to imagine a spiritual path that has us befriend all parts of us, even the challenging bits. Although not part of the original tale, we're asked to invite our demons in for tea and shift our relationship with the present - no matter what it is.
Recorded October 12, 2024 in the virtual world

Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks.

Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.

The Pali word Sati is generally translated as mindfulness, but it can mean so much more. In this talk Mary reflects on all the different, yet similar meanings of the word, emphasizing how close it is to the idea of equanimity - being with the present moment, without preference or needing it to be different. Drawing from Bhante Gunaratana's classic, Mindfulness in Plain English, Mary offers ways to make this core teaching meaningful for each of us. Mary also reflects on the power of Sati during her recent hospital stay.
Recorded Oct. 5, 2024 in the virtual world

Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks.

Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.

The Buddha taught us that all we have are our actions and our actions take place in this moment. But are we fully living in the moment? When we investigate the tentativeness of life - the recognition that nothing is certain - we can shift our relationship to the present and live in a way that is grounded in our core values. Mary discusses this idea and how to move towards a life that allows us to find our own way with the here and now.
Recorded Sept. 29, 2024 in the virtual world for Insight Community of the Desert

Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks.

Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.

Oftentimes we try to get good at meditation when in reality meditation is a practice for how we move through the world. The invitation of practice is to be with each moment as it arises, without judgement or preference. When we develop this awareness during practice, we can carry it with us throughout our lives 'off the cushion'. In this talk, Mary discusses the idea of choiceless awareness, a way to simple be in the moment, grounded in equanimity and wisdom.
Recorded Sept. 22, 2024, in the virtual world for Insight Community of the Desert

Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks.

Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.

A common reminder in meditation practice is that our experience can not be different from the way it is as much as we would like it to be. The same invitation to be present with the moment applies through all aspects of our life. The root of so much dukkha is our inability to be with reality. Acknowledging the moment as it is takes us closer towards liberation.
Recorded Sept. 5, 2024 in the virtual world

Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks.

Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.

The Eight Worldly Winds are a teaching on equanimity. Recognizing the winds of pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame, fame and disgrace that blow for all of us is important in our journey towards liberation. The Buddha says each of us feel these winds and it's important to see them as part of the human condition and not personal. Letting go of the stories of attachment to some winds over others is a key to our liberation.
Recorded August 31, 2024 in the virtual world

Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks.

Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.

Mary reflects on 16 years of teaching the Saturday Afternoon Sit class. In looking at all the changes that can happen in 16 years. it became clear that so often we get hung up on finding a 'there'. We spend our time and energy working to achieve something that will get us where we want to be, only to find out there is always something else. As the Buddha teaches, there is only the present, and how we work with the present will lead us to or away from liberation.

Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks.

Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.

In this very personal talk Mary reflects on the Five Remembrances and how they invite us to embrace our humanity, open to vulnerability and live each day as if it were our last.  

Recorded August 17, 2024 in the virtual world

Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks.

Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.

The Buddha taught that fixed views and self-view were some of the biggest obstacles to liberation. We are stuck in beliefs about others and ourselves that may or may not be true, but which have tremendous impact on how we relate and react to the world. In this talk, Mary discusses the different types of views, how they develop, and what we can do to extricate ourselves from their rigidity and move towards freedom.
Recorded August 10, 2024 in the virtual world

Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks.

Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.